Maia

Book review by Tracey
This book is an interesting one to review. I spent a great deal of time reading it (my copy is 891 pages long) and the whole time I wondered whether I could review it properly. I decided after a lot of thought that I simply must, as I had spent so much time and energy finishing it! So, here goes…

Maia is a story about a young girl who lives in a fantasy country called the Beklan Empire. It is one of a series of stories, though not the first--a fact I was unaware of when I started reading it. I think if I would have read the previous installments I would have gotten more from this story right away. As it was, it took me some time to really settle into the story. So long in fact, that there were several times that I almost stopped reading it. I’m not really sure why, either, as this book has every kind of drama in it.

Maia has an affair with her stepfather, is sold into sexual slavery, is drawn into intrigue by opposing political factions, falls in love and saves the empire, and much, much more. Along her journey are many other interesting characters; so many that I had a hard time keeping them all straight. There are some real baddies, too. Probably the most interesting feature of this story for me was Mr. Adams's ability to symbolize many different cultures and events. At school in English class the teacher is always asking you to see the symbolism in the reading material. I was always terrible at it. I could only see it at face value. This book made seeing the symbolism very easy.

I won’t tell you how Maia ends. You’ll have to read your own 891 pages to find that out. I will say that I found the book to be worth reading, even to a culture that expects everything to be an instantaneous jolt of gratification. (That includes me.)

Tracey.