The war between the Titans and the Gods is coming to its inevitable culmination. The piece of the sacred flame which the Titans have stolen will soon become part of a plan for them to break the chains of their prison planet of Tartarus. With so much at stake Rebecca travels to Earth to warn the human race that not only is war coming, but that it has already surreptitiously started...

Rebecca Newton and the War of the Gods (2016. 432 pages) is the third book in the fantasy/science fiction series, written by Greek author, Mario Routi.

I have to admit to not having read the previous two books in the series, but had read Orizon: The Flame of the White Sun (2006), from memory I quite liked it, so I’m not really sure what has happened in the interim.

Routi mixes Greek myths with science fiction and religion to tell the story of the clash between the Titans who the book keeps reminding us are pure evil, but never really explains the reason behind this anymore than it explains why Zeus and the gods are considered universally good. Certainly the Geek gods of the myths behaved in ways that would not be considered good. Routi seems to have attributed Christian values onto a non-Christian set of myths, even including the devil, which just goes to confuse matters as the devil does not appear in Greek mythology.

The story is fairly straight forward consisting mostly of Rebecca’s trip to Earth, the Titans plans to escape the prison set for them by Zeus and the preparations on the Orizon home world for the coming conflict.

If I am being honest this was a difficult read. I could not see any reference to a translator, so I’m guessing that Routi wrote the novel in English, unfortunately it shows that while he may have a very good grasp of the language it is not his first language and the writing reflects this. There is a certain lack of poetic lyricism in the writing as well as anomalies and straight forward grammar mistakes; I’m not sure who outside of a Shakespeare play would use the word "verily" in any context.

When talking about the secret society of the Sartani, who are responsible for spreading death and disaster on the Earth, Routi describes them thus:-

“They are a demonic entity that has served the Titans since ancient times. They has managed to remain here even after their exile from Earth.”

It’s not only clunky prose; it is grammatically incorrect making the whole thing laborious to read. This is further compounded by having a book where much of the content is made up of characters that stand around and pontificate, talking to each other as if they were always addressing a crowd.

I’m guessing that if you have followed the series so far you’re still going to buy this book, but I would find it difficult to particularly recommend this to the casual reader.

5

Charles Packer