Jason, the retelling of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, is a 528-page tale of Jason’s journey home after he’s stolen the golden fleece. He’s accomplished the mission his uncle, King Pelias of Iolkos, set for him, and now hopes retake the throne Pelias stole from Jason’s father. On the return voyage, Jason and his compatriots must deal with Circe, the Sirens, warring kingdoms, and hostile tribes. It isn’t mentioned on the title page or the first few pages of the novel that Jason is the second in the Blades of Bronze series. Jason stands well as an independent volume, however, if one has a basic knowledge of Greek myths and can piece together the myth.
Knowles is very knowledgeable about Greek mythology and the depth of his research is apparent. The novel is populated with many of the major and minor characters of Greek mythology: Theseus, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, etc. The storyline is rich, fleshing out the myth well while packing in enough action and heroics to engage a modern reader of Marvel comics.
However—and this is a big however—Jason is not for someone with little knowledge of Greek mythology. Knowles provides no transition from Argo (book 1 in the series) to Jason nor background on the many, many characters, though he does provide a list of the “prominent” Argonauts and a map in the early pages of the book. Unfortunately, I found a fair number of technical problems with the writing. The writing is convoluted, switching randomly from past to present, sometimes within a paragraph—there’s nothing like beginning a chapter and not knowing whose POV you’re reading or where you are located in time and space. There are multiple points of view, often with no indication of whose POV the reader is in for several paragraphs—there’s nothing like beginning a chapter and not knowing whose POV you’re reading or where you are located in time and space. For instance, in the prologue, the she in is never clearly identified. Even after rereading, I couldn’t decide if the POV was that of one of Celeus’s daughters (Demo, Callidice, or Saessara) or Persephone—or someone else. While I enjoy learning new words, too often the erudite literary words were obscure or archaic and had to be looked up, thus removing me from the story. Some of the problems were simply amateurish, such as having two or more males in the same paragraph with whichever he is meant being unclear. Overall, the prose itself is stilted and lacks rhythm.
I think the concept of the novel interesting and, if properly edited, I’d enjoy it immensely. While Jason is compared by some reviewers to Circe and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, the prose never rises to the majesty of Miller’s.
********************
Jason (Head of Zeus, November 4, 2022) is available through:
********************
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small amount from qualifying purchases.
