Review: Athena's Son - Jeryl Schoenbeck

Hello there!

I simply ADORE historical fiction. Now, YA historical fiction is definitelly a great idea and something you don't see as often, in my opinion.

And by historical fiction I mean fiction that has some base on historical facts (not to be mixed with stories of helpless heroins with shirtless heroes). And this is exactly what Athena's Son is.

Jeryl Schoenbeck writes about Archimedes. You know, that "old Greek science guy"? Well, yeah. Except on this book he is young and in Egypt, where he's been educated as a young man. He arrives there after an irritating boat trip across the Mediterranean and already getting into trouble with a stealing-thief-sailor who he teaches a lesson or two about levers, pulleys and such.

As soon as he lands in Egypt, he gets himself into trouble - actually, trouble seems to find him rather easy - with the priests, after helping a man enhance his wheelbarrow/cart thingy. The priest is ready to hurt him badly, but agrees to take him to the school where he is supposed to be. The headmaster is amazingly influential and manages to free Archimedes, which really angers the head priest man.

Our main boy also meets Berenike, the Pharaoh's daughter and obviously falls in love with her like only a teenage boy can. They get into trouble on and on, as is expected, but in the middle of some troubles, they solve some issues.

The Pharaoh is trying to build the great Alexandria Lighthouse, one of the World's Wonders, but people are dying there, the workers keep dying and no one can tell what's wrong with them, so now the workers think it's the work of Anubis, an Egyptian God with a dog's head. But it can't be! Can it?
There's also this weird roman guy who seems to appear randomly in different places where he simply can't be... Or can he?

It's a dynamic and exciting story that teaches a bit about physics, curiosity and some history, perfect for YA, but also for us, "not so young" adults ;) I strongly reccomend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction.

You can buy Athena's Sonat Amazon.