As you probably recall (because I won't shut up about it), Immortal was officially my favorite book of 2010. So I was more than a little excited (squee!) to get an advance copy of the second book Hellenic Immortal in order to review it before it is released on May 3rd.
I'm happy to report that Hellenic Immortal has everything that I loved about Immortal - voice, pacing, mystery, cleverness, philosophy, and atmosphere. Plus it has more! Quantum physics, for instance. And somehow Hellenic Immortal feels more... at ease with itself. But Adam (or Jason or Spencer or Ut-Naphishtim) feels a bit more harried in this one because the stakes keep getting higher. In the first book he had the innate confidence of someone who has managed to survive for a few thousand (tens of thousands) of years. But between the environmental changes of modern life and the risks surrounding him of too many people knowing who he is and having an interest in him, it seems like ducking out of sight and waiting a few hundred years for the danger to go away just isn't going to work this time.
The last thing I want to do is any spoilers (for either book, in case you haven't read the first one), so I won't go into any more details even though I REALLY, REALLY WANT TO. There were some new characters to fall in love with, some new enemies to face, and some really fascinating twists. When you've read the book email or tweet me and then I will have someone to talk to.
So how does Hellenic Immortal stack up in terms of terms of sequels? For me the easiest way to illustrate sequels is with movies. (For instance Highlander 2 was a sequel so bad that it almost destroyed the cult classic that preceded it, and Wrath of Khan is commonly thought to be better than Star Trek: The Motion Picture.) For me Hellenic was like the Game of Shadows - everything I loved about the 2009 Sherlock Holmes... plus.
You'll love it. Trust me.
To read is to do, to do is to learn... or, at least, we live.
ReplyDeleteBret Reycenner