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My Review:Title: Eryx: A Spartan Tale
Author: Jaclyn Osborn
Series: Axios #2
Published by: Indie
Release Date: February 6, 2020
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 504
Genres: LGBT, Historical Romance
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Monthly Motif Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Retellings Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon
My rating:
Blurb:My father once told me, above all else...
Live and die for Sparta.Honor. Loyalty. Duty. These were the things that mattered most.
And then Axios came into my life, teaching me other lessons: humility, brotherhood... love. There were moments when the brutal training stripped me of my humanity, where it turned me into a mindless beast of flesh and muscle set to destroy everything in my way. But then Axios stood in my way, ever vigilant, never failing to bring me back to myself.
Love had no place in Sparta, they said. It made you weak.
So why did I feel stronger with him by my side?
*Eryx: A Spartan Tale is a 149k word historical gay fiction featuring a love story between Spartan warriors. Although told in an alternate point of view of the events in Axios, it includes extended scenes and more content. It can be read as a complete standalone.*
3.5 stars — I have not read the first book, Axios, so I can verify this one can be completely read as a standalone. From the reviews, it sounds like there’s a LOT of repeat, instead of just a few fill in the gaps scenes from a different POV. Which makes it great for those who haven’t read the other book, but makes it less likely that I’ll want to go back and read Axios, even just for those few scenes.
This one was tough for me…because it was so violent and brutal. And that’s, I believe, realistic of the Spartan boy experience. But wow. I didn’t want my heroes to be okay with that. It’s like my delicate 21st Century sensibilities just couldn’t handle the realities of their life. The way those boys were beaten and tortured as part of their training was just…sickening. The way the slaves were treated. The liberties afforded to men who won battles (wrt the women of a village). It was all just….hard. It was hard because Axios was so gentle, and held the beliefs that aligned more closely with my own, and for his own safety, Eryx had to encourage him to abandon those ideals, and not speak up. That’s not what you want to read, you know? So that was hard, to say the least.
I’m not a historical reader, and I don’t know all that much about history…but I can say that there were the occasional things that stood out even to me as being possibly inaccurate (like them saying “Huah” in response in formation). Do I know for sure? Meh, nope. But basically just a vague warning to the truly picky — this one may take a few liberties.
The other thing preventing this from being a complete winner for me was just the length — there were parts that felt a bit drawn out. And I hate to say it, but after a certain point I was done with the steamy scenes. Which is not to say that there weren’t moments later in the story that I wanted, but maybe if a few more insignificant scenes were cut, it would flow better.
Now, saying all that, there were pieces of this book that I just LOVED! This was a true friends to lovers story, where you got to watch Eryx and Axios grow up and grow together. They balanced each other out perfectly…and while, like I said, I would have preferred Axios’s ideals to win, I got why Eryx’s were the safer choice in that time. This was not a story of revolutions afterall. I just seriously loved them as a couple. Eryx was an interesting hero on his own, but it was them together that really made this story.
But honestly? The complete STAND OUT of this book for me was the brotherhood that developed between Eryx, Axios, Haden, Quill and Theon (with various other characters thrown in as well). That core group of boys went through so much together, and I truly believed in their bond. I loved watching them struggle and fight, and play and find love. I loved the way they teased one another. I loved how much they cared about one another. This book would not have been the same without those other 3 boys as well.
And it wasn’t just the core group — they were lots of other memorable characters. I adored Leanna (and her two boys). Paris and Galen brought some interesting perspectives. I loved the mentorship Eryx got from Nikias, and the mentoring he did with Demetrius and Cassius. And even though it made me super uncomfortable, and I wasn’t a huge fan, I appreciated what King Agis brought to the story.
So yeah. Mixed bag. Maybe not the best choice to get me back into reading after a hiatus, but it brought out my feels in the end.
Well, it at least it ended up bringing out your feels!