dry & boring as the desert the story took place in ( )

The book starts off on an interesting story - the real life capture of Crassus' Roman legions. As soon as they hit the desert, the book goes down hill fast. The overall plot is the stock story of a confrontation between good and evil, with a hero who must learn his supernatural powers. If the story isn't to be banal, the author has to bring the world and the characters to life, to make them so involving that reader finds them compelling and urgent, not just a rehash of a cliche.

Except for Quintus, most of the characters didn't interest me. There isn't enough character development to engage my sympathies. The allies that he meets up with are rather boring people, given to gnomic sayings. Drapaudi postures rather than lives, and she and Quintus have no chemistry.

Norton and Shwartz have turned to Hindu myth and legend, the Mahabarrata, which ought to be a refreshing change. Unfortunately, they don't use it very well. Their allusions to it strike me as rather too elliptical for the presumed audience. How many Americans or Europeans are truly familiar with the Mahabarrata? I don't think that the authors can rely on a few words conjuring a lengthy episode for their readers. It is a vast work, and the authors have not confined themselves to the parts that are more familiar to the West. It is like listening in on a conversation between two old friends talking about a distant shared past; they may know what they mean, but bystanders who have no context or familiarity with the subjects of the conversation are baffled.

Further, the walk through the desert becomes incredibly boring. In the first place, it is hard to believe that they decided to cross an uninhabited desert. The Chinese, who presumably have already made this journey in the opposite direction, certainly didn't plan well; did the commander give no thought to how his troops were to be provisioned? What is now known as the Silk Road has numerous towns, oases, etc.: it was a major trade route, for heavens sake! Wouldn't that be the sensible path to travel? This is rather like describing I-95, the Federal highway that runs across most of the East coast as a animal track through a desolate wilderness.

But having decided to cross Asia the hard way, the story is a monotonous account of the struggle to survive: food, water, exhaustion. A skilled writer ought to be able to convey the miseries without endless repetition. Of course it is part of their experience, but this is a novel, it is supposed to have a compelling narrative. Blinking is certainly an important part of the human condition, but I really don't want to read a chronicle of eyeblinks. There should be some point to telling this tale. I think that most readers already know that deserts tend to be hot, dry and barren.

A tedious trip for characters and readers alike. ( )