In Beyond the Battle of Naupaktos, in 430 BC, by Arion's courageous response to the pirate attack north of Kaphereos Promontory, he earns back some of the trust and goodwill that he lost when he tried to escape his servitude. Then, from 430 BC - 428 BC, come several naval battles and the plague: dangerous times, but times for a man of courage. If Arion has learned enough of patience and subservience, can he hope for a generous manumission? And then comes the revolt of Lesbos in 428 BC, which tests Arion's patience and that of Athens. Maybe he has waited too long.
To assist potential readers in making good choices about whether or not to purchase any of the four volumes of Arion's Odyssey, I offer the following additional information about this tetralogy, which is set in Classical Greece, with the city-state (polis) of Athens as one protagonist and Arion (a human) as the other.
Each volume of Arion's Odyssey is a combination of historical novel, ancient travelogue, ancient poetry, mythology, religion, and history. If you would enjoy a saga as detailed as Melville's Moby-Dick, as kaleidoscopic as Michener's Iberia, and as expansive as Hugo's Les Miserable, you might love this tetralogy.
Regarding Athens and its empire, the following portion of each novel is similar to an ancient travelogue: one third of Life After Death at Ipsambul (volume 1); one fifth of Aegean Fire (volume 2); one tenth of Beyond the Battle of Naupaktos (volume 3); one tenth of Return to Lesbos (volume 4).
Set in the ancient Mediterranean world, Arion's Odyssey is an adult story about Arion, a sensitive Greek (boy becoming a man) from a wealthy mercantile family on the Greek island of Lesbos. It begins fourteen years prior to the inception of the Peloponnesian War, and ends during that war: it spans the period from 445 BC to 427 BC.
If you would like to experience life in the ancient Mediterranean world, then you will probably enjoy this adult story about coming-of-age there.
