Official Review: The Sword of Agrippa Antioch

RussetDivinity · Post by **RussetDivinity** » 02 Feb 2015, 20:07

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Sword of Agrippa Antioch" by Gregory Lloyd.]

3 out of 4 stars

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The Sword of Agrippa: Antioch is the first in a series, and it shows. The first section (after the prologue) is devoted to introducing us to the protagonist, Roy Swenson, and his attempts to bring about greater understandings of human and animal abilities through studying the pineal gland and whatever effects it might have on animals’ ability to somehow communicate through thoughts. What feels like a very long section of the first chapter describes Roy’s views of the world, especially of religion and science, and it isn’t until sometime in the second chapter, which deals with a young Roman named Marcus Agrippa, that my attention was fully hooked. The book did get enjoyable enough for me to give it 3 out of 4 stars, despite its slow start.

The book takes place in the near future, which meant that a fair bit of the science was, if not completely comprehensible, at least accessible to a lay person without needing too much detailed explanation. It also means that the conflict between science and religion that Roy is concerned about feels realistic, although he has a rather different take on it than I would normally expect from the protagonist of a science fiction novel. Rather than being firmly on the side of science and despising religion, Roy is fed up with both sides and is attempting to achieve some kind of New Age change of consciousness, though with a distinct focus on scientific pursuits. I’m still not sure how I feel about this, though that’s likely because Roy’s opinions come on rather strongly at the start of the novel before we have much of a chance to be on his side, and the novel all but states that he is completely correct in his assumptions about the universe.

Only about half of the book takes place in the near future; the other half tells the story of Marcus Agrippa, a young man who travels to Egypt alongside Julius Caesar and becomes enchanted by a slave named Samia who is far more than she appears. Agrippa and Roy are connected somehow, though as readers we can’t entirely tell how, and Agrippa’s story has some of the same New Age feel that Roy’s does. I’m not an expert on Egyptian history and so can’t say how realistic this half of the book is, but I will say that I found myself mildly skeptical about it. However, I was curious enough about where it would go to continue reading.

This book only barely got three stars, though that was mostly because I had some trouble getting through the beginning to the part where the story actually picks up. When it does pick up, though, I found myself drawn along through it, especially because the writing is at times poetic (at other times it sounds like it’s trying slightly too hard to be poetic, but the truly poetic parts are quite lovely) and I enjoyed getting lost in the words. If it hadn’t been for those sections, this book might well have stayed at just two stars.

I said that it shows that this book is the first in a series; a lot of the book feels like it’s the setup for something much larger, and while I am curious about what that larger thing might be, I did find myself slightly disappointed that I was only getting this rather small beginning. Still, for readers who are willing to be patient, I would recommend this book.

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The Sword of Agrippa Antioch
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