Does the focus ever change from being a whirlwind tour of sex?
I’m about 220 pages into this book. I enjoyed the parts in Venice at the beginning and I enjoy the writing style, descriptions, etc. But I’m pretty tired of the constant sex scenes. I thought it was one thing when the young Marco was first learning about sex, but all the book has been so far is a tour of sex customs of the Middle East. Go here, have sex, learn some new perversions/techniques/names of all the body parts in a new tongue, repeat to infinity.
Does this ever stop? Of course I’m sure there’s some more sex throughout the next 500 some pages but does the focus change? I thought there would be some adventure/politics/exploration. I just got done with Princess Shams(shudder) just to move on to 8 year old boys being anally raped as a tradition. All I’ve learned about these countries is their sexual appetites can seemingly never be sated(true as this may be, it’s not what I was hoping for from the book).
Well, IIRC, the sex continues all the way through. You get a lot more politics later on, and the sex kinda dies down, but it never goes away completely. Your call.
Gary Jennings specializes in writing vast historical novels which include graphic descriptions of every conceivable crime against God and man. They’re like instruction manuals for deviants. :eek:
If The Journeyer turns you off, don’t ever pick up Aztec.
Aztec was like a story in the Weekly Reader compared to Jennings’ Aztec Autumn. I’m no prude, and I haven’t read The Journeryer, but I’ve read all of the Jennings I can stomach.
Dang, that was my next question(I wondered about Aztec)! Sad as I really like the overall feel of the book.
This book seemed really promising but I’m not in the mood for this right now. I’ll try a couple chapters more. Anyone have any similar recommendations for me? I basically haven’t read anything in historical fiction besides The Name of the Rose(real good but too dry at times) and (if it counts loosely…)Quicksilver.
I want a thick rich historical novel(or series) from most any period, hopefully with a good dose of adventure. I’m not a stickler for accuracy.
I enjoyed The Aztec very much. I was interested in the Aztec civilization at the time and found the detail to be facinating. The Journeyor was my second Jennings novel. It started out OK but ultimately I had an awful time choking it down. I rec’d Aztec Autumn as a gift a few years ago and haven’t even cracked the cover.
I think Journeyer is probably the worst for the sexual perversions. Jennings seemed to have a thing for pedophilia, especially, and he can be hard to stomach but he also has some fascinatingly detailed research in his books in between the debauchery.
I’d recommend Raptor as the least offensive, sexually. It’s still filthy but it’s not sicko filthy. It’s about a hermaphrodite during the Gothic siege of Rome (it’s not as weird as it sounds).
This book seemed really promising but I’m not in the mood for this right now. I’ll try a couple chapters more. Anyone have any similar recommendations for me? I basically haven’t read anything in historical fiction besides The Name of the Rose(real good but too dry at times) and (if it counts loosely…)Quicksilver.