Review by timothynasibi -- The Fox by M. N. J. Butler
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timothynasibi
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- Latest Review: The Fox by M. N. J. Butler
Review by timothynasibi -- The Fox by M. N. J. Butler
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Fox" by M. N. J. Butler.]
3 out of 4 stars
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The Fox by M.N.J Butler is a scintillating tale of the story of the city state of Sparta, its rise and its consequent fall. It reveals the real reason for the powerful attraction that men had for the Spartan way of life. Even though Sparta had a lot of enemies, for centuries it was always heralded as the ideal of leadership, discipline and conduct. This was even the case among her enemies as they were able to do what very few other city states and kingdoms were able to do —live up to its ideals.
The main portion of the story is to a great degree that of character growth and development as we see the main characters as young men on their journey of self discovery and maturation becoming full-fledged men in the end. This part in particular touches on the nature of the Agoge, which was the Spartan education system that started at the early age of seven. In this education system, the instruction was in the form of abandonment; the children being sent to live in the world in order to learn perseverance, and survival. This mode of training in the Agoge proceeded through their twenties until they reached the ripe age of thirty where they acquired full citizenship. It is reasonably ruthless, yet it likewise fastens incredible bonds that can't be broken. They were removed from their childhood regiments and set up as warriors at 18. This made them essentially family. Siblings of one mother, one father—children of Sparta. All faithful, all daring, every one an indelible part of the whole.
Our protagonist, Leotychides is without a doubt a piece of this fraternity but at the same time he's something more. His dad is one of the two rulers of Sparta. Or on the other hand rather, the man recognized as his dad seems to be. His genuine dad was Alcibiades the Athenian, who impregnated his mom while selling out his comrades before scarpering off to sell them hard and fast to Persia. Leo is an intriguing character. He's brimming with the rashness and obstinate pride of his biological father coupled with the outstanding discipline he has mustered to tame himself and his aspirations.
Leo has an entire host of issues that plague the entirety of his story, all arising from his status as legitimate ruler. It is his peculiar placement and the vicissitudes that plague him that keep Leo as a character interesting and our attention fully transfixed on him. He never questions his resoluteness in keeping up Lycurgus' laws, however by the end I believe obviously his most prominent quality is furtively his most prominent shortcoming.
One of the things I really love about this book is the enormous work that was undertaken by Butler in the form of extensive research which was quintessential in making the book so precise and plausible. The language used is clear vivid and direct such that it completely teleports the reader to the ancient period of classical Greece, a fete in and of itself.
However, I would be remiss if I did not point out some of the glaring shortcomings of this masterpiece. One of the things that was particularly disturbing for me, was the slow tempo at which the story unfolded. It took me a while to get fully indulged in the story. In today’s fast paced world majority of people don’t just have the time nor the inclination to wait upon the author to bring the beauty of the story to its immaculate, enticing end. Furthermore, the number of inconsequential characters are so many that you lose track and even completely forget others. For instance if you would look at the characters with names starting with the letter ‘A’ you will completely gob-smacked. Still in line with this shortcoming, is the immense difficulty I experienced in pronouncing the names of some of the characters. This difficulty further exacerbated the difficulty I experienced in recollecting the names of the various characters in the story. The characters also lacked the severe profundity and depth that I would normally associate with a tale of such magnitude. I wish the author would have done better on this. This resulted in a situation where a character would die, but it would not have much of an impact on me as the reader.
All in all, even though the story was a slow burn for me, it more than makes up for these deficiencies in the tail-end of the story. There were very few errors in the book which did not interfere with the reading of the story. I give it a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. The plot was intriguing and exciting and would deeply interest genuine fiction lovers, particularly those with an inclination towards history, human science, legislative issues and military system. I would not prescribe it to sentimental people, or the individuals who like quick paced books, as this one is a slow burn and it takes the story a while to really kick in.
******
The Fox
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
3 out of 4 stars
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The Fox by M.N.J Butler is a scintillating tale of the story of the city state of Sparta, its rise and its consequent fall. It reveals the real reason for the powerful attraction that men had for the Spartan way of life. Even though Sparta had a lot of enemies, for centuries it was always heralded as the ideal of leadership, discipline and conduct. This was even the case among her enemies as they were able to do what very few other city states and kingdoms were able to do —live up to its ideals.
The main portion of the story is to a great degree that of character growth and development as we see the main characters as young men on their journey of self discovery and maturation becoming full-fledged men in the end. This part in particular touches on the nature of the Agoge, which was the Spartan education system that started at the early age of seven. In this education system, the instruction was in the form of abandonment; the children being sent to live in the world in order to learn perseverance, and survival. This mode of training in the Agoge proceeded through their twenties until they reached the ripe age of thirty where they acquired full citizenship. It is reasonably ruthless, yet it likewise fastens incredible bonds that can't be broken. They were removed from their childhood regiments and set up as warriors at 18. This made them essentially family. Siblings of one mother, one father—children of Sparta. All faithful, all daring, every one an indelible part of the whole.
Our protagonist, Leotychides is without a doubt a piece of this fraternity but at the same time he's something more. His dad is one of the two rulers of Sparta. Or on the other hand rather, the man recognized as his dad seems to be. His genuine dad was Alcibiades the Athenian, who impregnated his mom while selling out his comrades before scarpering off to sell them hard and fast to Persia. Leo is an intriguing character. He's brimming with the rashness and obstinate pride of his biological father coupled with the outstanding discipline he has mustered to tame himself and his aspirations.
Leo has an entire host of issues that plague the entirety of his story, all arising from his status as legitimate ruler. It is his peculiar placement and the vicissitudes that plague him that keep Leo as a character interesting and our attention fully transfixed on him. He never questions his resoluteness in keeping up Lycurgus' laws, however by the end I believe obviously his most prominent quality is furtively his most prominent shortcoming.
One of the things I really love about this book is the enormous work that was undertaken by Butler in the form of extensive research which was quintessential in making the book so precise and plausible. The language used is clear vivid and direct such that it completely teleports the reader to the ancient period of classical Greece, a fete in and of itself.
However, I would be remiss if I did not point out some of the glaring shortcomings of this masterpiece. One of the things that was particularly disturbing for me, was the slow tempo at which the story unfolded. It took me a while to get fully indulged in the story. In today’s fast paced world majority of people don’t just have the time nor the inclination to wait upon the author to bring the beauty of the story to its immaculate, enticing end. Furthermore, the number of inconsequential characters are so many that you lose track and even completely forget others. For instance if you would look at the characters with names starting with the letter ‘A’ you will completely gob-smacked. Still in line with this shortcoming, is the immense difficulty I experienced in pronouncing the names of some of the characters. This difficulty further exacerbated the difficulty I experienced in recollecting the names of the various characters in the story. The characters also lacked the severe profundity and depth that I would normally associate with a tale of such magnitude. I wish the author would have done better on this. This resulted in a situation where a character would die, but it would not have much of an impact on me as the reader.
All in all, even though the story was a slow burn for me, it more than makes up for these deficiencies in the tail-end of the story. There were very few errors in the book which did not interfere with the reading of the story. I give it a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. The plot was intriguing and exciting and would deeply interest genuine fiction lovers, particularly those with an inclination towards history, human science, legislative issues and military system. I would not prescribe it to sentimental people, or the individuals who like quick paced books, as this one is a slow burn and it takes the story a while to really kick in.
******
The Fox
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Fox by M. N. J. Butler
