Temple of a Thousand Faces by John Shors
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Temple of a Thousand Faces wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me. I'm sure it was quite realistic about the fates of a conquered people in Cambodia in the 12th Century. Based on the title, that's not the story I was expecting. I somehow thought it was going to be about something besides conquering, pillaging, raping and slaughtering. It was really much darker and more desperate than I like, as the story was told from the perspectives of several different people who were affected by the pillaging, raping and slaughtering. Oh, don't forget torture. That was in there, too.
The POV characters range from the Khmer prince and one of his wives to a lowly fisherman and his family, one of whom is almost blind as well as smart and brave, and possibly my favorite character. Also included is one of the officers of the Chams (the invaders) who is a decent fellow, increasingly sickened by his king's actions. Finally, there is a young woman who is enslaved by the Chams at her wedding - what an awful fate.
I liked all of these characters, and feared for them. That's why I kept reading in spite of the violence, which I actually found boring. (Blah blah, slaughter 500 hundred men to teach a lesson, blah blah blah.) I needed to know that they ended up well, an outcome that was not guaranteed. Unless you know this part of history, which I didn't.
The conquering king was one of those vile characters without a shred of goodness to him. His assassin was another. If it hadn't ended how it did for those two, this review would have a 1 star rating. But the ending was at least vindicating, and thankfully (for me) it was a happy ending for most of the characters involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment