The Fall of the Phoenix

The twist in this book is either completely ridiculous or utterly brilliant. I'm not sure. But one thing is for sure, it was unique and unexpected. If you feel like you've heard the story of Troy enough times but want a short war novel that will still surprise you, this is definitely a worthwhile endeavor.

The unfortunate part is that I didn't really enjoy reading the book. I think the author is bad at writing dialogue, I can't think of any conversations that felt realistic or good; most felt stilted or awkward. I felt the character motivations in the book are always pretty murky or liquid. It's like he decided how he wanted the story to be different, and didn't put enough thought into how to get everyone there.

Also, near the end of the book, it randomly switches to first person, as in there's a narrator actively telling you the story, which was not employed previously. And then a page later, he actually briefly introduces Homer. So the “narrator” is not Homer. So I'm just....really unsure why this switch was seen as a good idea, because I found it pretty jarring and strange.

Also I'm still waiting for a book to give Diomedes his due. I'm not sure why he is always cut, or killed off early, or in this case, made into a random petulant child (literally a child). Diomedes is badass.