Maia by Richard Adams

I found this book in a used book store ‘round about 1993.  It intrigued me then-a Richard Adams book that I had not heard of (Watership Down, anyone?) and which upon reading defied all expectations.  It’s the story of a young girl who was sold into slavery by her mother, became the concubine of a wealthy spymaster and was positioned to (and did!) become a hero for her country.  What's not to like?

On the reread, the book has traits of soft porn (I know, I know, but I gotta tell it like it is) but it doesn’t feel as risqué as it actually is because all of the “naughty” words are replaced with words in the language of the book which makes everything just a bit remote and disconnected.  The book seemed really long this time around-I don’t recall it taking so long to get through and I can’t really account for that.  I mean, I think I probably read as fast now as I ever have… 

In terms of the book, Mia is a tremendous adventure story, a coming of age novel, a story of friendship and a love story in the tradition of the fantasy genre in a fully rounded world…Shardik (also by Adams) is set in the same time and roughly the same place and some of the characters even overlap but you don’t have to have read one to enjoy the other.  This book gets credit for SUTMR (stands up to multiple readings) and this time around, a solid rating of #4 Liked It…I am certain that in my earlier readings it was squarely in the #3 Enjoyed It Very Much, else why would this have been my third or fourth reading of it?  

I think that different books have a different impact on you depending on where you are in life and my guess is I read this the first time when I was much closer to Mia’s age in the novel and was able to more easily connect with her experiences.  From my ancient seat in my mid to late 40s, its perhaps harder to do so?  I don’t know.  I’d like to hit it again in another decade and see how I feel then.  Unfortunately, the copy of the book that I have is falling apart at the seams (seriously…its in like 10 different pieces) and I have never seen another copy of it and its not available on the Nook so its hard to know when/if I’ll read it again but life is long and I suspect I’ll make my way back to it again someday.

Rating:  #4 Liked It (with memories of #3 Enjoyed It Very Much from earlier readings)