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Raptor
AN ADVENTURER UNLIKE ANY OTHER--THE RAPTOR...
HE BOLDLY EMBRACED THE PASSION AND VIOLENCE OF AN EMPIRE AS CORRUPT AS IT WAS MAGNIFICENT
An abandoned waif, the blond, gray-eyed Goth was called simply Thorn. From his unorthodox sexual awakening in a monastery and a convent to his exciting journey across Europe in search of his people, he would learn a warrior's skills and the cunning of a survivor. And amidst it all a stunning secret would mark him forever as an outsider who knew too deeply and too well all the hidden desires of men's ... and women's ... hearts. In the great cities of a dying empire, on the battlefields of Roman legions, and in the opulent palaces of potentates and kings, Thorn would witness human beings at their most brutal and their most noble. His incomparable adventures bring to electrifying life a vanished age never again matched for its doers of great deeds...and of chilling revenge.
(Set in the fifth century A.D. and framed by Theodoric the Great's conquest of Rome.)
HE BOLDLY EMBRACED THE PASSION AND VIOLENCE OF AN EMPIRE AS CORRUPT AS IT WAS MAGNIFICENT
An abandoned waif, the blond, gray-eyed Goth was called simply Thorn. From his unorthodox sexual awakening in a monastery and a convent to his exciting journey across Europe in search of his people, he would learn a warrior's skills and the cunning of a survivor. And amidst it all a stunning secret would mark him forever as an outsider who knew too deeply and too well all the hidden desires of men's ... and women's ... hearts. In the great cities of a dying empire, on the battlefields of Roman legions, and in the opulent palaces of potentates and kings, Thorn would witness human beings at their most brutal and their most noble. His incomparable adventures bring to electrifying life a vanished age never again matched for its doers of great deeds...and of chilling revenge.
(Set in the fifth century A.D. and framed by Theodoric the Great's conquest of Rome.)
914 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1992
52 people are currently reading
1,538 people want to read
About the author
Gary Jennings
132books440followersGary Jennings led a paradoxically picaresque life. On one hand, he was a man of acknowledged intellect and erudition. His novels were international best sellers, praised around the world for their stylish prose, lively wit and adventurously bawdy spirit. They were also massive - often topping 500,000 words - and widely acclaimed for the years of research he put into each one, both in libraries and in the field.
Jennings served in the Korean War, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal- a decoration rarely given to soldier-reporters- and a personal citation by South Korean President Syngman Rhee for his efforts on behalf of war orphans.
Where the erudition came from, however, was something of a mystery.
Jennings served in the Korean War, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal- a decoration rarely given to soldier-reporters- and a personal citation by South Korean President Syngman Rhee for his efforts on behalf of war orphans.
Where the erudition came from, however, was something of a mystery.
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May 11, 2023
By the hammer of Thor, I wish I could go with you! Just think! To breast new horizons, to solve so many enigmas ...�
Welcome to the kinky version of ancient history, in an epic and irreverent presentation by Gary Jennings, author of the Aztec series, of a chronicle of the travels of Marco Polo [Journeyer] and of the Golden Age of itinerant circus shows [Spangle].
The present novel aims at the meteoric rise of a Gothic Empire under Theodoric, covering most of the territory of the Western Roman empire, including Rome, from cca. 470 to 530 A.D.
I knew what to expect from my previous journeys under the guidance of Jennings, but a word of warning is probably needed for readers with a more easily offended temperament: this is not an actual history book, but an adventure epic that plays fast and loose with the available data and that tends to spice things up with a lot of explicit sex scenes, mostly of a ‘deviant� nature. I will use the fictional translator note of the original text by Saio Thorn for this purpose:
If the remainder, which is to say the bulk, of his chronicle is not outright and incredible invention, it is so scandalously impious, blasphemous, scurrilous and obscene as to offend and disgust any reader who is not a professional historian like myself, well practised in dispassionate objectivity. As a historian, I resolutely decline to judge the worth of any written work according to its moral propriety.
The 1980s, when Gary Jennings published his work, were definitely more liberal minded about sex and alternative lifestyles than today’s polarized society. I’m referencing here mostly the American book market, because I can’t imagine Jennings� books being banned or burned elsewhere today because he has chosen to make a hermaphrodite his main character.
We meet Thorn for the first time at the age of 12, an innocent orphan boy abandoned at the gate of a monastery in the Jura mountains, near the border of Switzerland, raised by the monks and just about to be raped by his boss in the kitchen. Upon discovery of his feminine genitalia, Thorn is transferred to a nearby abbey for nuns, where he proceeds to seduce or be seduced by one of his sisters.
In this way, we are introduced to the dual nature of this main character, who is somehow able to switch from one gender to the other at will, masking the external aspects of the opposite sex and also being able to switch emotionally between his male and his female personalities. A Mannanavi, in the local Gothic dialect of his period.
The fact that he was abused and then rejected by his peers in both guises as a freak, convinces Thorn that he needs to become self-reliant and merciless, just like the local hawk that he has caught and trained.
� a being uninhibited by conscience, compassion, remorse � a being as implacably amoral as the juika-bloth and every other raptor on this earth.
Teenager Thorn, after he exacts his revenge against the authority figures that abused him, strikes out on his own in the world, on a journey that will take him first westward into Burgundy, later north and east into the barbarian lands, in search of his origins among the different branches of Goths roaming the continent, mostly Visigoths and Ostrogoths.
The beginnings are modest, first alone with his raptor bird, and later under the tutelage of a Roman veteran turned fur trapper named Wyrd.
However extensive may be the cleared and cultivated patches, and however numerous may be their human inhabitants, and however imposing may be their towns and cities, those clearings are but islands in the great primeval sea of trees.
Eventually, after many adventures, both battles and bedroom encounters, Thorn meets a young Theodoric just as he leaves Constantinople to make his own way into the world. The two become friends and Thorn is named a marshal [Saio] of the Ostrogoth kingdom, acting mostly as the king’s master spy and secret agent.
This task is greatly aided by Thorn’s ability to transform at will from male to female, as the situation or his libido demands. It will also take us as readers from the siege of Belgrade in an early episode, to the mouth of the Danube River, to the court of Emperor Zeno in Constantinople, east to Asia Minor, north to the mouth of the Vistula and the islands in the Baltic sea that are considered the birthland of the Goths, west to depose the barbarian emperor Odoacer from Ravenna and establish the greatest Gothic empire on record: events loosely based on the actual biographical reign of Theodoric the Great.
>>><<<>>><<<
I used the words ‘loosely based� in my commentary because I was curious enough about the events and the people described here to read more about the period, especially after Thorn visits territory that is now part of Romania in a period that produced very few actual documents [too many barbarian invasions for scribes to make a living there]
Gary Jennings has a well-deserved reputation for diligent research of his novels, and Raptor is no exception. Indeed, the epic is extremely rich in details from every social strata: from the crazy roll of emperor heads at the end of the Roman civilization [ I have lost count of all the emperors who have ruled Rome or Ravenna in my lifetime. ] to the patchwork of tribes and small kingdoms left behind by the scourge of Attila’s Huns ; from the decadent parties of Roman elites, compared to Satyricon by Petronius, to the street life of impoverished peasants; from the scriptoriums of monks and the works of Latin poets like Terence [ I am a man. Nothing human is alien to me. ] to the barbarian customs of remote tribes of the steppe, brutal Amazons included.
Jennings may be a little pedantic in delivering his research trivia almost ad literam, but these small cultural tidbits are what really make the journey immersive for me. He might occasionally make things up, and insist too much on suspect etymology and on inserting Gothic and Latin phrases in conversation [‘goose-summer cloth�?; although ‘krchma� is still in use locally as a name for a pub], but I truly felt there was never a dull moment in these almost a thousand pages.
The author’s editorial intervention in the biographical notes on Theodoric comes mostly in the form of white-washing his record, a sort of hero worshipping for what he considered a man ahead of his times in terms of governance and religious tolerance.
“Throughout history, Europeans of different faiths have fought and killed each other for this reason or that. But never until the coming of Christianity did men of our western world fight and kill each other because of their faiths � one seeking to impose his on the other.�
A good part of the novel, right from the start, takes aim at the hypocrisy and the power-grabbing thirst of the two main branches of Christianity : Orthodox in the east and Catholic in the West, to the detriment and persecution of all other beliefs. The period covered here also marks the start of the organized extermination of the Arian ‘heresy� as defined by the ‘established� churches. Thorn is amoral and predatory, a freethinker who rejects all religions, but his idol Theodoric is an Arian, like most of the Gothic tribes.
Jennings identifies the crime for which the followers of Arius were punished as their laissez-faire, their complacency in treating all religions as equal in value, instead of claiming the precedence of Christ. I believe there were also some more esoteric interpretations of the nature of the Holy Trinity.
“While we Western Christians rightly regard sin as vice, and its cure as discipline, the insipid Eastern Christians regard sin as ignorance, and its cure as education.�
The virulent attack of organised religion might be even more offputting to certain modern readers that the explicit nature of the sex scenes, but I happen to be interested in the way dogma was established in those early centuries both in ecumenical councils and at the point of a sword. Theodoric’s reign was followed by the rise of Justinian and Theodora in the east, now considered saints by Orthodoxy despite the fact that some of their actions against other factions can be read as genocide.
In the novel, the high point of the reign of Theodoric in Ravenna is marked by his ‘non-possumus� proclamation regarding religious beliefs, an early example of the separation of church and state in his refusal to recognize Christianity as a state religion and in his insistence that his subjects must be free to follow whatever deity might please them.
There is some support for this thesis of Jennings, but there is also evidence that Theodoric engaged in some form of religious persecution of his own. The author tries to find excuses for his idol’s actions, but the fate of the philosopher Boetius, a luminary at the Gothic court, stands as witness for the prosecution.
The other reason Jennings has chosen Theodoric as the focus of his historical epic is a rather weird form of social Darwinism that presents tribes as victorious or extinct based on their warlike nature. The Goths are seen as fresh blood on the history canvas, the natural conquerors of the decadent Romans, with variations in smaller Eastern tribes introduced as further support for the theory:
In former times, those people were very warlike, but over the ages they were so often defeated and cast down and oppressed that they lost all their bellicosity. Indeed, so far have the Mysians degenerated that now they earn their living chiefly by hiring themselves out to be mourners at funerals. Because of their woeful history and melancholy heritage, they can spontaneously shed copious tears for any defunct stranger.
In an apparent rejection of democratic principles, the Greeks are dismissed here with the observation that ... they degenerated into a nation of jellyfish.
I don’t know how much of this content represents the author’s own opinions, or his reading of this particular historical period. So I will rather end this section with something closer to my own bias, a lesson from the old trapper Wyrd to a younger Thorn:
“Do not put your faith in fables, urchin, whether they are related by a booby or a bishop. Or even by wise old me. Use your own eyes, your own experience, your own reason to determine the truth of things.�
I deliberately left out any comments on the dual nature of Thorn as a functional hermaphrodite [more wishful thinking of Jennings than actual science] partly in order to avoid a flame war online, partly because some of these scenes feel forced and slightly awkward, a well known peculiarity of the author who likes to spice things up in his stories in the most provocative way possible.
I did make note of his take of judicial oversight among the Goths, because it was superimposed with the current scandal about bribes at the US Supreme Court:
His judgement seat was draped with a genuine human skin, flayed from some former judge who had proved corruptible. It may have been done so long ago that the skin was only a worn and tattered rag ... because not many later judges would ignore such a reminder to be always fair and honest.
A fun and informative journey, indeed!
September 20, 2014
This was one of those books I couldn't put down and suffered at work the next day for it. The story and characters have stuck with me these 9 years since I have read it. One of my friends made off with my paperback copy, so I just recently decided to replace it with a first edition hardcover.
This isn't really a spoiler, but there are many graphic scenes of sex, violence, incest et al. The main character is an intersexed person (hermaphrodite, for the non-PC among us)and s/he uses what s/he's got like s/he's going to lose it tomorrow.
The historical detail is astounding. Historical characters are woven seamlessly into the storyline. Jennings travelled the Balkans researching this book and it shows. What many consider his masterpiece, Aztec, found him living among their descendants intermittently for 12(!) years.
Read it. You won't regret it.
This isn't really a spoiler, but there are many graphic scenes of sex, violence, incest et al. The main character is an intersexed person (hermaphrodite, for the non-PC among us)and s/he uses what s/he's got like s/he's going to lose it tomorrow.
The historical detail is astounding. Historical characters are woven seamlessly into the storyline. Jennings travelled the Balkans researching this book and it shows. What many consider his masterpiece, Aztec, found him living among their descendants intermittently for 12(!) years.
Read it. You won't regret it.
October 29, 2007
Trash-tacular yet compelling. Still, Gary Jennings novels are always despite my better judgment. How can a guy be so punctilious about his historical research and yet not learn that a hermaphrodite is not "fully functional"?
February 24, 2014
Raptor will always be a fond favorite of mine. It was the first “taboo� book I’d ever read, and incidentally, one of the first characters—aside from Lyra Belacqua in Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy—whom I identified with. I credit Gary Jennings for opening my eyes to a world beyond one-dimensional heroes and heroines. In that same vein, Jennings had this incredible ability to take a simple thread and weave it into a complex, colorful tapestry—applying both to his well-rounded characters and highly engaging plot line. I fell in love with Thorn (Veleda) from page one and was a willing literary slave throughout their incredible coming-of-age journey.
The book is told through Thorn’s eyes as he matures into a “fully-functioning �, sensually-aware young hermaphrodite (intersexual) through a series of bizarre, often questionably consensual, sexual (mis)situations. At least that’s what Jennings threw us into within the first 50 pages , respectively. While I cared very little for the stomach-churning rape scene(s), I had to admire the way Jennings allowed Thorn to grow from the situation(s!!) and turn the character’s mindless abuse into a weapon of revenge. In some of the scenes, it was like watching the classic revenge film, “I Spit on Your Grave”—a bloody, gratuitous excuse for torture porn, yes�. But one you found yourself routing for the victim-cum-avenging angel, nonetheless.
Aside from Thorn/Veleda’s sexual awakening, the book was the quintessential quest-for-missing-object tale—in this case, the missing “object� being Thorn’s identity. Here you have your young hero/ine, (Thorn/Veleda) conflicted by their past and torn between two identities. You have the catalyst that thrusts them onto their story path (getting kicked out of the convent), and toward their first major obstacle (learning how to fight). You’re introduced to a way around that first obstacle by way of the first major character (Wyrd); and through proper training, the main character conquers their first obstacle and finds a small sense of what their missing “object� is. (Thorn starts to realize that he can live life quite passable as both Thorn AND Veleda.)
We continue to follow Thorn/Veleda on their journey to finding their inner warrior while travelling the lush landscape that was Jennings� historical visitation of 5th/6th century Rome. In this sense, Jennings showed his true talent: recreating sprawling landmarks of ancient history. As with his other epic, Aztec, his attention to detail was both painstaking and overabundant; oftentimes forgoing character progression in favor of exploring the architecture and the land. While his attention to detail gave the story texture, there were times where it was a bit heavy-handed. Overall, though, he managed to reach a nice balance between setting and plot, so I won’t complain too much about it.
In summation, this 900 page beast of a book was nothing if not memorable. It’s been years since the first time I read it yet I still find myself thinking about Thorn/Veleda from time to time. There aren’t many books that can boast the same thing. And I think that’s a wonderful attribute to have.
The book is told through Thorn’s eyes as he matures into a “fully-functioning �, sensually-aware young hermaphrodite (intersexual) through a series of bizarre, often questionably consensual, sexual (mis)situations. At least that’s what Jennings threw us into within the first 50 pages , respectively. While I cared very little for the stomach-churning rape scene(s), I had to admire the way Jennings allowed Thorn to grow from the situation(s!!) and turn the character’s mindless abuse into a weapon of revenge. In some of the scenes, it was like watching the classic revenge film, “I Spit on Your Grave”—a bloody, gratuitous excuse for torture porn, yes�. But one you found yourself routing for the victim-cum-avenging angel, nonetheless.
Aside from Thorn/Veleda’s sexual awakening, the book was the quintessential quest-for-missing-object tale—in this case, the missing “object� being Thorn’s identity. Here you have your young hero/ine, (Thorn/Veleda) conflicted by their past and torn between two identities. You have the catalyst that thrusts them onto their story path (getting kicked out of the convent), and toward their first major obstacle (learning how to fight). You’re introduced to a way around that first obstacle by way of the first major character (Wyrd); and through proper training, the main character conquers their first obstacle and finds a small sense of what their missing “object� is. (Thorn starts to realize that he can live life quite passable as both Thorn AND Veleda.)
We continue to follow Thorn/Veleda on their journey to finding their inner warrior while travelling the lush landscape that was Jennings� historical visitation of 5th/6th century Rome. In this sense, Jennings showed his true talent: recreating sprawling landmarks of ancient history. As with his other epic, Aztec, his attention to detail was both painstaking and overabundant; oftentimes forgoing character progression in favor of exploring the architecture and the land. While his attention to detail gave the story texture, there were times where it was a bit heavy-handed. Overall, though, he managed to reach a nice balance between setting and plot, so I won’t complain too much about it.
In summation, this 900 page beast of a book was nothing if not memorable. It’s been years since the first time I read it yet I still find myself thinking about Thorn/Veleda from time to time. There aren’t many books that can boast the same thing. And I think that’s a wonderful attribute to have.
June 28, 2008
Read this with a map to chart the course of the Danube and also learned of the cities and passes in the Alps, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Tirol and so on. From the high mountains and open spaces in Alsace, the crumbling ruins of once mighty Rome, the deep forests around Lake Geneva, the rush of the water at the Iron Gate, or the cheers in a colosseum in Sofia, this author takes you there. c. 480-510 AD
November 8, 2011
I loved the fact that the book is very narrative. Throughout the passages you learn about different cultures and customs adopted by different civilizations such as goths, ostrogoth, ect. It talks about the adventures of the character Thorn, who is brought up and raised as a boy in a monistry to later learn he was a girl and sent to a convent to really find out she/he didn't really fully fit in one world but in both.
July 11, 2014
Read these Runes !!!
On the whole I enjoyed this novel: the [fictitious] memoirs of the hermaphrodite Thorn. I hated in the first Part: "In the Ring of Balsam" the drawn-out, graphic first sexual experiences of the intersex hero/heroine, Thorn, in both a monastery and a convent, In fact, anything of a graphic nature from then on I skipped over. I almost quit reading completely because of Part I, but am really glad I persevered after the first 70-80 pages. Thorn had been left at the monastery as a foundling. Since the only clue to his identity was the Runic letter Thorn on his swaddling; that became his name. I enjoyed the basic story of the rest of the novel, set at the time of Theodoric the Great and the Goths, right at and after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Thrown out from both monastery and convent, Thorn sets out from Burgundy to meet the Ostrogoths and comes upon a woodsman/fur trapper and trader, a previous officer in the Roman army, Wyrd, who guides him from Burgundy into central Europe. Wyrd was a fascinating character, a father figure and mentor to Thorn. For awhile Thorn has a pet eagle and Thorn says somewhere in the novel they are both amoral. All through the novel he compares himself to a raptor. The deaths of both the eagle and of Wyrd were moving. Later, on his journey eastward, Thorn meets Theodoric. Sometimes, depending on what is taking place in the story, Thorn 'becomes' a female, Veleda.
There was a lot of discussion on religions [mainly the three Christian sects in existence at that time], the place of women in society [Veleda experiences women's status herself], politics, etc. Thorn/Veleda journeys to Constantinople as Theodoric's emissary, and further journeying will take him to the Black Sea. I liked the descriptions of Constantinople and her customs, the emperor's palace, and Thorn's quarters. After capture by usurper [another Theodoric: "The Wall-Eyed"], Thorn escapes and aftrer his return to King Theodoric he is given the mission to find out the early history of the Goths, which he completes successfully, travelling to the Amber Coast and Skandza. Then Theodoric founds the Kingdom of the Goths; Thorn travels widely on his behalf; and the novel enumerates some of Theodoric's accomplishments: why history has called him "The Great." I felt the novel was researched well, but I question how much real history was incorporated, except the bare bones. I don't know much about hermaphrodites and wonder how well they can even function sexually. If many of the graphic aspects could have been excised their absence wouldn't have hurt the story or insights. I liked the semi-Fraktur typography and that page numbers were in the right and left margins.
On the whole I enjoyed this novel: the [fictitious] memoirs of the hermaphrodite Thorn. I hated in the first Part: "In the Ring of Balsam" the drawn-out, graphic first sexual experiences of the intersex hero/heroine, Thorn, in both a monastery and a convent, In fact, anything of a graphic nature from then on I skipped over. I almost quit reading completely because of Part I, but am really glad I persevered after the first 70-80 pages. Thorn had been left at the monastery as a foundling. Since the only clue to his identity was the Runic letter Thorn on his swaddling; that became his name. I enjoyed the basic story of the rest of the novel, set at the time of Theodoric the Great and the Goths, right at and after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Thrown out from both monastery and convent, Thorn sets out from Burgundy to meet the Ostrogoths and comes upon a woodsman/fur trapper and trader, a previous officer in the Roman army, Wyrd, who guides him from Burgundy into central Europe. Wyrd was a fascinating character, a father figure and mentor to Thorn. For awhile Thorn has a pet eagle and Thorn says somewhere in the novel they are both amoral. All through the novel he compares himself to a raptor. The deaths of both the eagle and of Wyrd were moving. Later, on his journey eastward, Thorn meets Theodoric. Sometimes, depending on what is taking place in the story, Thorn 'becomes' a female, Veleda.
There was a lot of discussion on religions [mainly the three Christian sects in existence at that time], the place of women in society [Veleda experiences women's status herself], politics, etc. Thorn/Veleda journeys to Constantinople as Theodoric's emissary, and further journeying will take him to the Black Sea. I liked the descriptions of Constantinople and her customs, the emperor's palace, and Thorn's quarters. After capture by usurper [another Theodoric: "The Wall-Eyed"], Thorn escapes and aftrer his return to King Theodoric he is given the mission to find out the early history of the Goths, which he completes successfully, travelling to the Amber Coast and Skandza. Then Theodoric founds the Kingdom of the Goths; Thorn travels widely on his behalf; and the novel enumerates some of Theodoric's accomplishments: why history has called him "The Great." I felt the novel was researched well, but I question how much real history was incorporated, except the bare bones. I don't know much about hermaphrodites and wonder how well they can even function sexually. If many of the graphic aspects could have been excised their absence wouldn't have hurt the story or insights. I liked the semi-Fraktur typography and that page numbers were in the right and left margins.
January 4, 2024
Maravillosa novela 100% recomendable. Se requería de un erudito como Jennings para desarrollar una historia tan interesante, entramada con datos históricos del imperio Godo.
Pero también, solo un autor con tanto oficio pudo describir tan claramente, el conflicto de un personaje principal tan� EXTRAVAGANTE, de sexualidad ambivalente.
Un único comentario sería que tengo sentimientos encontrados con algunas de las escenas sexuales, porque aunque amplían el ambiente del relato, me parecieron repugnantes y, tal vez, gratuitas, ya que no aportan gran avance en la historia. (Personal Consejo: Si se saltan la parte de la bacanal se ahorrarán un disgusto)
Pero también, solo un autor con tanto oficio pudo describir tan claramente, el conflicto de un personaje principal tan� EXTRAVAGANTE, de sexualidad ambivalente.
Un único comentario sería que tengo sentimientos encontrados con algunas de las escenas sexuales, porque aunque amplían el ambiente del relato, me parecieron repugnantes y, tal vez, gratuitas, ya que no aportan gran avance en la historia. (Personal Consejo: Si se saltan la parte de la bacanal se ahorrarán un disgusto)
July 10, 2012
Greatly enjoy Jenning's writing and Thorn's character. Throughout the book I felt Thorn maintained his base personality in being adventurous, inventive, curious and mischievous. And occasionally clumsy.
For the most part I greatly enjoyed this book. Towards the end there were times I was a little bored. I had to give it five stars because I felt there was so much in this book. It is a long book, but it's not just adventures and mischievousness, there's insight about the times and about Thorn's condition.
Thorn is (what we'd call now) an intersex individual, raised male and in a time period when being male is definitely beneficial. He does, however, adopt a bigender identity. He has a female and male self, considering them distinct people. Thorn was an authentic character with a lot of different emotions and insight. There were times, maybe due to his particular nature, that he seemed beyond his time.
I think the fact that Thorn is not a reliable narrator is distinct and pointed out at the beginning of the book and all the way through. He's very complicated and conflicted, trying to balance his selves (which is frequently a reflection on what it is to be human and him simply divvying it up, believing he's the only one who experiences the kind of emotions he does.) He also indulges in both sides of himself and to some extent uniquely so, in other times it's just human experiences. There are times when his two selves overlap or are apparent at the same time, but he doesn't recognize it.
It's interesting that he must dissect experiences and sort them. I think it's done to make it clear how much we, as people - male and female - dissect our emotions, responses and experiences to match with being male or female. Also, being bigender, his core personality remains even as his gender changes. In so many ways he's showing how gender is a complete construct and there is something more valuable under the constructs he follows simply because there's no other reality.
I could read this book again and get more from it. I could write several kinds of literary critiques and reviews on it. There's race, ethics, gender, nationalities, war, religion... Thorn gives his insight on everything as well as he can given how he's grown up and the culture he's surrounded by.
As far as the reality of what was happening during these times I don't think Jennings tries to sugar coat it, if anything he makes it more hideous. The world was a stark contrast to our modern one, yet a familiar world begins to take shape out of it, and I liked that. In a few important ways it related to our modern time and way of thinking.
Sometimes the diction was overwhelming, but it was usually promptly explained in one way or another. I like seeing history in this way and I think Jennings might have started me on historical fiction.
For the most part I greatly enjoyed this book. Towards the end there were times I was a little bored. I had to give it five stars because I felt there was so much in this book. It is a long book, but it's not just adventures and mischievousness, there's insight about the times and about Thorn's condition.
Thorn is (what we'd call now) an intersex individual, raised male and in a time period when being male is definitely beneficial. He does, however, adopt a bigender identity. He has a female and male self, considering them distinct people. Thorn was an authentic character with a lot of different emotions and insight. There were times, maybe due to his particular nature, that he seemed beyond his time.
I think the fact that Thorn is not a reliable narrator is distinct and pointed out at the beginning of the book and all the way through. He's very complicated and conflicted, trying to balance his selves (which is frequently a reflection on what it is to be human and him simply divvying it up, believing he's the only one who experiences the kind of emotions he does.) He also indulges in both sides of himself and to some extent uniquely so, in other times it's just human experiences. There are times when his two selves overlap or are apparent at the same time, but he doesn't recognize it.
It's interesting that he must dissect experiences and sort them. I think it's done to make it clear how much we, as people - male and female - dissect our emotions, responses and experiences to match with being male or female. Also, being bigender, his core personality remains even as his gender changes. In so many ways he's showing how gender is a complete construct and there is something more valuable under the constructs he follows simply because there's no other reality.
I could read this book again and get more from it. I could write several kinds of literary critiques and reviews on it. There's race, ethics, gender, nationalities, war, religion... Thorn gives his insight on everything as well as he can given how he's grown up and the culture he's surrounded by.
As far as the reality of what was happening during these times I don't think Jennings tries to sugar coat it, if anything he makes it more hideous. The world was a stark contrast to our modern one, yet a familiar world begins to take shape out of it, and I liked that. In a few important ways it related to our modern time and way of thinking.
Sometimes the diction was overwhelming, but it was usually promptly explained in one way or another. I like seeing history in this way and I think Jennings might have started me on historical fiction.
October 30, 2017
3.5* The broad scope of the book was handled well, with different sections that mostly focused on a smaller part of the story with a map to match. Some sections were more interesting than others and some just went on and on. The cultures and anecdotes were intriguing but often left me unsatisfied. Theodoric was interesting at first, but became too perfect and too lovingly depicted. As always, the book could have benefited from an author's note.
I liked Thorn's identity and how he dealt with it, for the most part, but there were far too many times in which he was oh so condescending. I got so sick of being told what women are like (we like jewelry), or that a woman is just a womb to be filled. I could appreciate that some of this was meant to be Thorn reflecting his times, but he was also supposed to be an enlightened thinker and it just got to be too much over the length of a very long book.
I liked Thorn's identity and how he dealt with it, for the most part, but there were far too many times in which he was oh so condescending. I got so sick of being told what women are like (we like jewelry), or that a woman is just a womb to be filled. I could appreciate that some of this was meant to be Thorn reflecting his times, but he was also supposed to be an enlightened thinker and it just got to be too much over the length of a very long book.
February 23, 2022
A veces (pocas) se empantana un poco, pero en general está muy bien. Sigo echando de menos mapas en las novelas históricas.
March 21, 2024
A fascinating premise utterly ruined by its execution. The story is about an intersex person, with characteristics of both sexes who becomes the right-hand "man" of King Theodoric of the Goths, conqueror of the Roman empire. The main character Thorn mostly acts like a man, but if he puts on a dress, he becomes a woman and the story is about his/her peregrinations through the empire of the Goths as witness to history of the era. It is a really interesting idea that had a lot of potential to illustrate the roles of both men and women in a nuanced way and further had potential because it was set in a time period not much explored in fiction. The opening when young Thorn experiences sexual awakening both as a boy and as a girl drew me right in. However, the story was in no way nuanced and I found myself irritated and unconvinced by the main character. For one thing, s/he seems utterly homophobic and is either completely a man when s/he is having sex with a woman or a woman when s/he is with a man. In both instances when someone attempts to approach Thorn thinking s/he is a member of their own sex, once when a monk rapes him thinking he's a boy and the other when a woman attempts to seduce her/him thinking s/he's a woman, s/he contrives to have them horribly killed. This strikes me as much more the author's hang-up than an accurate depiction of a truly intersex being. Why would s/he reject making love to men when acting as a man, when in his/her role as a woman, s/he's taken hundreds of male lovers? Also, I simply didn't buy the notion that among his/her literally hundreds of lovers, that no one figured out his/her condition. I'm sorry it doesn't work that he simply hid his phallus with a linen band when he was a woman. Despite Thorn's cleverness, as the story progressed, I found myself disliking him/her more and more, which is a rather difficult feat on the part of an author when the narration is in the first person. And no, I don't believe it was purposeful on the author's part. Clearly we are supposed to admire Thorn for his/her cleverness and sagacity.
In general, the women characters are despicable in the story with the exception of a princess dying of cancer. The whole section of the story where Thorn meets another intersex individual like himself who looks just like him, sort of an evil twin, was simply bizarre and the scene where they end up among the disgusting Amazons seemed merely to reinforce the author's hostility towards women.
There were long, pompous sections where Thorn travels throughout the empire that merely seemed designed to impress us with the author's admittedly immense amount of historical research.
Overall, I found the book without redeeming merit and only finished it because I couldn't believe it could continue to be so bad.
In general, the women characters are despicable in the story with the exception of a princess dying of cancer. The whole section of the story where Thorn meets another intersex individual like himself who looks just like him, sort of an evil twin, was simply bizarre and the scene where they end up among the disgusting Amazons seemed merely to reinforce the author's hostility towards women.
There were long, pompous sections where Thorn travels throughout the empire that merely seemed designed to impress us with the author's admittedly immense amount of historical research.
Overall, I found the book without redeeming merit and only finished it because I couldn't believe it could continue to be so bad.
May 19, 2021
Really long. Seemed well researched, but little things would pull me out and make me wonder. It would be interesting to learn about the Gothic empire and see how many liberties were taken. This book took me 5 months to finish...so buckle up, this is not a beach read.
September 6, 2007
Not quite as good as his other books. Probably as good as Aztec so the story is outstanding in any case!
Go get it and read it!
--Wag--
Go get it and read it!
--Wag--
Read
January 14, 2025It's Gary Jennings so it's always fun but this is probably his weakest novel. The main character, an intersex monk-turned-nobleman, is definitely the most complex of the protagonists he's written, and is able to pass for both men and women in the various lands he passes through . While there is a fair deal of psychological exploration into his ability to inhabit each gender one at a time, it often just becomes fodder for the author to go off on some weird sexual tangent. In that vein, while in Aztec the weird sex stuff was kind of interesting and creative, and in Spangle it mostly did reveal character, here it just felt a bit overkill like he truly just couldn't hold back. Perhaps that just illustrates the starkness of this book's setting: while the backdrop of Aztec is dazzling and beautiful, and Spangle guides us through magnificent cities and and performances, Raptor is set against a the fading world of the fall of Rome, where it becomes genuinely difficult to find any beauty anywhere. Despite this, it's interesting as a modern reader to view this time period through the lens of a Goth rather than a Roman. Instead of the everything falling apart, the world seems pretty normal, with functional city life, traveling merchants from all sorts of non-european lands, and legions and fleets guarding admittedly porous borders. When the Western Empire does finally fall, it only gets a couple sentences of mention, and it really drives home how unremarkable the 476 "fall of Rome" must have felt; for the Goths things were just getting started. Late antiquity in general and the short-lived Gothic kingdom in particular don't get a ton of attention so I appreciate Jennings for really making an effort to explore their culture a bit; they make a perfect foil for the more venal Mediterranean peoples they come to rule. Though it comes off a bit forced at times, the author's infectious love of languages comes through nonstop, so expect to learn a fair bit of Gothic vocabulary and sometimes even whole sentences. Plotwise it's standard Jennings fare, moving from place to place in quick succession, and I enjoyed the journeys into the Slavic lands, revealing some more exotic locales on the Baltic and the Alps that were much more developed than I'd expect. There's a whole side quest plot about finding the original homeland of the Goths that felt super promising but was basically just copied from Aztec and a bit of a letdown. Finally, the narrator makes such a big deal about being this amoral predator so I was expecting a bit of a wild card, but he's mostly pretty fine by the standards of the time, if not courageous and noble. Raptor addresses ageing probably more in depth than any of his other books, and the tragic decline of king Theodoric the Great felt veeery Biden-esque, leading to a conclusion that ultimately did feel very justified. If there is one thing he is good at, Jennings absolutely crushes death scenes, and some of these are absolutely brutal. When the namesake Raptor dies it's nothing short of heartbreaking and I couldn't help rereading that passage over and over again.
February 11, 2009
What a story. It takes place in like the first century or something which automatically makes it more interesting to me, being historical and all. The descriptions of the various lands, how people dress, and how much variety there is in the different tribes and groups of people that the main character interacts with is so vivid and described so perfectly. Jennings has great style without having the style itself stand out or keep you from picturing yourself right there with the character. Thorn's character obviously develops throughout the whole book, but one thing he never lost was his clever-ness. He may have had a lot to learn but he seemed to always be able to function just fine - if not better than those around him - when in foreign lands and while dealing with foreign customs. One thing I did notice is that he never seemed to have any self-doubt whatsoever. I have never read a 1st-person point of view novel where the character didn't have those internal questions of whether he/she was worthy for whatever it was that came their way (even just a few here and there). He took every problem head-on and with authority, rarely questioning his confidence.
If felt like I was reading three books rolled into one, and by the time I got to the end I felt like the beginning was like really far away. That's not a good thing or a bad thing, I was just noticing it. Overall, it was excellent!
If felt like I was reading three books rolled into one, and by the time I got to the end I felt like the beginning was like really far away. That's not a good thing or a bad thing, I was just noticing it. Overall, it was excellent!
September 3, 2019
The good:
- Extremely well-researched, immersive historical fiction
- Really brings to life the last days of the Roman Empire
- Well paced and interesting plot for the first 70% of the novel
- Main character’s relationships with Wyrd and with his eagle were movingly written
The bad:
- Over-sexualises the intersex main character
- Gender essentialism/very binary and stereotypical depiction of gender
- Gary Jennings is just really bad at writing female characters. They’re pretty much always props for the male characters� emotional development. He develops them just enough so that there is an emotional impact when something happens to them. (This was true in his other novel Aztec as well). Often, the only “independent� female characters are written as one-dimensional villains. This is hugely disappointing because Jennings is fully capable of writing complex, deep, relatable characters - they’re just never women.
I really enjoyed Raptor for the history/adventure parts but the more I think about and articulate the weak points of this novel the more disappointed I am with it.
- Extremely well-researched, immersive historical fiction
- Really brings to life the last days of the Roman Empire
- Well paced and interesting plot for the first 70% of the novel
- Main character’s relationships with Wyrd and with his eagle were movingly written
The bad:
- Over-sexualises the intersex main character
- Gender essentialism/very binary and stereotypical depiction of gender
- Gary Jennings is just really bad at writing female characters. They’re pretty much always props for the male characters� emotional development. He develops them just enough so that there is an emotional impact when something happens to them. (This was true in his other novel Aztec as well). Often, the only “independent� female characters are written as one-dimensional villains. This is hugely disappointing because Jennings is fully capable of writing complex, deep, relatable characters - they’re just never women.
I really enjoyed Raptor for the history/adventure parts but the more I think about and articulate the weak points of this novel the more disappointed I am with it.
March 27, 2023
An abandoned infant without a name, only a single Runic letter chalked on his garment. The rune symbol for the “th� sound of the gothic dialect, so the child was named Thorn and raised by friars. His history is discovered and is cause for him to be banished from parish and now the young foundling must fend for himself in the wilds of medieval Europe. He tames an eagle, befriends a woodsman, is saved by a prince, becomes a soldier, rises to the rank of Marshall, and lives a secret double life as both the Marshall Thorn�..and the Lady Veleda. Rome is in upheaval and there are two popes who claim the office. But before war breaks out the king sends his Marshall on a quest to discover the origin of the goths so that an accurate history can be made and the Royal line established for the heirs of Theodoric.
Richly developed characters; exotic lands, languages, and circumstances; Thorn is the central narrator.
Richly developed characters; exotic lands, languages, and circumstances; Thorn is the central narrator.
July 12, 2012
this is one of those novels i forgot that i read until just recently. it's breathtakingly unique and astoundingly different -- it tells the story of an intersexed Visigoth -- and while you may be going, "...Did I just read that correctly?" I assure you that you did and that it is a wonderful and complex story. Like most of Jennings' novels, not recommended for the faint of heart.
November 27, 2022
Urk. This was a slog. It was rather repetitious and ponderous while at the same time being laughably unbelievable. I did not enjoy this in the same spirit as Aztec unfortunately. Mary Sue protagonist if there ever was one. I enjoyed the historical aspects and it has made me curious to read more about this period, having also recently finished the much better ‘A Brightness Long Ago�.
August 11, 2020
One of my very favorite historical fiction books. Such an old paperback though...yellowing pages and these old eyes, even with good bifocals are having trouble reading the small print. So sad this one is too old, and too obscure I guess, to rate an e-book update.
March 11, 2010
Nothing is as it seems. This book show that their is always the woman in the man and the man in the woman.
April 27, 2021
Read this as a high school student. Can't wait to reread.
Absolutely CRAZY plot with an unforgettable protagonist.
Absolutely CRAZY plot with an unforgettable protagonist.
August 7, 2023
I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as Aztec, but I think the difference is that I live in Mexico. Aztec felt more personal, whereas Raptor felt distant. I could easily imagine a European having the exact opposite experience, connecting more deeply with this story.
Similar to Aztec, this is a series of adventures with a historic backdrop. The adventures give us an opportunity to travel around and see the world, glimpsing what day-to-day life was like in various European cultures. Unfortunately, that means the narrative doesn't have much drive. The adventures are somewhat disconnected from each other. There's no great mystery being slowly revealed. What pulls us forward is knowing that history is marching on, and soon we'll get to witness the great historic event.
Similar to Aztec, this is a series of adventures with a historic backdrop. The adventures give us an opportunity to travel around and see the world, glimpsing what day-to-day life was like in various European cultures. Unfortunately, that means the narrative doesn't have much drive. The adventures are somewhat disconnected from each other. There's no great mystery being slowly revealed. What pulls us forward is knowing that history is marching on, and soon we'll get to witness the great historic event.
March 14, 2020
Me convencí para pasar de las primeras páginas pensando que sería cosa del principio... pero no. Para mi gusto, ahonda y da demasiadas vueltas a detalles históricos que entorpecen la narración en lugar de ayudar o aclarar. Y, quizá por quien ha elegido como narrador, él es magnífico en todas sus fuentes y todo le sale bien, y el resto quedan definidos desde el principio como él los ve y nada de lo que hagan cambiará eso.
Los saltos temporales y referencias que hace tampoco me acabaron de convencer. Me costó acabarlo
Los saltos temporales y referencias que hace tampoco me acabaron de convencer. Me costó acabarlo
March 10, 2025
Lasciando da parte il romanzo di cui ho letto presso i vari lettori delle perplessità sulla realtà della figura del mannamavi, il volume è prezioso per tutti i riferimenti storici e religiosi su un'epoca cruciale come quella di passaggio tra la fine dell'impero romano e l'inizio del cosiddetto Medioevo.
Non consiglio la lettura a chi non si interessa di storia e in particolare di storia Medievale
Non consiglio la lettura a chi non si interessa di storia e in particolare di storia Medievale
October 16, 2022
I can't express enough the thrill of reading this book. So I won't. What I can say is that it surely is a gem that I recommend to all. The condition of the protagonist and how he/she exploit it, the wonderful journey he/she makes, but also the author's incredible research makes this thick brick of a book so easy and fast to read as well as educating.
May 11, 2022
Super well researched, compelling and so informative of the lifestyles of the cultures at the type. There is a lot of sex stuff that can be uncomfortable to read (like almost all of his stuff), but the narrative and following along with Thorn’s life is really really good.
January 25, 2023
Really a great book. Weird premise, and I wasn’t sure about it starting out, but it totally paid off. An excellent look at a slice of history I wasn’t that well-versed on. And I was happy to see the author was from Buena Vista!
March 7, 2018
Engaging story about a dual gendered human, an hermaphrodite. A learning curve for me.
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