Son of Xanos is the first book of a four book series which tells the
story of the life-journey of Rodino Xanos, with a strong autobiographical
thread that runs through the novel as it relates to the author’s life
experiences, and his quest to find answers to soul searching questions.
When we
first meet Rodino, the Son of Xanos, he is a young boy growing up on the island of Crete
Rodino
is trying to find his place in the world but with no stable father figure to
guide him he is easily led into dangerous situations and wherever he goes he
finds revolution, unrest and war. But Rodino’s
experiences of growing up in Crete , surviving
the civil war and travelling for a time with a band of Gypsies, give him the
ability to survive with little resources.
People
drift in and out of Rodino’s life, as he drifts in and out of theirs, but unfortunately
he does not leave them any better for knowing him as he is at times selfish, very
childlike despite all his experiences, and careless. As Rodino grows older you like him less and
less, and here the author has done his job.
Ballenden doesn’t want us to fall in love with Rodino right away; he
wants to take us on a journey so that at the end of his book series we are one
with the Cretan and we fully understand his life choices.
The
novel is broken up into various parts, and I thought that part one was the most
beautifully written; it is poetic with an almost dreamlike quality to it. Son
of Xanos marks my final and probably favourite “indie” read for this year.
For more information on this author and Son of Xanos please visit:
Maxine
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