I really wanted to love Black Ships because I have advanced degrees in Philosophy with specializations in Ancient Greek Philosophy. I was one of the only undergraduates in my class to really enjoy reading Homer's Odyssey and Iliad and later Virgil's Aeneid. I found the Trojan War fascinating both historically in terms of its epic battles and strong characters, and philosophically in how it has been utilized to create certain thoughts and images in our collective consciousness (like Nietzsche's controversial discussions of the overman archetype in terms of the heroes Agamemnon and Achilles).

Black Ships author Jo Graham has also been interested in this period since high school. She decided to retell the story from the standpoint of a woman, Gull, daughter of a slave and ultimately Pythia, oracle of the Mistress of Death. Gull is born in Greece to a Trojan slave working the flax fields. She has an accident early on that cripples her foot, thus making her incapable of working the fields. To save Gull, her mother drops her to the Oracle of Sybil (Death), where Pythia promises to take care of the young, lame girl.

Soon Gull shows a connection to the spirit and begins receiving messages through dreams and thoughts, and Pythia begins grooming Gull to replace her as the Oracle. One day Gull/Pythia has a dream of black sailed ships coming to Greece, full of Trojans (Wilusans) coming to rescue their kin and reclaim what they lost. Sure enough, the ships come with Aeneas at the helm.

Gull/Pythia leaves with them to begin an adventure that takes them through Egypt (Virgil's use of Carthage fell flat as Carthage did not yet exist), the Island of the Dead, and other well-known islands such as Scylla and Byblos. They meet new people, fall in and out of love, build temples for the Oracle, and even take the storied ferryboat to visit the land of Death to meet the Lady herself.

While Black Ships is classified as fantasy, it's really more historical romance. At times it is a veritable soap opera of relationships, as we try to follow who loves whom, who fathered whose children, what couples were separated in the war and reunited, and who Gull/Pythia will sleep with next (oracles cannot marry, but can have sex and bear children).

I highly recommend this book to romance fans who also enjoy a good dose of well-researched historical narrative in their reading. However, if you are looking for a fast moving, historical fantasy novel, this book will not fill the bill.