Out of the Lion's Maw - Witold Makowiecki and Tom Pinch (Review)

Date of Reading: 25/5/2022

Author: Witold Makowiecki

Translator: Tom Pinch

Publisher: Mondrala Press

Source: NetGalley

Rating: 4.5/5

About the book:

A European bestseller, un-put-down-able since 1946, now for the first time in English.

An elderly Zoroastrian priest and his teenage apprentice, a dark plot to foment a civil war. Can the two thwart it?

570 BC. The Old Mountain Lion, the predatory king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, has destroyed empires, razed cities, and driven whole nations into slavery. Now, he sews discord in the Mediterranean to soften up another victim for a surprise attack. It is up to the two unlikely heroes to try to foil the plot, and persuade kings, priests, bureaucrats, and generals to change their course. They race against the clock across the Mediterranean, pursued by spies, assassins, and eventually the whole state apparatus of eternal Egypt.

A classic tale of high adventure, full of white-knuckle twists and turns, cliffhangers and last-minute escapes, engaging characters, and sparkling humour. Continuously in print across Eastern Europe since 1946, it has been compared to The Treasure Island and The Three Musketeers.

Review:

       This was a moment of self realisation. For one, I never thought my knowledge of ancient civilisations was. . . ah . . . poor. I waded through different Mediterranean nations along with our protagonists with no idea of their present identities. When it comes to the Gods, the footnotes helped a lot. And here I am, awfully glad that I chanced upon this wonderful Polish work because of a random search in NetGalley recommendations.

        Since the blurb above doesn't give much on the story, let me enlighten you. Nehurabhed is a Medean high priest and envoy of the King and he is being held captive in Carthage. He escapes with the help of a Greek sailor, Kalias. Before fleeing Carthage they both save a boy who was sold to slavery. Melicles was captured by the pirates and had tried to escape from his plight many times. Finally Gods had answered his prayers. Nehurabhed finds in him an ally and helper and so the adventures of the duo begin.

        The combination of a wise, old man and a young, naive boy makes this story really a marvel. Nehurabhed's strange ways of finding solutions to each crisis make for many humorous and surprising twists while sixteen-year-old Melicles has a penchant for helping others. The journey opens new worlds to him and we, the readers, share his wonder and joy.

        There is no doubt that this is a timeless classic for both young and the old. Thanks to Tom Pinch we finally have an English translation. Highly recommended!

Meet the author:

Witold Makowiecki (born 1903 in Warsaw, Poland, died 1946 in Radomsk, Łódź province, south-central Poland) is a Polish agricultural engineer and writer, author of popular books for children and young adults, some of which are on the required reading list for Polish elementary schools today. Agricultural engineer by training, he had to abandon his profession for health reasons. Under German occupation during world war II, he took up writing for the young. He is the author of two popular adventure novels set in ancient Mediterranean world, written with his children in mind: Przygody Meliklesa Greka (The Adventures of Melicles the Greek) and Diossos. His books, written in the swashbuckling style, have helped to propagate familiarity with classical Greek civilization. Each book is a stand-alone volume, but the two are bound together by the appearance of the characters of Melicles the Milesian and Kalias the Syracusan. Due to their superior literary quality, both books have remained in print since their original publication in 1946.