Review - Leap by Laura Perry

Adelphos is the Cattle Master for the Minoan city of Phaistos. It's an important job since one of his primary responsibilities is raising and training the bulls for the leaping ceremonies accompanying major festivals. Adelphos is very good at his work, but he hasn't been able to get over the guilt and grief from the death of his lover two years ago. When a beautiful new bull leaper catches his eye, Adelphos is plunged into a well of self-recrimination that might destroy him.

The acrobatic spectacle of bull-leaping is perhaps the most well-known aspect of the pre-Greek Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. The famous frescoes depicting it are from Knossos, but this story takes place in Phaistos, nearer to the center of the island. The author paints a very convincing picture of life nearly a thousand years before the rise of Athens. It was a world ruled by the gods that played an active role in the lives of men and women.

The story is related entirely from Adelphos' point of view. It takes a while to get the full story behind his bereavement, in large part because Adelphos doesn't want to admit it all to himself. It's easy to empathize with the man's loss and the difficulty of letting things go.

It's difficult to tell a story set so far in the past without being a bit anachronistic when reflecting people's views, especially when it comes to gender and sexuality. Very little is known about the lives of everyday people more than 3,000 years ago, but it seems unlikely they were as liberal-minded about same-sex relationships as depicted in the story. Still, the inconsistencies with the historical record are not so glaring as to ruin the story.

“Leap” is available from Amazon (commissionable link).