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MAIA.
by Richard. Adams
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Viking (1984)
ISBN: 0670800333
EAN: 9780670800339
Hardcover: 1056 pages
SKU: 27880
Condition: Collectable Very Goo
Comments: THE HARDBACK BOOK! KNOPF, 1985. THE UNABRIDGED 1ST AMERICAN EDITION. WITH TERRIFIC MAPS! HARDCOVER W/GILT LETTERING, DUST JACKET AND PAGES ARE FINE! Rapid shipping w/FREE tracking. GREAT PACKAGING . Air Mail.
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Customer Reviews
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A good campy laugh
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-07-28
Okay, so it isn't the best book in the world--it's extremely campy, full of sadistic practices, overly long, and sexist to boot. But that's what makes it such a fun read! I really don't think that Adams intended it to be a serious or insightful read anyway. I think he just wanted to have a little fun, so read it and take it as that--a campy fantasy novel. And where are all you guys getting the plot where Occula dies? Occula doesn't die at all in the novel.
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Bollocks to B.S.
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-12-14
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I appreciate David Bryson's articulate review, Brits tend to have that gift. Couldn't disagree more with his B.S. conclusion. Perhaps Adams took himself too seriously. Yes, Adams plays with the S&M elements a bit too much for my taste. Yes it is too long. But Adam's way with words -his ability to use words almost as though they were paint, to create a rich and decadent world, is quite lovely. And then to couch a fine grained -if not predictable- epic within this environment, is exquisite. And this work is far better than "Shardik," which had some very shoddy conclusions to various sections of the narrative.
Bryson also whines about whether a 15 year old girl could realistically endure the trauma that Maia experienced, and still come out with her wits. Yes, most children that age would be in pieces if they were traumatized like Maia. There are exceptions though, and Bryson may be ignorant of what psychologists have long described as "resiliency" in children, or the ability to undergo trauma and emerge relatively unscathed.
Perhaps I identify with Maia, and perhaps envy her for the "resiliency" she displayed. This is a unoriginal (who is ever original?) yet no less powerful literary device in other myths and stories. A powerful hero or heroine, who undergoes great physical, mental, social, and political trials, and emerges scarred but victorious.
It is with sadness that I concede to Bryson's thesis that this story has several noticeable flaws. But "B.S." is far too vulgar an epitaph to leave in memory of this yarn, and not nearly as well thought out as the rest of Bryson's review.
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A Complete Disappointment
Rating  (1)
Date: 2007-11-14
3 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
After reading and really enjoying Watership Down, I was delighted to find out that Adams had written a fantasy work.
Imagine my disgust, when, only a few chapters into Maia, I discovered that it was tedious, slow, overwrought, and overlong. Adams indulges in his worldbuilding far too much. Large parts of the book are needlessly obscene - nevermind his idea of making up his own "fantasy" terms for sexual matters. He beats us over the head with characterization (I lost count how many times we are reminded, in detail, that Maia is the sort of person who lives in the moment), and lets long chapters drag without any real action. In fact, a good 90% of the book's action occurs offscreen, including, inexplicably, the death of the principle villain.
The really sad thing is, there's a real story here. Queen Fornis is genuinely terrifying, and the love story between Maia and Zen-Kurel isn't half bad. I suppose if you dug around for a bit you could find a decent plot, maybe polish it up a bit, with leaner prose and a faster pace, and you'd have something worth reading. As it is, it's about as satisfying as finding a silver dollar in a dungheap.
I found my first edition copy of this book cheap at a used bookstore. I now understand why.
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A 1000+ Page Epic about a Hot Young Girl
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-10-03
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
A short synopsis of the story : Beautiful underage slave girl becomes a whore and uses her sexual charms to get whoever she wants to. In the end she gives it all up for a hot, yet simple guy. All before shes 20.
If you consider things like this `science fiction' or `fantasy', then good for you. I didn't. I loved the book as a generic story with a few fancy place names thrown in, though I couldn't take much of it seriously. The main problem is that the lead character Maia is portrayed in a very unflattering light, ranging from manic-depressive to hormonally overwhelmed (I said that in the nicest way possible). Maia doesn't do things, things just happen to her. At times, her woe-is-me act is a bit much to take, but in minutes she is up and about ready to seduce somebody new with her god-given charms.
The opening sequence alone seems like its out of some failed Bollywood script, as Maia frolics in the lake near her house, gleefully letting passers-by a sight of her stupendous body. This is fantasy writing? I don't know about Richard Adams on this one. Perhaps he should stick to rabbits and bears. The most unintentionally hilarious part is Maia's names for `private parts'. The alternatives suggested are so ridiculous, I wish they had stuck with the original names instead. She also has a friend, Occula, whom I could only imagine as a black version of Angelina Jolie's character in `Alexander'. And not in a good way.
Heres the thing - this is a big, big book. I first read it when I was in ninth grade, and then recently in 2003. There are obviously better fantasy books out there, but if you like underage female leads, I can't think of a book that has this much goofy fun. It is camp, does not take itself too seriously, and speaks solely of sex and lust without exactly using `that sort' of language. I took a while to finish this, but that's to be expected.
Get this one while you can though - its officially out of print and considering its 1000+ page size, I don't think they're gonna publish this one again.
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Not Free SF Reader
Rating  (2)
Date: 2007-09-03
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Girl sold into sex slavery by mum to dodgy lecher guy, uses laterfound hotness for politics. Becomes happy.
Yeah, you are right, that doesn't sound that interesting. This book doesn't work too well as a fantasy, and it isn't an erotic novel, either, and is just way, way too long. However, I suppose you could use it for a paperweight. It is set in the same world that the considerably better Shardik is, but earlier in time.
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