"They [the tears] roll down her cheeks and join with the rain fresh from the sky, and I think that's the closest we'll ever get to the heavens."

First things first, had it not been for the ridiculous amount of "fucking" in this story, it'd have gotten a higher note from me. I suppose the author wanted to make the dialogue relatable to a modern audience and attempted to make it as accurate to the way Ancient Greeks spoke, but with me it was a swing and a miss. When it comes to historical fiction (and fantasy) I *really* can't with such lazy and lame attempts at making the story more mature by using "fuck" and "fucking" and other slangs.

Besides this hiccup, it's probably one of my favourite books of the year! I love how different it is from other historical fiction. I love the setting of Syracuse just after its victory against Athens, and at the end, just before its loss against Carthage. There was a beautiful Wheel of Fortune effect throughout the entire stories. Potters become directors, prisoners become actors, mourners become murderers.

Foolishly, I thought there'd be a happy ending for everyone. The Syracusans would come around and free the Athenians after coming together through the magic of plays, realising they weren't so different and loved the same things, and Lampo would have his romance with Lyra... but it didn't happen. The Syracusans watched the play but killed most actors. Lyra was bought by Tuireann. Not all Athenians made it out of the quarry. 

Lampo, Gelon and Alekto working together to get the Athenians out of Syracuse was very touching. It was raw with realism because not all of them made it out.