Travels in Elysium by William Azuski - Fiction book review

Travels in Elysium

By: William Azuski

Published: May 1, 2013
Format: Paperback, 540 pages
ISBN-10: 3952401528
ISBN-13: 978-3952401521
Publisher: Iridescent Publishing











When recent university graduate Nicholas Pedrosa is offered his dream job working under the famous archeologist Marcus Huxley, he jumps at the once in a lifetime opportunity. The chance to dig for the golden civilization of the Minoans, on the volcanic island of Santorini, leads to much more than the study of a lost world. Nicholas lands squarely in an ancient mystery as old as time, and a fresh murder mystery that places his life and sense of reality in danger, in the fascinating and metaphysical novel Travels in Elysium by William Azuski.

William Azuski combines a sense of the remote past with the events of the present day as the ancient world seems to encroach on the characters and landscape. This seamless shifting of time and space forms a crucial background landscape for the novel. In a story that is as much about the events of over three thousand years ago, as of the twenty-first century, this bending of time drives the characters forward.

Larger than life archeologist Marcus Huxley represents that timeless longing for a golden age, and his mind is as much in ancient pre-eruption Thera, as in modern Santorini. With that time blending perception, Huxley challenges the very existence of reality with those under his charismatic spell as well. That driven personality may even have caused the unsolved murder that hangs like the constant haze of volcanic dust in the air.

William Azuski (photo left) creates a novel that is as much of ideas as it is of the actions of the characters. The narration by Nicholas Pedrosa offers the reader the story through his eyes. That perspective is both innocent and worldly, as the events unfold and the hidden motives of the other characters become more clear. The island itself becomes a living breathing character in its own right. Having the internal power to destroy a brilliant civilization, the island is both a giver and a taker of life, in the distant past and in the present.

William Azuski addresses the deeper metaphysical questions of life as well. Whether the conversations in the novel consider science or religion, and art or history, the various worldviews become entwined into an overarching mystery beyond simple explanation. For the characters in the novel, their own ideas, values, and sense of what is real are put to the test. This internal struggle, shared by all of the island residents, is reflected in the larger conflicts taking place between the characters, and in the wider world.

For both Nicholas Pedrosa and Marcus Huxley, the story is as much a search for themselves as for the secrets of a long lost civilization. Marcus Huxley challenges the people on his team to look past the current perception of reality and envision possibilities. The very idea that what may be under the centuries of volcanic ash, might be the fabled lost world of Atlantis, creates the sense that legend and history may share some truth. In this case, the truth, the legend, or both may be the cause of a former team member's death.

The author creates a world, partly myth and also as much calculating searches for power and wealth. With the possible discovery of Atlantis would come fame, money, and a complete revision of history as we know it. The stakes of such a monumental discovery are high, but the methods of its unearthing are mundane. Marcus Huxley seeks both the human values of wealth and fame, but also seeks a communion with a world long since vanished. The concepts of time and space, and past and present, as intersecting forces is a major theme of the novel.

I highly recommend the engaging and spellbinding novel Travels in Elysium by William Azuski, to anyone seeking a story that moves beyond the realm of action and adventure, and considers the deeper philosophical questions of time, space, and how they interact with one another across the millennia. This literay novel will keep you turning the pages, and pondering the metaphysics along with the memorable characters in its pages.

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Literary fiction blends with Plato’s tale of Atlantis is this metaphysical mystery that takes place on an archaeological dig on the island of Santorini. Travels in Elysium is written in an allegory style. If you would like to read an an online excerpt - we have one posted here http://www.iridescent-publishing.com/tie/tie_prev.htm.

For more information or to get your own copy, visit Amazon.com: Travels in Elysium