cover image The Eye of Cybele

The Eye of Cybele

Daniel Chavarria. Akashic Books, $27 (463pp) ISBN 978-1-888451-25-2

The political scandals and bedroom intrigues of sixth-century B.C. Athens swirl around hero Alcibiades, a courageous (and sexy) Athenian general, in Daniel Chavarr!a's (Adios Muchachos) dense, imaginative and often extremely pretentious The Eye of Cybele. The Uruguayan-born mystery writer combines historical fact, Socratic discourse and plenty of plot twists in a novel that ponders everything from the disappearance of the titular jewel to the establishment of a bizarre new religion.