Richard Adams is a capable writer with an easy prose style that occasionally speaks directly to the reader as though Adams himself were imparting bit of wisdom on the side or a brief explanation, in much the way he might if telling a story while sitting with you on the back porch.

The subject matter of Maia is compelling. A naïve fifteen year old girl is first seduced by her step father and then sold into slavery by her resentful step mother. Maia becomes a sexual slave for a high placed official, only to  become implicated in his murder.  But of course, the story is only beginning.

The tale takes place in the fictional Beklan empire, set sometime near the dawn of our own history, so the culture is one of sword, bow, and shield, of territories in conflict and lands subject to brazen military coups.

To escape torture and imprisonment, Maia agrees to become a spy in enemy territory, where she finds her one true love and then immediately betrays him. The novel is nothing if not a series of changing perspectives and understandings about politics and human nature. Scene by scene Maya is challenged, often hurt, makes mistakes we cannot believe, but keeps struggling on as best her understanding will allow.

This is one of the best things Richard Adams does: taking characters from a state of innocence or naiveté, then dragging them over the coals and through the thorns of life until they come out as tested, strong people. Often, part of their journey is to betray someone or something at a time of its own innocence, making them responsible for their own measure of pain in the world.

I would love to have come upon Maia as a seventeen year old. It is full of sex and does a wonderful job of delving into the details and psychologies of our libidos, from the rather pitiable (today criminal) lasciviousness of Maia’s step father to the sado-masochistic proclivities of Fornis, the truly evil Sacred Queen (who nonetheless displays a strong and admirable character at times). Adams does all this without using any recognizable objectionable language and by a skillful misdirection of words in which more is evoked than is actually detailed on the page.

Maia is an exciting and enjoyable read, a big book at nearly 900 pages. For my tastes it ties up a little too neatly, with a mostly happy ending in which Maia, her true love, and their child get to live happily ever after. And while they certainly deserve it after the harrowing ordeals suffered in the depths of the pages, I tend to like more problematic endings such as those portrayed in the movies Spartacus and Braveheart (with a little bit of victory coming at a terrible price).

It’s a small complaint. There’s a fully realized world here of politics, cultures, military leadership and cowardice, of little people and big, even of dance and music. Maia Serrilinda, Occula, Sencho, Zuno, Zen-Kurel, Anda-Nokomis, and even the old healer Nasada will not soon be forgotten.

If you find and enjoy this great fantasy-historical adventure, you have to read Adams’ second book (and possibly the better) of the Beklan Empire: Shardik.