The Temple Dancer: A Novel of India is a fun and suspenseful trip through 17th-century India. Author John Speed introduces a smorgasbord of interesting and colorful characters, both native to India and part of the Portuguese colonial presence. Readers interested in a historical, adventurous story heavy on romance and intrigue will be pleased with The Temple Dancer.The plot of The Temple Dancer can either be explained very simply—it’s a novel of India, as the cover proclaims—or in complicated detail. The Temple Dancer could more specifically be explained as the story of a Portuguese family living in Goa, selling a former temple dancer as a concubine of sorts to a powerful man who can help guarantee the family’s future success. The temple dancer must be transported across the country to her wealthy new owner, and the Portuguese heiress and her shifty cousin make the journey-by-elephant too, along with a few soldiers and a eunuch whom everyone mistrusts.
If that makes little sense to you, don’t worry; you’ll pick up what’s going on with the help of a list of characters and map provided at the beginning of the book. Speed’s novel is full of mentions of historical events, Indian culture, and Hindi phrases. This is part of the book’s appeal for those looking to learn something new, but can also be confusing.
The story is fast-paced and suspenseful, laced with royal intrigue and plenty of love affairs. The two main female characters are explored in some depth—each feels restrained and freed, at times, by her societal role—but Speed doesn’t spend as much time letting the reader into the mind of Slipper the eunuch, one of the book’s more interesting characters. Overall, The Temple Dancer is an enjoyable, interesting read, but might not appeal to readers looking for a novel that challenges the reader or breaks new literary ground.
A melange of creatively imagined characters populates Speed's first novel (the first installment of a proposed trilogy), an entertaining historical saga that takes place in 17th-century India. At the center of the story is Maya, a Hindi slave who is being transported across dangerous terrain by a caravan of Portuguese settlers that includes the aging adventurer Da Gama and Lucinda, a spoiled but sensitive young woman. The most intriguing traveler is Slipper, a Muslim eunuch whose relationship to Maya serves as one of the driving mysteries of the novel. The fast-paced story benefits from intriguing characters and situations twisted just enough to keep them on the safe side of unbelievable. Though the story is sometimes beset by overexplanation and cartoonishly violent episodes, it's driven by a contagious enthusiasm for the people and places encountered throughout the journey. Speed, a longtime scholar of Indian history, takes more care with plot and cultural color than dialogue and style, but the result is an enjoyable adventure that still has respect for its characters. (Aug. 31) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Renowned historian Speed conducts an exciting tour of seventeenth-century India. Lavish and lush, this mesmerizing novel wends its way across the exotic Indian landscape as Maya, a dazzling temple dancer bought by a savvy Portuguese businessman as a politically expedient gift for the grand vizier of Bijapur, is transported via caravan to her new master. Of course, the road to Bijapur is not a smooth one, and Maya and her escorts face a new danger around every bend. Chock-full of sex, suspense, and peril, this high-voltage adventure yarn will rapidly transport willing readers to a vanished time and place. The initial volume in a projected trilogy, this installment will leave readers craving more. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
What an adventure! Two women, utterly different in culture and outlook, travel across seventeenth century India on elephant back and discover, in the face of betrayal, that they have a great deal more in common than they ever suspected. Beautifully researched, this novel has it all: heroes adept with sword and pistol, bold and independent heroines, corrupt rulers, treacherous eunuchs, slippery merchants, and bloodthirsty banditti. The author stirs them all together with a handsome dose of conspiracy, mysticism, and sensuality to create a splendid entertainment in the grand style.---Judith Merkle Riley, author of The Oracle Glass, Master of Desires and other novels
“The Temple Dancer sweeps the reader into an age of passion and danger, romance, chivalry, and high adventure---an age when a bandit could defy an emperor and a dancing girl change the course of history. Set against the rich backdrop of Moghul India, The Temple Dancer’s combination of history, intrigue, and forbidden love should appeal to anyone who loves M. M. Kaye’s The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon. In fact, it should appeal to anyone who loves a story that will totally intrigue them.”---India Edghill, author of Queenmaker and Wisdom’s Daughter“An ocean of a story!” -- Michael Swanwick
“The Temple Dancer is an ocean of a story, filled with adventure, passion, and heartbreak. It’s compulsively readable and everything you want in a novel.”---Michael Swanwick, author of Bones of the Earth“Lush, loopy and highly entertaining!” -- Chris Bram
“The Temple Dancer is a lush, loopy, multicultural epic set in seventeenth-century India, like the cockeyed marriage of a Bollywood musical and an Errol Flynn/Olivia de Havilland movie, well-researched, playfully written, and highly entertaining.”---Christopher Bram, author of Gods and Monsters and Lives of the Circus Animals“What reading is all about!” -- Daniel Ladinsky
“The Temple Dancer is what reading is all about. This book upholds true literature, which is . . . the beauty of language. There is a wonderful world here full of enchantment and nourishment.”---Daniel Ladinsky, translator of The Gift and I Heard God Laughing“Richly atmospheric romantic epic!” -- Kirkus
A richly atmospheric debut, first installment in a projected three-volume saga, portrays the clash of Portuguese, Hindu and Muslim cultures in the waning years of India's Mogul empire.A reigning Portuguese family in Goa finds itself facing bankruptcy after the 1657 Dutch victory in the Pepper Wars. For protection, patriarch Carlos Dasana is forced to woo the widowed sultana of neighboring Bijapur, a Muslim country. Since the sultan's heir is only nine and the sultana is capricious, it's almost as important to woo Bijapur's grand vizier, Wali Khan, who's likely to become regent. Via caravan, Carlos sends the vizier an irresistible bribe: former Hindu temple dancer Maya, now a famous prostitute. The motley cast of characters accompanying the caravan includes Carlos's brash, profligate nephew Geraldo; dull and honest middleman Da Gama; Pathan, a self-important Muslim captain from the Bijapur court; and Carlos's niece Lucinda, who wants to see the world. The action tracks the caravan along its perilous journey from Goa to Bijapur; inside the howdah, atop the elephant, ride Lucinda, Maya and her escort, the plump, unctuous eunuch Slipper, who becomes an abusive master. While battling bandits, near-rapes and elephant breakdowns, the young women grow friendly. Maya reveals that she reluctantly left her temple, where she was a "vessel" for the priests, when her guru was swept away in floods and she was sold to raise money. She possesses a headdress of great value, coveted by the brotherhood of eunuchs led by Whisper, who is also vying for the regency of Bijapur. While making an extended stay in Belgaum, the idyllic palace of the sultan's former concubine, Lucinda falls in love with Pathan, while Maya and Geraldo lustily go at it. In this cauldron of competing favors and a constantly shifting balance of powers, portents hint at altogether different fates for Lucinda and Maya.
The author's fondness for his material keeps this convoluted romantic epic afloat.