To anyone reading this: I have been telling SpareHeadOne that I was going to read this in its entirety at some point. He's posted 60 of the 83 chapters to the forum so far, and I hadn't gotten to this yet. Until now. ArchTale is exactly what SHO says it is just a few comment boxes above this one: it's a blending of mythical sources for one all-encompassing, overarching tale- the ArchTale.
The Bible is the baseline for this tale, with recognizable elements from Norse and Greek, but if you take the time to look at SHO's notes, you'll see that other myths have been considered. Like the myths of the Hindo, Shinto, Celts, and Chinese, to name a few. I have to be honest: I didn't know that without looking. I have more mythology and folklore books on my bookshelves than most other kinds, and I have forgotten more mythology than I remember, so I'm glad the notes are there.
There's a couple of things that you have to know for yourself going in though:
If you believe The Bible is more than "just another myth" (as I do) don't get yourself in a twist about Biblical references being stirred together with mythology. This is a work of fiction, not an apologetic with which to defend your faith- relax and enjoy the story. Nor is it an insult to that faith. It objectively explores the similarities between various mythologies and tries to tell one tale covering it all.
Does it succeed? I think SHO's story struggles in spots, but I wouldn't say it fails. He makes the characters as generic as possible. With The Bible as baseline, you'll recognize God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. They're not called that though. They're The-Man, The-Woman, The-Spirit, The-Son, etc., and there's two men and two women central to the story. God Man and God Woman (my names for them) and Adam Man and Eve Woman (my names again). They're not differentiated like that though, because they're not always separate characters. Sometimes they are simultaneously god and human. It gets confusing, and therein is the struggle. You have to concentrate on following who is who just enough that you never quite settle completely into the fiction. Which is like most mythology narratives, so while a little confusing, not failing at all.
I'm bumping this first chapter in the forum, because I wanted to post the review on-thread, hopefully getting some eyes on the story. However, as you may have noticed from this first post, the "chapters" are very short- I do think that the first eight to ten of them could be combined into one, with a bit different formatting. Think of SHO's format like a children's book though- a picture and a small amount of text per page, then on to the next page. This is not a children's story though, and later chapters do get longer.
What I would recommend is clear about an hour to hour-and-a-half, go the last page of SpareHeadOne's blog tab, and just scroll from "ArchTale 1" to "The End of ArchTale." It alleviates some of the frustration of short chapters, and makes it easier to follow in that you don't forget stuff while waiting for the page to change (if your computer can be as slow as mine). I would say just read the story at first- ignoring the "comment" links- so that you get the full story uninterrupted. Do go back and check out the mythology references though- it's interesting stuff if you like mythology at all.
Now, last thing: you know how I said this is not an apologetic to defend your faith? It's not entirely invalid either, if you can look at it with an open mind. When you get to the parts where the God Man is the Human Man and the Son Man at the same time, and start thinking about the Christian Father, Son, and man, it may blow your mind a little bit. As it dwells on how they are interconnected, if you get thinking about how we are similarly interconnected, I don't know how it could not blow your mind. ...If you share those beliefs that is. If not, it may not blow your mind, but as you try to hold onto the twisted-together relationships of the God/Son/Man-Man and God/Daughter/Woman-woman, it may, in the words of The Matrix's Prophetess, "really bake your noodle."
Overall, is this a super dynamic tale of capes and super powers? NO. But for an hour or two, it's something different, and I think it's worth checking out. So give it a read, if you're so inclined.
-cb
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