This is certainly a different travel book because it's not the kind of travel book that casual travelers would want to bring along for holidays or casual visits. However, if you are interested in the history of the place, this book is for you.
Sometimes I feel the book is all over the place and wish that it focuses on certain interests instead, it doesn't have to cover everything that ends up with an imbalance of details. Between the historical background of the culture, the architecture, snippets of the present, some mythology, and bits of stories that appear here and there make it confusing for me. Sometimes it feels like an information dump when the history is told at a very fast pace, with a plethora of names and backgrounds; sometimes a certain thing is explained in detail (some delicacy, some fountain). Yet, there are no pictures of them, while I see many pictures explaining one architectural style. Sometimes an important event was mentioned and skipped without details, while others have pages of them. It could be due to the limitation of the sources. All these create a lot of imbalance in my reading experience because there are parts when I stumble to lighter reading that is fitting as a travel book with some interesting details, while other times it's a fast pace history that lumps hundreds of years in a few sentences.
Sometimes the author gives tips about the historical places in current time but imho, there are not enough of them to be a travel book. I respect the passion reflected in the work. Still, personally, I categorize this as more about the historical/cultural background of the place instead of a travel book, but that is me.
I do appreciate the first chapter's introduction. That helps when I read about them later, and it shows what kind of book one should expect. Writing this kind of book and consolidating every piece of information requires a lot of work and research, and the writer has my admiration for that. And Crete sounds like a wonderful place.
4 out of 5
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