Title: After Olympus
Author: Santiago Xaman
Publisher: Lone Think Press, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-73380-170-6
Pages: 349
Genre: Quasi-Fiction
Reviewed by: Anthony Avina

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Facing a life with a destiny can be a challenging thing for anyone to endure. As Winston Churchill once said, “It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.” In author Santiago Xaman’s novel After Olympus, a blend of reality and fiction unite to showcase the struggles of one man who faced a looming destiny most of his life, and the complex adventure that followed once that destiny arrived.

In this quasi-fictional novel, the author brings a story of espionage, ancient cultural beliefs and conflict to life. Written as if it were a found manuscript retelling the events of the author’s life, the story tells of a soviet spacecraft that falls back to Earth, landing in the Santa Cruz mountains in 1978 after a failed secret mission. When the man who found it is joined by two others and an old dream he believed to be a prophecy looms before him, the man must navigate a complex world of real world dangers and ancient beliefs to find the true meaning behind the spacecraft’s origins and purpose.

This novel was an evenly paced, well written work of quasi-fiction. The story plays like a Cold War era spy thriller with a mixture of mysticism and espionage like no other. The author manages to include scenes of romance, spy games between the protagonist and the man who may as well be the “devil he knows” and a thrilling back and forth struggle that spans decades, making for an engaging read.

This is a book for anyone who enjoys spy thrillers, espionage, mysticism meeting real world struggles, attempted romance and power plays between two opposing forces. As a fan of thrillers in general, it was fascinating to see the back and forth struggle over the years as the author and the protagonist both played the long game over the course of the book’s narrative. The way the author puts the story together is one of the more interesting aspects as well, with the main manuscript the editor “found” in the book being filled with loose pages and passages from other characters and articles from around the eras each chapter is taking place in, making it feel like a journal or investigative report blended with a biography in this original tale.

This is an in-depth, detailed and entertaining read that shouldn’t be missed. Creative and original in its delivery and story, the author does a marvelous job of crafting this quasi-fictional world that blends our real world political dramas with personal character growths rooted in ancient rituals, mysticism and personal troubles that people will find fascinating and relatable all at once. Now is the time to grab your copy of After Olympus by Santiago Xaman if you haven’t done so already.