Maia (novel)

(This article is about the fantasy novel. "Maia" is also the title of a fictitious novel by the main character of Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice".)

Maia is a fantasy novel by Richard Adams, published in 1984. Although not marketed as a romance novel, it also fits into that genre.

Maia is a beautiful teenage peasant girl who is sold into slavery. She meets many colorful, boldly drawn characters and has many adventures in dance, high and low life, sexuality, rivers in flood, espionage, politics, and civil and foreign war.

Maia is set in the same fantasy world as Adams's novel Shardik, which was published earlier but takes place about twenty years later. Several characters appear in both books.