The Michael of Rhodes series is a historical fiction set in the 14th century based off the true story of a young Greek boy who joins the Venetian fleet. The series is written by Mary Sharnick and the first book of the series, Plagued, was released in 2014.
The book begins with a sixteen year old boy, Michael, who lives with his mother and father on a small island in Greece. Michael has dreams of joining the Venetian fleet, which would be impossible for him due to his lack of Venetian citizenship, but when the Venetian army is decimated by the plague and is forced to accept non-citizens. Michael finally has a chance to fulfill his dreams and avoid living the monotonous life his parents live. Unfortunately his journey doesn't go the way he plans.
Plagued provides examples of the following tropes:
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Zen appears to be a pretty fun and friendly guy and actually was the person to recruit Michael in the first place but he later ends up raping Michael and several young boys.
- Jacopo also qualifies as this trope
- Broken Bird: Michael's dad is a male example of the trope. Since his eldest son's death he hasn't enjoyed much of anything.
- Coming of Age Story
- Eye Scream: One of the soldiers is punished in this way for stealing food from a blind soldier and then killing him
- Fate Worse than Death: The punishment used for stealing food from a blind soldier and then killing him involves blinding him and starving him to death
- Growing Up Sucks
- Jizzed in My Pants: Happens to Michael while he makes out with Aphrodite, surprisingly it is not Played for Laughs.
- Rape as Drama: Happens to Michael and several prepubescent boys
- Sex as Rite-of-Passage: Right before Michael leaves with the Venetian soldiers, he loses his virginity to a prostitute. This is proceeded by a featuring a good amount of Mood Whiplash where Michael gets raped by Zen
- Tongue Trauma
