Conundrum

This is exactly what I wanted: a proper retelling of the Trojan War, from the actions and situations that lead to it, the war itself, and the conclusion. In all its awesomeness, its heroism, brutality, and divine intervention, Fry's image of the famous epic is a pleasure to read. He creates a very dynamic and lively “movie” in the mind's eye, where the events swoop better than if they were real.

I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by Stephen Fry himself. It is amazing!

An outstanding continuation of “Mythos”!

Here, we're going much farther in time, where the focus is not on the gods, but more on people, who — endowed with Prometheus' fire — exhibit a rich intellectual and emotional life. Heroes are... not exactly saints — they are people of flesh and blood. All of them are human, all to human, with their passions, stupidity, vices, impulses, but also strength, boldness, courage, love, and smarts. Heroes are usually tragic heroes as they accomplish great things but their end tends to be as violent as their lives were passionate. They are like an explosion: forceful and short.

We get to know in great details not only the accomplishments but also history and origin of great heroes, such as Herakles, Theseus, Perseus, Jason, Oedipus, Orpheus, and others. Sometimes their paths cross, and some of their paths cross the gods who we met in “Mythos”.

Stephen Fry, as always, literally/figuratively breathed live to all the characters in the book. Not only heroes, but gods and secondary characters have their own, unique — well... — character. Each of them speaks with their own voice, with their state of minds and emotions shining through. Fascinating! I read audiobook narrated by Fry himself.

Highly recommended to... anyone really.

“Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold” is the first book in Stephen Fry's series of retellings of Greek myths and legends. And what better place to start than the very beginning? In Mythos, Fry is leading us through a chronologically constructed world of myths, from the moments where only the primordial (and, in a sense, primal) beings existed, and through their actions, both loving and heinous, the world was constructed and changed. Why are there changing seasons of the year? How can we explain the movement of the Sun? How did bees get their stings? It's all there!

We hear about the appearance of Titans, Olympian gods, and finally human beings. The gods are akin to natural forces, driven by impulses according to their natures. They interact with each other in various ways, but in general, we see that the gods are not acting like loving parents, but are as cruel as they are powerful. Still, there are laws, such as Xenia, the law of hospitality, that even the gods must obey.

The selection of stories is quite interesting as there are many tales we don't normally hear about. Of course, you can expect to hear a newly animated stories of Prometheus, Narcissus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, and actions of Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Eros, and all the rest of them. Each story one is very nicely dramatized, with a fitting dialogue with a clear texture of British humour. Yes, some interactions are quite funny... until they become terrifying. Fry has tried to order them in a kind of a chronology to help us follow and make sense of that complex world, even if — as he himself notes at the end of the book — no official chronology exists — or maybe no reliable chronology can be constructed.

From what I read about the book, it looks like Fry is sticking close to the source materials. But, as he says near the end of the book, he takes liberty to refresh the myths with imagination, thus making them alive, in the same way as other writers and poets have been doing for centuries.

I read the audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry himself. And I must say, he is an astounding narrator! He gave every character a unique personality and a mode of expression, and the dialogues are very clear, lively, genuine, and funny.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Greek mythology, myths in general, comparative religion, sources of European civilizations, but also to those who want to be immersed in a fantastical world of awesome stories.

This is the first book in the series. The other ones are:
Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures
Troy
Odyssey

It's a pretty good read. A glimpse into the mind of the best swordsman ever.

Odyssey is Stephen Fry's last installment in his Great Mythology series. After retelling of the stories of the gods, heroes, and the siege of Troy, we're getting to the end of the most important mythology in Western culture.

Here, there is a lot of stuff that is outside of Odysseus' toils. We have to slog through a lot of preparatory events that settle his journey in much needed context. However, I had a hard time trying to immerse myself in that. I kept thinking to myself “when we'll finally get to Odysseus?!”

When we finally get to it, it is as expected: beautifully written, told with fitting humor, lively. Narration by Fry himself is superb! Just as vivid and unique as in the previous books.

So, we're following Odysseus and his men through the entire journey and all the problems along the time, up to the time when he finally reaches Ithaca. We also hear about little tidbits about things that happened much later. As a bonus, perhaps.

It may be my least favorite book in the series, but it is still brilliant!

All the books in the series are:
Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold
Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures
Troy
Odyssey