This book is a compilation of stories of the women of Troy and Greece during the aftermath of the Trojan War. Each chapter tells us about a specific woman, or goddess, and the effects of the war and the destruction of Troy on her.
The book is narrated by the goddess Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, in a conversation with the poet that seems to be Homer. Her observations brought some humour to otherwise traumatic accounts. For instance, when she talks about telling the stories of all the women in the war, she says, “I haven't decided about Helen yet. She gets on my nerves.”
My favourite chapter in the book is the second chapter. It takes place while Troy is burning, showing the desperation of the people of Troy and their anger towards Sinon, the man who convinced them to let the wooden horse in. The chapter is told from the perspective of Creusa, the wife of Aeneas, who is desperately trying to escape a burning Troy and be reunited with her husband and son. The moments before her death are chilling.
The chapter on Pentheselia tells the story of the Amazon leader, who joined the war to fight Achilles. I found her relationship with Achilles really interesting, and his distress at her death provides a new layer to his character, different from the story told in the Iliad. I also really liked that Penelope’s chapters are letters to her husband Odysseus, who returns home ten years after the war is over. The chapters on Hecuba, the queen of Troy, and the one on Briseas, demonstrate the bravery and power shown by these women, when they lost everything in the war.
While the book centres around the stories of the female characters, the stories of some of the male characters may be harder to follow without background knowledge. For instance, the story of Odysseus and parts of Achilles’ story are covered through the book, but it is difficult to understand the motivations behind their actions without previous knowledge.
The Iliad was written more than two thousand years ago, at a time where women did not have agency and were not considered heroes. The result of this is that the Iliad and Odyssey do not focus on the stories of the female characters, who serve more as tools to advance the men's stories. Books like this one provide us with another perspective.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who really enjoys reading about Greek mythology. If you like this book, I would also recommend the Odyssey, which is reviewed at :
https://zoyasbooks.com/pdp/classics-listing-page/the-odyssey
This is the second book in the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, where Percy must complete quests for the gods in order to get letters of recommendation for admission to New Rome University.
Funnily, he seems more focused on going to college to be with his girlfriend Annabeth than on actually going there to learn anything. You may wonder why someone who routinely saves the world is worried about getting into college. The back story is that Zeus does not like Percy, and so he has declared that he must complete three quests to gain admission to the University. This is one of the only schools for demigods.
For his second quest, which is also the funniest, he is employed by Hecate the goddess of magic, to pet sit her polecat Gale and her hellhound Hecuba. On the second day, both the pets run away from the house while Percy and Annabeth are in school. Through their quest to get these pets back and repair Hecate's destroyed house, Percy and Annabeth learn the stories of the pets, who used to be humans living in Ancient Greece.
What I really liked about the book is that it told the story of Hecuba, the Queen of Troy before Hecate transformed her into a Hellhound and the story of the magician Gale, who was rescued from a lifetime of not being able to practice magic by being turned into a polecat. I would recommend this book to people who have read and loved Percy Jackson. It is not necessary to have read the first book in this series to understand this one, but the reader should be familiar with the other Percy Jackson stories.
The format of this book is fun. It starts with linking elements of nature with their respective myths and gods, and moves on to discuss the major Greek gods and heroes. It also has an interesting page on pop culture references, like the brand Nike or the football club Ajax, and how the names of many brands and characters originate from Ancient Greece. There are quizzes and fun facts throughout the book, making it interactive and fun for children. This book is easy for 6-7 year olds to read themselves.
I would have loved this book if I had discovered it when I was younger. The illustrations are really beautiful, and each god/goddess is introduced and explained in the first part of the book. The author also connects the Greek Gods to their Roman counterparts. The second part of the book narrates iconic Greek myths such as the twelve labours of Hercules, the story of Persues and Medusa and the story of the Trojan war.
Many things make this book special. I like the way the author explains the origins of terms like “Pandora’s box” and “Midas touch” and words like “narcissist” in little boxes alongside the story. It’s also cool that there is a pronunciation guide at the back of the book. I had no idea cyclopes was pronounced as sy-clop-eez!
This is a read aloud that can go up till ages 7-8, as the stories are quite complex.