MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.5
FORMAT: Kindle eBook
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The long siege of Troy, the battles fought over it, and the city’s eventual capitulation and incineration are events which have often been retold since their first recitation by Homer. Seldom, however, will they have been narrated with such close attention to the minute particulars of battle, to its reek and terror and pain, as in this startling account by Daniel Kelly. Kelly looks minutely at every detail of archaic combat, as well as at the lives and feelings shaped by it. His Troy is not only a scene of shining glory, but also a grimy struggle for survival and mastery. And he introduces surprising questions: what if not everything in the Trojan war came to pass just as Homer tells us? What if the future of the Roman empire were hidden in the burning ashes of Troy’s – and not in the way we might expect?
MY REVIEW
I love anything about Greek history and mythology, so I added this to my list to read 2 years ago. Because there was no audio, I kept pushing this back even though I wanted to read it, but I just didn’t have the time to do read onlys. I finally found the time to be able to sit down and just read and I’m glad I did! This is a retelling of the Fall of Troy based on the epic, The Iliad by Homer. Much like the movie Troy, which is hard not to picture when reading this, the author removes the gods from the tale to make it more about human interactions rather than divine intervention. He also gives us different views from the way we’ve seen this story told and depicted in books and on screen by giving us new characters to follow. I especially love that it gives depth into what it must have been like to have been in a 10 year war.
“You don’t have to hate someone because fate has made them your enemy.”
Daniel has taken a classic story and given it an updated approach for modern readers. There are some pretty big changes in the authors retelling, some I liked, some I liked the source material more, and some I just absolutely loved… but there was nothing I hated. From beginning to end this had my full attention, and it’s a shame I made myself wait 2 years to finally read this. But here we are, I finally read it and I absolutely loved it so much so, that A Hero’s Welcome is moving up to next on my TBR.
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