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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
Finally Greek mythology is written in a modern, easy to read, adventure packed way ( no offense to Homer, of course ). This first book (out of five) was truly a great read. Recommend
King of Ithaca is the first book in this series about the Greek warrior and hero Odysseus. The story begins with Laertes still the King but there is a revolt brewing that threatens to remove Laertes and his line as the royal family. Odysseus is consulting the oracle on Mt. Parnassus about his future. It is this journey where he meets the other main protagonist of the book, Eperitus, an exiled prince looking to find glory under a new lord. The Odysseus in this story is not portrayed in the Homeric mode but is rather more human than mythic. His crafty like nature is not some spur of the moment inspiration, instead Odysseus wrestles with each problem to find solutions. There is doubt and anguish involved in the process. This very human quality is found in all of the characters involved including the three main women in the story, Helen, Penelope and the most formidable of them, Clytaemnestra.
In juxtaposition to the human equation we find a taste of the Olympians mainly in the portrayal of Athena. She has promised to lend her aid to Odysseus in his quest to reclaim the throne of Ithaca but you know Olympians, they can be a bit fickle at times and Odysseus knows this.
There are many scenes of action, battles with human foes and one with a monster in the mythic tradition, and a sort of humorous scene of the hero Ajax entering the hall of Tyndareus in Sparta. He reminded me somewhat of Angus Donald's Little John but on steroids. There are also a few well placed quirks in the story line that make one pause for a second to negotiate an unexpected turn in the road. It is a very enjoyable account of my favorite Greek hero, Odysseus and look forward to continuing his story in the sequel. This book rates a strong 4 stars.
In juxtaposition to the human equation we find a taste of the Olympians mainly in the portrayal of Athena. She has promised to lend her aid to Odysseus in his quest to reclaim the throne of Ithaca but you know Olympians, they can be a bit fickle at times and Odysseus knows this.
There are many scenes of action, battles with human foes and one with a monster in the mythic tradition, and a sort of humorous scene of the hero Ajax entering the hall of Tyndareus in Sparta. He reminded me somewhat of Angus Donald's Little John but on steroids. There are also a few well placed quirks in the story line that make one pause for a second to negotiate an unexpected turn in the road. It is a very enjoyable account of my favorite Greek hero, Odysseus and look forward to continuing his story in the sequel. This book rates a strong 4 stars.
I have been waiting for a series that chronicles the entire Trojan War for a very long time. I tried David Gemmel's Troy and well if only it had ANYTHING to do with the actual story of Troy, it might have been good. I found a later book in this series in the bargain section of Chapters and once I realized it was a series - I bought the rest of it on ebook. I was pumped!
Then I started reading. Glyn Iliffe is a total Trojan War fanboy - which is fine because I'm a total fangirl, but this series, while well written and well researched, feels like fan fiction. He's even added a self-insert Gary Stu (Eperitus) to be our main character. Eperitus gets to be buddy-buddy with all the great heroes, gets hit on by mythological women and even gets superpowers. Now, to be fair, he's not a terrible character and I like him, but most of the time it was like Eperitus was that tall guy who sits in front of you in the theatre and blocks half the stage with his giant head.
There's also a troubling section with the romance of Odysseus and Penelope and how it develops that I don't quite know how to feel about. It's very... unnecessary... and problematic.
That said, I enjoyed the book. It's light and fun. I can see Iliffe planting seeds for stuff that will happen down the road and I'm intrigued. I'm also wondering how he's going to deal with Eperitus being a companion of Odysseus and what happens later to Odysseus' companions in the Trojan War.
Then I started reading. Glyn Iliffe is a total Trojan War fanboy - which is fine because I'm a total fangirl, but this series, while well written and well researched, feels like fan fiction. He's even added a self-insert Gary Stu (Eperitus) to be our main character. Eperitus gets to be buddy-buddy with all the great heroes, gets hit on by mythological women and even gets superpowers. Now, to be fair, he's not a terrible character and I like him, but most of the time it was like Eperitus was that tall guy who sits in front of you in the theatre and blocks half the stage with his giant head.
There's also a troubling section with the romance of Odysseus and Penelope and how it develops that I don't quite know how to feel about. It's very... unnecessary... and problematic.
That said, I enjoyed the book. It's light and fun. I can see Iliffe planting seeds for stuff that will happen down the road and I'm intrigued. I'm also wondering how he's going to deal with Eperitus being a companion of Odysseus and what happens later to Odysseus' companions in the Trojan War.
While, reading the synopsis, this seems like the type of book I would enjoy, I have to say: I actually found this to be quite a dry read.
The first in a planned series of books ('The Adventures of Odysseus'), this one deals with the pre Trojan-war days, with (at the start of the novel) Odysseus not yet King of Ithaca. Centring primarily on one of Odysseus companions rather than Odysseus himself, this does have plenty of intrigue and action, but I (unfortunately) found none of those to be that stirring.
Not a patch on David Gemmell's Troy series ('Lord of the Silver Bow', Shield of Thunder' and 'Fall of Kings') of books.
The first in a planned series of books ('The Adventures of Odysseus'), this one deals with the pre Trojan-war days, with (at the start of the novel) Odysseus not yet King of Ithaca. Centring primarily on one of Odysseus companions rather than Odysseus himself, this does have plenty of intrigue and action, but I (unfortunately) found none of those to be that stirring.
Not a patch on David Gemmell's Troy series ('Lord of the Silver Bow', Shield of Thunder' and 'Fall of Kings') of books.
I’ve been reading a lot of Troy fiction recently which has been hovering around the 8 or 7 out of 10 mark – recognisably well-written, definitely enjoyable, but just missing that extra something, that je ne sais quoi; maybe it’s a flair in the writing, or a subtle complexity to the characters, or a compelling grip to the plot. In the case of this book, it’s hard to say what’s missing. The descriptions are thoughtful, the action is pacy and demanding, the plot adds interesting new twists to the classic story that do keep it fresh and unpredictable. I think it might be the characterisations. They feel a little sparsely drawn. This book is only the first in a series, admittedly, and I would expect the characterisations to deepen with further books, but you know what they say, every book within a series ought to be strong enough to stand on its own. King of Ithaca does stand on its own, plot-wise, I just didn’t feel I quite got inside the heads of the characters or particularly connected with them.
The character of Eperitus has me in two minds. On the one hand, I rather like the fact that as a brand new character invented by the author, he brings something new to the table of the very well-worn and familiar Troy mythos. As an original character we don’t know his fate ahead of time, and thus tension and surprise are created in the story due to this. He also comes with an intriguing backstory, of which we learn just a little in this first instalment in the series. However, on the other hand, he also flirts a little with Mary-Sueism – And yet, for all that, his character is kind of bland and indistinguishable.
The action is quite reminiscent of Homer’s Iliad – which is surprisingly bloody and heavy on the gore. I think the style of writing is what would be called “boys’ own” historical/mythical adventure fiction – plenty of male characters, plenty of fighting, only a few female characters rarely seen and lacking much agency as far as the plot goes. I always hesitate to call a book “ladlit” though, because, as a woman, I regularly read and enjoy such books. I prefer gender-balanced epics above all, but given the choice between “ladlit” and “chicklit” historical fiction I strongly tend towards “ladlit” because it may be heavy on the male perspective and the action, and somewhat lacking in the character growth department, but usually the plot is solid, whereas some “chicklit” historical fiction lacks plot apart from the romantic intrigues of the female lead, all the action takes place “off-screen” whilst the women wait for news of the battle from a messenger, and the historical context goes right out the window in favour of who is friends with whom (coughTheOtherBoleynGirlcough).
Sometimes the book feels a tad anachronistic. The characters espouse classical Athenian ideas about patriotism and people power, which is rather out of place for despotic driven Bronze Age Greece, though since the Iliad and Odyssey are myth anyways can this really be criticised? I don't know, I just would've preferred a Bronze Age setting to have Bronze Age attitudes.
The book is largely written with a realistic feel, but then suddenly fantastical elements are introduced such as the monster in the temple and the actual presence of the gods – however, it doesn’t go the whole hog and have total divine meddling and interference as there is in the Iliad and Odyssey myths. I think if an author is going to retell ancient myths they should either go realistic and try to plausibly explain the fantastical elements and try to turn it into a historical epic, or stick with the mythos and have gods and monsters and divine interference abound. Be decisive. Don’t make the book feel realistic and grounded in history and explain away some fantastical things, but then introduce the gods and magic for some other things.
I must admit, this was my own fault due to my own expectations, but the book surprised me. I expected a retelling of the Iliad or the Odyssey, and it wasn’t. It’s Odysseus’ younger years, his adventures as a prince before the really interesting bit of the myth gets going.
7 out of 10
The character of Eperitus has me in two minds. On the one hand, I rather like the fact that as a brand new character invented by the author, he brings something new to the table of the very well-worn and familiar Troy mythos. As an original character we don’t know his fate ahead of time, and thus tension and surprise are created in the story due to this. He also comes with an intriguing backstory, of which we learn just a little in this first instalment in the series. However, on the other hand, he also flirts a little with Mary-Sueism –
Spoiler
he romantically dallies with both Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, he earns the wrath of the Argive kings but also quickly earns Odysseus’ trust, gazes upon the goddess Athena herself, and Odysseus uses up the one favour that Athena grants him to save Eperitus’ life instead of asking for her help to win back Ithaca.The action is quite reminiscent of Homer’s Iliad – which is surprisingly bloody and heavy on the gore. I think the style of writing is what would be called “boys’ own” historical/mythical adventure fiction – plenty of male characters, plenty of fighting, only a few female characters rarely seen and lacking much agency as far as the plot goes. I always hesitate to call a book “ladlit” though, because, as a woman, I regularly read and enjoy such books. I prefer gender-balanced epics above all, but given the choice between “ladlit” and “chicklit” historical fiction I strongly tend towards “ladlit” because it may be heavy on the male perspective and the action, and somewhat lacking in the character growth department, but usually the plot is solid, whereas some “chicklit” historical fiction lacks plot apart from the romantic intrigues of the female lead, all the action takes place “off-screen” whilst the women wait for news of the battle from a messenger, and the historical context goes right out the window in favour of who is friends with whom (coughTheOtherBoleynGirlcough).
Sometimes the book feels a tad anachronistic. The characters espouse classical Athenian ideas about patriotism and people power, which is rather out of place for despotic driven Bronze Age Greece, though since the Iliad and Odyssey are myth anyways can this really be criticised? I don't know, I just would've preferred a Bronze Age setting to have Bronze Age attitudes.
The book is largely written with a realistic feel, but then suddenly fantastical elements are introduced such as the monster in the temple and the actual presence of the gods – however, it doesn’t go the whole hog and have total divine meddling and interference as there is in the Iliad and Odyssey myths. I think if an author is going to retell ancient myths they should either go realistic and try to plausibly explain the fantastical elements and try to turn it into a historical epic, or stick with the mythos and have gods and monsters and divine interference abound. Be decisive. Don’t make the book feel realistic and grounded in history and explain away some fantastical things, but then introduce the gods and magic for some other things.
I must admit, this was my own fault due to my own expectations, but the book surprised me. I expected a retelling of the Iliad or the Odyssey, and it wasn’t. It’s Odysseus’ younger years, his adventures as a prince before the really interesting bit of the myth gets going.
7 out of 10
adventurous
medium-paced
Really wasn‘t for me, which is to bad because I did like the premise. I don’t particularly appreciate the way the known characters were portrayed and I thoroughly disliked Eperitus. Some decisions made in the storytelling were almost baffling and the „love-potion“ as a plot device is only one thing I hated in particular.
The very first description of a woman includes immediate mention of her "small breasts". Ate shit at the first hurdle, quite disappointing.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Just wasn't enjoying it as much as I thought I would! It's not a bad book, just not for me.
DNFing at 36%. Gave it a fair shot, but it just isn't doing it for me. It's an interesting premise (the origins of Odysseus), but it's surprisingly dry.