Naturally, the book tells of the most famous bits, such as Paris’ judgement with the apple or the abduction of Helen. We follow different stories that explain how Troy came to be ruled by Priam (in fact, how Priam came to his name) - and who would have thought that Herakles had a lot to do with that?! - and are introduced to everyone who will become important in the actual battle for Troy. In this book, Stephen Fry once again proves his talent in not only knowing every detail of the source material but of also cunningly choosing what is interesting and important and what would be too repetitive or killing the reader with boredom (anyone having read The Iliad will know what I mean). Ruled by Priam, defended by Hector, but ultimately doomed by Paris. And here, we get one of THE most famous tales: the rise and fall of Troy. Greek mythology - few things are as epic as the stories of Herakles’ deeds, Odysseus’ wits, or Achilles’ prowess. "Only a foolish leader blames his messengers." I believe that made the reading experience much more immersive compared to Mythos and Heroes. It's no longer a collection of short-stories, but a gradual, organized build-up towards the Trojan war. For the first time in this series, we are moving along a single storyline. "Some people are constitutionally unable to learn from their mistakes.īut the major change most readers would notice here lies with the flow of main plotline. The author describes each backstory with his usual enthusiasm, bringing that enjoyable narrative once more. More than half of the book is used for establishing the key players, along with their back-stories, and that's where we come across our highly anticipated dose of humor. "All things, Troy included, begin and end with ZEUS."īut it was obvious from the beginning that Fry had other ideas rather than narrating the well-know war story.
I was actually surprised to see Fry go such a tragedy, breaking away from his usual light, and funny short-stories. It's impossible to pick a favorite side, so everything always comes down to a lose-lose situation.
Problem with reading books about Troy or Trojan War is that you begin the book knowing that there are no happy endings for a single character involved.
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