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Al Principio Erano gli Dei
"Da principio era un sottile aculeo luminoso, come un raggio di sole che si fosse avvicinato tanto da trafiggere il tessuto azzurro del cielo. Poi si mosse, baluginando, e sembrava un ago dorato che stesse cucendo il firmamento..."
240 pages
First published January 1, 1970
9 people are currently reading
418 people want to read
About the author
Leon Garfield
119 books49 followersLeon Garfield FRSL (14 July 1921 – 2 June 1996) was a British writer of fiction. He is best known for children's historical novels, though he also wrote for adults. He wrote more than thirty books and scripted Shakespeare: The Animated Tales for television.
Garfield attended Brighton Grammar School (1932-1938) and went on to study art at Regent Street Polytechnic, but his studies were interrupted first by lack of funds for fees, then by the outbreak of World War II. He married Lena Leah Davies in April, 1941, at Golders Green Synagogue but they separated after only a few months. For his service in the war he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. While posted in Belgium he met Vivien Alcock, then an ambulance driver, who would go on to become his second wife (in 1948) and a well-known children's author. She would also greatly influence Garfield's writing, giving him suggestions for his writing, including the original idea for Smith. After the war Garfield worked as a biochemical laboratory technician at the Whittington Hospital in Islington, writing in his spare time until the 1960s, when he was successful enough to write full-time. In 1964, the couple adopted a baby girl, called Jane after Jane Austen, a favourite writer of both parents.
Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel Jack Holborn, for adult readers but a Constable & Co. editor saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded him to adapt it for a younger audience. In that form it was published by Constable in 1964. His second book, Devil-in-the-Fog (1966), won the first annual Guardian Prize and was serialised for television, as were several later works (below). Devil was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins (in this case a boy from a family of traveling actors) pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Another was Smith (1967), with the eponymous hero a young pickpocket accepted into a wealthy household; it won the Phoenix Award in 1987. Yet another was Black Jack (1968), in which a young apprentice is forced by accident and his conscience to accompany a murderous criminal.
In 1970, Garfield's work started to move in new directions with The God Beneath the Sea, a re-telling of numerous Greek myths in one narrative, written by Garfield and Edward Blishen and illustrated by Charles Keeping. It won the annual Carnegie Medal for British children's books. Garfield, Blishen, and Keeping collaborated again on a sequel, The Golden Shadow (1973). The Drummer Boy (1970) was another adventure story, but concerned more with a central moral problem, and apparently aimed at somewhat older readers, a trend continued in The Prisoners of September (1975) republished in 1989 by Lions Tracks, under the title Revolution!, The Pleasure Garden (1976) and The Confidence Man (1978). The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1972) was a black comedy in which two boys decide to test the plausibility of Romulus and Remus using one of the boys' baby sister. Most notable at the time was a series of linked long short stories about apprentices, published separately between 1976 and 1978, and then as a collection, The Apprentices. The more adult themed books of the mid-1970s met with a mixed reception and Garfield returned to the model of his earlier books with John Diamond, which won a Whitbread Award in 1980, and The December Rose (1986). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished at the 1870 death of Dickens, an author who had been a major influence on Garfield's own style.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked.
Garfield attended Brighton Grammar School (1932-1938) and went on to study art at Regent Street Polytechnic, but his studies were interrupted first by lack of funds for fees, then by the outbreak of World War II. He married Lena Leah Davies in April, 1941, at Golders Green Synagogue but they separated after only a few months. For his service in the war he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. While posted in Belgium he met Vivien Alcock, then an ambulance driver, who would go on to become his second wife (in 1948) and a well-known children's author. She would also greatly influence Garfield's writing, giving him suggestions for his writing, including the original idea for Smith. After the war Garfield worked as a biochemical laboratory technician at the Whittington Hospital in Islington, writing in his spare time until the 1960s, when he was successful enough to write full-time. In 1964, the couple adopted a baby girl, called Jane after Jane Austen, a favourite writer of both parents.
Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel Jack Holborn, for adult readers but a Constable & Co. editor saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded him to adapt it for a younger audience. In that form it was published by Constable in 1964. His second book, Devil-in-the-Fog (1966), won the first annual Guardian Prize and was serialised for television, as were several later works (below). Devil was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins (in this case a boy from a family of traveling actors) pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Another was Smith (1967), with the eponymous hero a young pickpocket accepted into a wealthy household; it won the Phoenix Award in 1987. Yet another was Black Jack (1968), in which a young apprentice is forced by accident and his conscience to accompany a murderous criminal.
In 1970, Garfield's work started to move in new directions with The God Beneath the Sea, a re-telling of numerous Greek myths in one narrative, written by Garfield and Edward Blishen and illustrated by Charles Keeping. It won the annual Carnegie Medal for British children's books. Garfield, Blishen, and Keeping collaborated again on a sequel, The Golden Shadow (1973). The Drummer Boy (1970) was another adventure story, but concerned more with a central moral problem, and apparently aimed at somewhat older readers, a trend continued in The Prisoners of September (1975) republished in 1989 by Lions Tracks, under the title Revolution!, The Pleasure Garden (1976) and The Confidence Man (1978). The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1972) was a black comedy in which two boys decide to test the plausibility of Romulus and Remus using one of the boys' baby sister. Most notable at the time was a series of linked long short stories about apprentices, published separately between 1976 and 1978, and then as a collection, The Apprentices. The more adult themed books of the mid-1970s met with a mixed reception and Garfield returned to the model of his earlier books with John Diamond, which won a Whitbread Award in 1980, and The December Rose (1986). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished at the 1870 death of Dickens, an author who had been a major influence on Garfield's own style.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
December 17, 2022
In their reimagining of Greek mythology, in The God Beneath the Sea (which won the 1970 Carnegie Medal for co-authors Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen), an infant, a newly born deity falls (or rather is in fact thrown) from the sky (and in fact from Mount Olympus). And Thetis, an ancient goddess of the sea, she and her sister Eurynome rescue and take this quite ugly and rather misshapen baby into their care and name him Hephaestus (who in Greek mythology is the god of metallurgy, goldsmiths, and also of volcanoes, the latter being perhaps why Hephaestus as the titular deity of this book, as the main subject of The God Beneath the Sea is seen by Garfield and Blishen as being, as coming from beneath the ocean, since volcanoes often have their origins on the sea floor, and that of course Hephaestus, having been cared for and raised by two ocean deities, he also and naturally becomes such a god himself).
And when an always rather moody and frowning Hephaestus grows increasingly unhappy, restless and also begins to question who he is and from where he originally came, Thetis and Eurynome finally tell Hephaestus that he was born on and cast down from Mount Olympus, with thus beginning in The God Beneath the Sea the interesting but also the twisting and turning tales the two goddesses tell to Hephaestus of his heritage, of the Titans and the Olympians, of their battles for supremacy, their betrayals, their many vengeances. An interesting, engaging and entertaining adaptation of Greek mythology is The God Beneath the Sea and where Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen delightfully manage to totally keep to the spirit of the ancient stories but are also still giving a fresh and newly painted hue to Greek mythology for a current, or rather for a 1970s audience (and oh how I do wish that when we were covering Greek mythology in grade seven English in 1979/1980 our teacher had used The God Beneath the Sea instead of the tedious and bone-dry textbook we were made to peruse and learn).
Finally, I also really do love love love that The God Beneath the Sea covers many of the most famous Greek myths, from Pandora's Box to Hades and Persephone, but that Garfield and Blishen's main textual focus is on the Greek gods and goddesses and not really on human heroes such as Theseus, Heracles and Jason and the Argonauts (for personally, I do find the latter a bit tedious and often just too macho for my tastes). And yes, I also majorly appreciate and even rather enjoy how the authors do not in any way shy away from bringing the brutality and the barbarism of Greek mythology to life and in an unflinching, uncompromising way in The God Beneath the Sea (from Zeus' infamous lust to Ares' passion for war, that the gods presented by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen are bold and as unforgiving, doling out cruelty and kindnesses in equal measure, a delightful reading experience for The God Beneath the Sea, totally enjoyable and definitely one of the best and most rewarding retelling of the Greek myths I have read to date).
And when an always rather moody and frowning Hephaestus grows increasingly unhappy, restless and also begins to question who he is and from where he originally came, Thetis and Eurynome finally tell Hephaestus that he was born on and cast down from Mount Olympus, with thus beginning in The God Beneath the Sea the interesting but also the twisting and turning tales the two goddesses tell to Hephaestus of his heritage, of the Titans and the Olympians, of their battles for supremacy, their betrayals, their many vengeances. An interesting, engaging and entertaining adaptation of Greek mythology is The God Beneath the Sea and where Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen delightfully manage to totally keep to the spirit of the ancient stories but are also still giving a fresh and newly painted hue to Greek mythology for a current, or rather for a 1970s audience (and oh how I do wish that when we were covering Greek mythology in grade seven English in 1979/1980 our teacher had used The God Beneath the Sea instead of the tedious and bone-dry textbook we were made to peruse and learn).
Finally, I also really do love love love that The God Beneath the Sea covers many of the most famous Greek myths, from Pandora's Box to Hades and Persephone, but that Garfield and Blishen's main textual focus is on the Greek gods and goddesses and not really on human heroes such as Theseus, Heracles and Jason and the Argonauts (for personally, I do find the latter a bit tedious and often just too macho for my tastes). And yes, I also majorly appreciate and even rather enjoy how the authors do not in any way shy away from bringing the brutality and the barbarism of Greek mythology to life and in an unflinching, uncompromising way in The God Beneath the Sea (from Zeus' infamous lust to Ares' passion for war, that the gods presented by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen are bold and as unforgiving, doling out cruelty and kindnesses in equal measure, a delightful reading experience for The God Beneath the Sea, totally enjoyable and definitely one of the best and most rewarding retelling of the Greek myths I have read to date).
June 8, 2017
I grew up with Bulfinch's Mythology and have always loved Greek mythology, so I was thrilled to discover and read this collection of Greek creation myths of both gods and man, written in modern language for young people. These were the CREATION myths, as opposed to the HEROIC. The tales were fleshed out, starting with the birth of Hephaestus, the ugly son of Zeus and Hera, and how the other gods came to be and why they became gods of a particular thing. Then the book progressed to the titans, the war between gods and titans, the creation of man. More extensive than Bulfinch were the stories of Deucalion and the Flood, Demeter and Persephone, Pandora, Sisyphus, and finally the rape of Anticleia and birth of her son, Odysseus, growing up on rocky Ithaca. Apollo and Poseidon build the city of Troy; Anticleia's father writes her: "Perhaps, when he is a grown man, my grandson Odysseus will visit it."
Imaginative retellings in today's language and how one event led to another. The creative line drawings, by design not copies of ancient Greek ceramics, added much. Highly recommended. I certainly see how this book won the Carnegie Medal.
Imaginative retellings in today's language and how one event led to another. The creative line drawings, by design not copies of ancient Greek ceramics, added much. Highly recommended. I certainly see how this book won the Carnegie Medal.
July 20, 2019
This is the second time I’ve read this amazingly written book. The great stories of the Greek gods and goddesses are told in a detailed and descriptive, but pleasant manner and is very suitable for people who are completely unfamiliar with Greek mythology. The only criticism I have about this book is that I would have liked the author to focus more on the gods and goddesses from Olympus and less on the Greek heroes such as Heracles. But that’s my personal opinion and doesn’t necessarily impact the quality of the author’s writing.
February 1, 2019
An elegant re-telling of Greek mythology, strung together in narrative form. Beautifully realized.
August 27, 2013
Greek myths beautifully retold
January 16, 2019
An odd retelling of some of the key myths of ancient Greece, fusing the original tales with modern twists. The language is charming, but it’s the line drawings that stick with me – haunting stuff.
October 1, 2014
I was drawn to this by the beautiful cover design - unlike anything else, vivid and evocative. Charles Keeping peppers his vague imagery throughout and it's a highlight.
Garfield and Blishen retell the early Greek Myths, focussing on the creation myths rather than the heroic tales and not skimping on the violence and sex. Long out of print, this new edition is lovely and worth picking up for a very readable version of the classic stories. I'll admit to finding things a little slow to start but it really kicks in and by the end I was hooked. I suspect this is a book that will improve with re-reading.
Well worth it.
Garfield and Blishen retell the early Greek Myths, focussing on the creation myths rather than the heroic tales and not skimping on the violence and sex. Long out of print, this new edition is lovely and worth picking up for a very readable version of the classic stories. I'll admit to finding things a little slow to start but it really kicks in and by the end I was hooked. I suspect this is a book that will improve with re-reading.
Well worth it.
February 24, 2021
I read this book as a child and absolutely loved it. I had vivid memories of the illustrations and descriptions of Hephaestus' creations and I was just as blown away revisiting it. The beauty of the words makes this book enthralling and paints such incredible images. Garfield doesn't shy away from writing about the darker side of these tales, but he also doesn't go into details that would prevent me from giving this to an older child with an interest in mythology. Definitely one to revisit again!
October 4, 2009
I remember enjoying this retelling of Greek myths when I was twelve or so. It's a kid's novel, but it probably isn't appropriate for young children because of its subject matter. There is a lot of violence and sex in the Greek myths, even if modern authors tone it down for their audience. It should be OK for older kids. If I recall correctly, twelve and up should be fine.
May 14, 2021
A beautiful, clever retelling of the tales of the gods of Mount Olympus. Garfield and Blishen start with Chaos and flow the story through the Titans, on to Zeus and his group, and finally to the age of humans. They use Hephaestus as a pivot point to weave the tales into a continuing narrative. A fun reminder of how much more interesting, disturbing, fun, and VERY human, the “pagan” gods were compared to those of the Judeo-christian-Muslim traditions. Written for the older child/young adult, but with enough sex and violence, jealousy and backstabbing, to keep the adult reader entertained. [in general, Leon Garfield is way-underappreciated in America as an author of YA fiction]
February 16, 2025
Cool retelling of greek creation myths centered around Hephaestus. The illustrations are really beautiful
"The god looked up. Prometheus stood before him.
'For my children,' whispered the despairing Titan. 'For mankind.'
The two great outcasts stared at one another.
'Take it and be gone,' muttered the god."
"The god looked up. Prometheus stood before him.
'For my children,' whispered the despairing Titan. 'For mankind.'
The two great outcasts stared at one another.
'Take it and be gone,' muttered the god."
May 23, 2022
This was a joint writing project between Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen, brought together by their childhood love of Greek Myths. The idea is to take the myths, tie them together into something of a through-narrative and tell them in a language that is gritty, modern and poetic. The book won the Carnegie Medal and Charles Keeping’s creepy illustrations were commended for the Greenaway Medal.
That aim to be gritty and poetic threatens to overwhelm the book but thanks to a smart way with a simile or a dash of humour, it never is quite subsumed. There’s no clear indication of who wrote what, but comparing the crusting on a crab’s shell to mini travelling cities can only be a Garfield idea. I also enjoyed the way the book creates its own epithets for the Gods and Goddesses.
The God beneath the sea is Hephaestus, son of Zeus and Hera, thrown to the sea for being ugly. The stories of the Earth’s creation and the Titanomachy are told to him by the sea nymphs who have taken him in. It’s interesting though, Hephaestus is not really the main character, if anything, it’s Prometheus.
I didn’t realise that in Greek creation myth, humans were created, not by an Olympian but the Titan, Prometheus. What’s more, the human soul are seeds born of the primordial chaos of the world. People in this book are so fragile and weak compared to the Gods and Prometheus sacrifices himself to fight in their corner.
This is very much a God’s-eye view of the Greek myths, dabbling in ones that I knew less about. Not only the lesser told stories of Chronos and the war with the Titans but also the ancient Greek version on the universal flood myth. Also - I didn’t know the walls of Troy were built by Gods.
This is a very different book from Leon Garfield’s others (except the sequel) but it’s vivid and exciting, certainly better than the Stephen Fry retellings.
That aim to be gritty and poetic threatens to overwhelm the book but thanks to a smart way with a simile or a dash of humour, it never is quite subsumed. There’s no clear indication of who wrote what, but comparing the crusting on a crab’s shell to mini travelling cities can only be a Garfield idea. I also enjoyed the way the book creates its own epithets for the Gods and Goddesses.
The God beneath the sea is Hephaestus, son of Zeus and Hera, thrown to the sea for being ugly. The stories of the Earth’s creation and the Titanomachy are told to him by the sea nymphs who have taken him in. It’s interesting though, Hephaestus is not really the main character, if anything, it’s Prometheus.
I didn’t realise that in Greek creation myth, humans were created, not by an Olympian but the Titan, Prometheus. What’s more, the human soul are seeds born of the primordial chaos of the world. People in this book are so fragile and weak compared to the Gods and Prometheus sacrifices himself to fight in their corner.
This is very much a God’s-eye view of the Greek myths, dabbling in ones that I knew less about. Not only the lesser told stories of Chronos and the war with the Titans but also the ancient Greek version on the universal flood myth. Also - I didn’t know the walls of Troy were built by Gods.
This is a very different book from Leon Garfield’s others (except the sequel) but it’s vivid and exciting, certainly better than the Stephen Fry retellings.
April 22, 2019
I love mythology as long time readers will well know. Greek Myths, in particular, have always held my interest, ever since reading Marcia William’s comic style retellings from cover to cover as a child.
The God Beneath the Sea tells the early stories of the Gods and their war with the Titans to claim rule, up to Prometheus and the creation of man, and Hera’s betrayal of Zeus. The Gods are not generous – they are at best bickering, at worst at each other’s throats. Their initial response to Man is not a good one.
And the strength of this book is that it doesn’t shy away from that. There’s no Disney sugar coating here, no painting a picture of kind, generous gods as you see in so many reinterpretations. These are the gods in all their gory glory, tricking each other, plotting revenge for perceived wrongs, generally being petty and pathetic, not godly.
I was a little disappointed that it ended before the heroes that so many people know and love. I really wanted volume two, but with forty years between initial publication and this current edition, I don’t think that’s likely.
Along with the stories, there are some beautiful illustrations by Charles Keeping. Given the book is ostensibly for children, they are incredibly creepy – with a baby’s head being birthed through a mouth, Prometheus’ clearly naked form being attacked by a vulture, a baby being held in a fire among others. They perfectly capture the tone and content of the myths, and the lively line art style makes the pictures really jump from the page.
Overall, a good book for the Greek Mythology fan, with energetic retelling and illustration.
The God Beneath the Sea tells the early stories of the Gods and their war with the Titans to claim rule, up to Prometheus and the creation of man, and Hera’s betrayal of Zeus. The Gods are not generous – they are at best bickering, at worst at each other’s throats. Their initial response to Man is not a good one.
And the strength of this book is that it doesn’t shy away from that. There’s no Disney sugar coating here, no painting a picture of kind, generous gods as you see in so many reinterpretations. These are the gods in all their gory glory, tricking each other, plotting revenge for perceived wrongs, generally being petty and pathetic, not godly.
I was a little disappointed that it ended before the heroes that so many people know and love. I really wanted volume two, but with forty years between initial publication and this current edition, I don’t think that’s likely.
Along with the stories, there are some beautiful illustrations by Charles Keeping. Given the book is ostensibly for children, they are incredibly creepy – with a baby’s head being birthed through a mouth, Prometheus’ clearly naked form being attacked by a vulture, a baby being held in a fire among others. They perfectly capture the tone and content of the myths, and the lively line art style makes the pictures really jump from the page.
Overall, a good book for the Greek Mythology fan, with energetic retelling and illustration.
September 12, 2021
Garfield was a well known British writer of YAs (as the Penguin imprint for children defines YA, aged 8 to 12) thirty to forty years ago, but this is the only one of his books I could find on Alibris. It is a very readable poetic rendition of the Greek myths, told in one continuous narrative rather than in stories. The novel begins with Hera throwing her infant son Hephaestus out of heaven because he is very ugly. Her next son, some way down the line, is not ugly but has an ugly personality, and is thus offered the gift of being the God of war.
The book occasionally deviates from consensus rendition of the myths (it is Demeter rather than Thetis who holds an infant by the heel while plunging him into fire to make him immortal), and is extraordinarily honest about the Gods' and Goddesses' sexuality, considering the target age of the book. I mean, no one can escape from the fact that Zeus entered Danaes's bedroom in a shower of coins, but conventional children's interpretations leave it at that. Not sure that was her name, but you know who I mean. Even Demeter casually sleeps with mortals. You feel a little (a very little) sympathy for Hades when Persephone is liberated, he thinks for ever. He weeps tears of blood. The book does not attempt to gloss over that he raped her.
The book occasionally deviates from consensus rendition of the myths (it is Demeter rather than Thetis who holds an infant by the heel while plunging him into fire to make him immortal), and is extraordinarily honest about the Gods' and Goddesses' sexuality, considering the target age of the book. I mean, no one can escape from the fact that Zeus entered Danaes's bedroom in a shower of coins, but conventional children's interpretations leave it at that. Not sure that was her name, but you know who I mean. Even Demeter casually sleeps with mortals. You feel a little (a very little) sympathy for Hades when Persephone is liberated, he thinks for ever. He weeps tears of blood. The book does not attempt to gloss over that he raped her.
October 27, 2021
Wonderful. I bought this book because I'm slowly collecting books illustrated by Charles Keeping - my favorite illustrator as a child because he illustrated my favorite books (written by Nicholas Stuart Gray). Worth a look, no one's work looks like his. And this book has a series of intense, flowing black and white illustrations, where the line expresses power and action.
This is a retelling of Greek mythology, where the story is recognizable but some of the motivation and flow is different - and that slight alteration makes the story somehow new. Some may frown on altering these historical stories in a way which renders them fantasy, but for me it made them a new and different read.
Very simple language and story-telling, but not sanitized and movingly beautiful in places. I enjoyed the book immensely
This is a retelling of Greek mythology, where the story is recognizable but some of the motivation and flow is different - and that slight alteration makes the story somehow new. Some may frown on altering these historical stories in a way which renders them fantasy, but for me it made them a new and different read.
Very simple language and story-telling, but not sanitized and movingly beautiful in places. I enjoyed the book immensely
August 24, 2011
A re-telling of Greek myths, focusing on Hephaestus. I’m quite fond of Hephaestus myself, but I never quite tipped over into love here. This may partly be due to the pictures, which kind of freaked me out. [May 2011]
November 5, 2021
Leon Garfield is a superb storyteller and, here in conjunction with Ed Blishen, does a compelling job of retelling some choice moments from Greek mythology, so as to draw out a powerful commentary on the themes of power and belonging. What shines through is the Greeks' abiding ambivalence - this is no Hollywood tale of goodies and baddies. Everyone is suspect, most - though not all - have redeeming features, and any reader with some self-knowledge will recognise her or himself in many of the confusions and missteps.
August 19, 2021
Simple language but in no way a work suited to children. An excellent story woven together of the Titan & Greek God origins. Appropriately mythopoeic and violent. Here also is how many famous demigods and mortals were born and entered the myths. I love that the book ends with Troy being built, and Odysseus' grandfather writing to his mother and saying perhaps Odysseus might visit when he grows old . . .
July 31, 2021
Exquisitely written, but the conceit of weaving all the various myths together into an overall narrative somehow mutes the excitement of the individual tales.
April 24, 2022
It's a great book about Greek mythology. The writing style has grandness imbued.
And it's breathtaking how pieces come together in the grand scheme of events.
And it's breathtaking how pieces come together in the grand scheme of events.
August 14, 2022
One of my favourite books as a child, reread it and found it just as brilliant, perhaps more so with time.
May 31, 2023
Interesting retelling other Greek myths with amazing illustrations
June 8, 2023
Like Like Like
September 5, 2023
Bellissimo libro che attraversa la mitologia greca con spiegazioni semplici che ti forniscono la nozioni di base per un ottima cultura su questo mondo
September 21, 2023
Nice introduction to Greek mythology for everyone who is low key interested
February 5, 2024
Wow, this bewitching retelling of ancient myths rocks and roars, dazzles and delights, as the mightiest drama queens of all time are reimagined, reinvented, rejuvenated.
Some of Greek mythology’s biggest celebrities are here: Prometheus, Sisyphus, Hephaestus and plenty of other names no one’s quite sure how to pronounce correctly.
All enhanced by the delirious art of Charles Keeping, a genius illustrator and his expressive line.
Some of Greek mythology’s biggest celebrities are here: Prometheus, Sisyphus, Hephaestus and plenty of other names no one’s quite sure how to pronounce correctly.
All enhanced by the delirious art of Charles Keeping, a genius illustrator and his expressive line.
Read
November 5, 2015I had heard this book had been written for children to encourage imagination. When I first opened this book to get a sense of whether I'd be interested in it I saw a rather weird and grotesque drawing of what appeared to be the head of a man with a baby's head where his mouth would be. Further flicking through I came across a drawing of three skeletal figures huddled together. Other images were intense, seeming to show pain and humiliation, or were just weird.
But I started reading as I hadn't managed to get to the library to pick out any other books to read. And I have to say I enjoyed the stories, although some of the themes (there's a chapter titled 'Desire') made me wonder again at the authors' target audience.
But I started reading as I hadn't managed to get to the library to pick out any other books to read. And I have to say I enjoyed the stories, although some of the themes (there's a chapter titled 'Desire') made me wonder again at the authors' target audience.
November 2, 2021
A well written retelling, or more accurately a rephrasing, of Greek myth with an interestingly narrowed focus. The writing is superb and the whole work worthy of Ovid in its sensuality and grandeur. What really brings the work together are the illustrations by Charles Keeping. Like the narrative itself they are by turns terrifying, tempting and heart-rending. The author's depiction of the fire of divinity is particularly haunting.
November 13, 2018
La trama è famosa e conosciuta da 2500 anni, ma gli autori - già conosciuti nel mondo anglosassone e non per la letteratura dei ragazzi - scrivono questo libro come un ottimo romanzo, ricco di descrizioni sul carattere degli dei dell'Olimpo. Anche se per ragazzi il linguagio non è infantile, ma ricco ed elaborato.
Consigliato a chi ama i miti greci, ma anche a chi non li conosce bene.
Consigliato a chi ama i miti greci, ma anche a chi non li conosce bene.
November 30, 2010
Extremely well written retelling of the origins of the gods from classic Greek Mythology, centering largely from Hephaestus' point of view. Too bad it's out of print. I'm definitely going to find the sequel through the library system and read it soon.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews