At Uni I studied the Iliad --a bit. It's a wonderful classic tale that has been examined and reexamined under multiple lenses and from multiple perspectives. And I was really looking forward to Ms. Miller's rendition, particularly as she has a master's in Latin and Ancient Greek, and because the School Library Journal described the book in such glowing terms. However, as it turned out, I was disappointed.

The book starts out wonderfully. I was immediately engaged as the 'voice' of the book, Patroclus, Achille's friend, was introduced. Not much is said about his background in the Illiad, but Ms. Miller fleshes out the story extremely well. And she does have a way with words. However, she wasn't able to keep my attention.

Cutting to the chase, I thought the story moved along too slowly. For over the first half of the book, I read every word faithfully. After that point though skimming set in. The main problem for me weren't the lush descriptions but rather that the characters never came to life for me, and I never cared what would happen to them. The love affair was fawning and actually a little boring. Which I suppose means I'm a bit jaded.

In any case... I can understand why others would like this book: it just was wasted on me. And to try to put this in some perspective that might help the review reader, I also didn't like THE MISTS OF AVALON for many of the same reasons. If however, you've got an interest in finding out what went on in the Iliad, but don't want to read the epic poem, and you'd like a little erotica and a whole lot of fawning romance thrown in, give this book a try.