Troy: Homer's Iliad Retold

by David Boyle, Viv Croot, Sarah Young (Illustrator)

Hardcover book with dust jacket. Homer's Iliad with biographical details of the characters involved. Illustrated.

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

David Courtney Boyle was a British author and journalist who wrote mainly about history and new ideas in economics, money, business, and culture. He lived in Steyning in West Sussex.
He conducted an independent review for the Treasury and the Cabinet Office on public demand for choice in public services which reported in 2013. Boyle was a co-founder and policy director of Radix, which he characterized in 2017 as a radical centrist think tank. He was also co-director of the mutual think tank New Weather Institute.

Reviews

[Bernie4444 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling worth re-reading

I am not normally a fan of retold tales as they usually get skewed, or something is left out that is important, or something is put in that is not important.

I have read several copies of the Iliad by different interpreters, so I feel comfortable reading this retold story by David Boyle and Viv Croot, edited by Michael J. Anderson.

The introduction alone is like an enhanced Cliff's Notes. There is an excellent map depicting the location of the Greek and Trojan armies. Upfront we get a Who's Who of Greeks and Trojans and Gods. The book is separated into the twenty-four classical books of the Iliad.

As we cut through the book and find it is not as much a retelling as an excellent annotated version of the story with pictures and definitions.

At the end of the book, there is a further reading section that shows four of the top translations. I know there are approximately twenty translations out there at this point.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really, really helpful book for giving me a basic understanding of the Iliad, the Trojan war, and learning who is who among the Greeks, Trojans, and Gods involved. I appreciate books like this when I'm tackling a big project: like reading and understanding the Iliad and Odyssey.

[Carly Krewitsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

While The Odyssey was very violent, The Iliad is even more so. We are told how the Greek and Trojan soldiers die. Some of them have their heads cut off, while others have their bellies sliced open. The Iliad is about the Greek hero Achilles. Achilles refuses to fight because he feels that Agamemnon was treating him unfairly. It is not until after the death of Patroclus, Achille's best friend, that Achilles and Agamemnon make peace with each other. The Iliad should be titled "Gods Gone Wild" because the Gods and Goddesses take sides in the war and also fight in the war. Athena, Hera, and Poseidon are all on the Greek side. Athena and Hera feel slighted because Paris chose Aphrodite as the fairest in a beauty contest. Zeus, Ares, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Artemis are on the Trojan side. I liked how Hera seduced Zeus so that Poseidon could help the Greeks. I thought Achilles acted like a spoiled brat most of the time. If Paris and Helen fell in love, why did Helen act like she despised him? Both Hector and Agamemnon were weak leaders since they often retreated and occasionally acted like cowards. Odysseus and Diomedes are a good team, though.

[Robin Juhl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors poured a lot into this book. Had tried to read The Iliad twice before. But because I didn't know who all these people and "gods" were, and why they did the things they did--it was so BORING! This book illustrates the needed back stories with more than just pictures. Finally understand a bit of the mindset of these people from so very long ago.