Could we be Heroes?

Thus continues my deep dive into Greek mythology - as expected. From Circe by Madeline Miller and Mythos by Stephen Fry, my journey took me on a quest to Troy and back - via The Iliad and The Odyssey - to now winding up in the world of mortals, with 'a bit' of help from Stephen Fry again.

Heroes is the second volume of Mythos, if you will; while the first book concerned itself with the comings and goings of the Greek gods, in this book Stephen turns his attention to mortal struggles. From Perseus through Bellerophon to Theseus and Heracles, all the big ones make an appearance - even Atalanta, who happens to be a badass princess who hunts and uses a bow and was raised by bears. You can't get much cooler than that.

What did I like about it?

For those that read my review of Mythos, you will know that I spared no enthusiasm in describing Stephen's writing style, and I can't help but continue. His tongue-in-cheek approach to sometimes seriously confusing myths comes across even more in this book - the humans really take a beating sometimes - but this is what helps keep this book entertaining, and make it unique among the (I imagine) countless retellings of Greek mythology.

Despite venturing into the mortal world, there are still countless mythological beasts to be slain, tamed, captured or borrowed (in the case of Heracles and Cerberus, the three-headed guardian of the underworld) - conveniently so for all these young fools determined to become heroes themselves. There is also, unsurprisingly, more treachery, more weird family ties, more labours to be completed. It seems mortal heroes simply cannot extricate themselves from an endless cycle of committing blood crimes and then labouring for decades in order to be cleansed.

Often referencing back to Mythos in footnotes, Stephen does everything in his power to help readers wrap their heads around all the connections, be it between characters, storylines or cause-and-effect connections. So it's not essential to have read Mythos, but I would certainly think Heroes is more enjoyable if you had read it. And enjoyed it.

What was I not massively fond of?

My biggest issue with Heroes was the near-impossibility in remembering who is who. I don't blame Stephen for this - he really does his best to help - but I do think a graphical chart (much like the one on the Olympus generations in Mythos, repeated on the first pages of Heroes) would have been immensely helpful. There are 25 pages describing every mortal character that had appeared in the book; twenty-five! And those are just the mortals! I struggled with distinguishing my Pelius from my Pelias; my Iphitus from my Iphicles. And while in Mythos it felt alright to just swiftly move on when I didn't remember everyone, I think Heroes is better enjoyed when all characters are remembered separately, backstory and all. Mainly because almost everything is connected.

I also took an issue with footnotes that referenced stories we hadn't read yet. I think back-referencing makes perfect sense and is very helpful; but to mention a connection with a story I haven't yet read makes little sense to me.

In terms of writing, I did find that Heroes was often more casual and conversational than Mythos, sometimes perhaps a little too much for me. Reading this conversation, for example, I remember forgetting that I was reading Greek mythology, so everyday and casual did the writing feel:

'You're late, darling.'
'Mum, what's a "Medusa"?'
'Perseus, have you been drinking?'
'Maybe. Just a cup or two.'
'A hiccup or two, by the sound of it.'
'No, but seriously, what's a Medusa?'

See what I mean?

And last, but not least: the format of this book... To be able to read Heroes on the go, I needed the following:

• a backpack large enough to fit the book in
• a seat on the train
• if I couldn't obtain a seat on the train, highly developed and regularly trained thumb muscles
• lots of calcium to avoid hand cramps

In short, this is a giant, heavy, large-sized hardback that is an absolute pain to carry around, and it baffles me that someone thought this was the right format. It feels slightly larger than your normal hardback (in terms of length) which means it doesn't fit in my usual backpack - or if it does it pokes out heavily, causing a literal pain in the back.

Overall...

Although I very much enjoyed reading Heroes, I did find it a bit more over-the-top tongue-in-cheek than Mythos. Perhaps it's the mortals' fault for being so damn ordinarily human; we still got to see Zeus in the form of a golden shower though, and a talking figurehead on the Argo, and of course there's the ever-popular Minotaur, making an appearance as a near-human full of empathy and a death wish for the sake of everyone. Touching.

If you enjoyed Mythos, there is no doubt it's worth continuing on with this second volume. Just be warned that humans haven't changed so much since ancient Greece... See Theseus:

When he [Pirithous] proposed the insane idea of descending into the realm of the dead and snatching Persephone from under the very nose of her husband Hades, Theseus the hero, Theseus the wise, Theseus the clever, Theseus the great king and counsellor nodded his head vigorously.
'Why not? Sounds like fun.'

Serves him right though, because although he gets rescued by Heracles, he leaves with a very flat bum indeed, having most of his behind ripped off by the stone throne he had been bound to with snakes. Dumbass.

7/10