Mythos: Greek Myths Retold: 1 (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths, 1)

An entertaining and interesting book about ancient Greek mythology written in a style that is recognisable as Stephen Fry (if you've ever watched him on QI). Originally, I had been looking for a book on ancient Greek mythology that was written in a modern way and would be both easy to understand and fluid and I think this book fulfilled those criteria. I had read books on Ulysses (Odysseus I think he's also known as), Theseus, Hercules, Jason and the Argonauts and Perseus as well as seeing a few films about said characters (although they are not really covered in this book because as Fry mentions you would need several books to tell their stories) and so wanted to find a book that tells other myths such as the creation of the Greek Gods, the Titans and some of the less well known characters in Greek myth such as Prometheus, Sisyphus, Persephone, but because I am not a classics scholar I didn't really feel that I would particularly enjoy reading translated ancient texts so this book was just about right and ideal for what I wanted. Fry does use some complicated words (although he'd probably recommend I use a dictionary) but I still found this to be, on the whole, easily understandable, a great read and it ticked all the boxes for what I was looking for. Fry's writing style is (as I'd imagine the man himself to be) charming, intelligent and informative with a sense of wit and of course there are plenty of footnotes as he adds extra bits of information as he tells the stories. Also, he does add a sources section at the end of the book for those who wish to delve further which I think is an excellent idea. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest about ancient Greek mythology (although not sure if it's ideal for children), especially if you want to learn about the Greek Gods, the Titans and the many myths and stories associated with them but rather than using this as a definitive guide it should be seen as an entry point to a fascinating subject.

Saw Stephen Fry tour with these books which was absolutely fantastic. This book is just more in depth to what he did. I knew bits of the Greek myths so this was great for going more indepth. This book took me back to sitting in the theatre listening to him. Its written in such an easy to understand and follow way. Recommend this book and should he ever tour it again, go see him live

First heard of Stephen Fry's book of Greek myths when he was interviewed, and I've always had a fascination of the stories. Brilliant for kids of all ages from 5 to 95. Had a few quiet giggles on some stories and a few gasps on some of the gruesome ones. Brilliant read. You can put it down and leave for a month or more and pick it up again, and its quick to carry on

I absolutely love the fun and slightly cheeky style that this book has been written. You can really feel a personality jumping out of the, sometimes difficult to follow, Greek mythology. I enjoyed the additional footnotes and the original way of trying to install some what of a time line.

This is Stephen Fry's first book on Greek Mythology. It starts with Zeus and then his wife and children. He does give tasks to older chidren that they have to solve. It is in the author's style as you have seen him on television in programmes like QI. This explains the myths very well and you gain an understanding in how gods fit together. This is written in a style that is easy to follow. There are 3 more books in the series and I will read them to gain a greater understanding.

There seems to be a lot of fervour around this series and especially this book so I picked it up after a recent trip to Athens. I found the writing to be a bit awkward to get into because it is neither wholly telling the story or discussing the context within which the stories were told, but instead opts to blend the two. Therefore, if you are expecting to pick this up primarily as a retelling of the Greek Myths you may struggle with it. The actual content is interesting and reasonably well written, but the stories often focus on one key aspect and gloss over other parts so it ends up carefully describing the beauty of a character, then when they meet their end it says something along the lines of "Zeus struck him down with a lightning bolt" or similar, which feels unceremonious which is a stylistic choice but didn't quite sit right with me. It's probably worth a read but anecdotally a couple of my friends have had to stop partway through the second book because they found it to be rather dull so your mileage may vary but I wasn't a huge fan.

I’m into mythology but so far have focused more on Norse mythology, so for a while I’d been wanting to read more of Greek mythology. I knew of the classic myths such as Pandora’s box, but the account of the creation of the world and of humanity was new to me and was fascinating. I found it especially interesting how many of the stories, recounted by Greek philosophers before the rise of Christianity, have similar biblical counterparts. While the book – as Fry states in the introduction – doesn’t aim to go into the meaning and interpretation of the myths, there were still intriguing historical and geographical comments that made me think. There are some modern references as he puts his own spin and humour into the classic tales. I found the book slightly hard to get into and concentrate on, for various reasons: I wanted to read all the footnotes as I was interested, but that did mean breaking off from the main text and losing the flow. Also, because of the nature of mythology being short tales and anecdotes, I didn’t get absorbed in the story in the same way you do with a novel. But, neither of these things reflect badly on the author, it’s just the nature of the subject. He did try to structure the book so that it is as cohesive and easy to follow as possible, but with mythology it’s never going to be a direct linear tale. The other thing was the sheer amount of names thrown in – it was impossible to remember who was who and who was the parent of who and what powers they had – but, again, I guess that’s just the nature of mythology. I would like to read the second book, Heroes, but I’ll have a break in between!

Excellent product.

Funny and well written, an absolute must for any fan of mythology.

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A releitura feita pelo autor é sensacional!!!

1. Libro arrivato in perfette condizioni e un paio di giorni prima del previsto. 2. La mitologia greca ri-raccontata con umorismo e semplicità! Se poi conosci la voce di Stephen Fry, lo leggi con le sue voci in mente! Non potevo non acquistare anche i seguiti! (4 libri in tutto, si conclude con l’odissea)

Such a nice book! I like how the myths were told with the author's comedic and funny storytelling. It is so interesting to learn how random things and concepts nowadays rooted from names of gods and goddesses. It's easy to understand and the words used are not that complicated.