Archive for the ‘Mythology’ Category

The Fire Thief

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

firethiefSet in Eden city, England in the year 1858, The Fire Thief by Terry Dearly tells the story of Prometheus, a titan from mythology who once chained to a boulder on the Caucaus Mountains by Zeus must find one true human hero if he wants to be forgiven

Prometheus pitied humans and so he stole fire from the gods and gave it to them. Zeus, furious with Prometheus sentenced him to an eternity chained to the mountain. The fury, avenger of the gods, in the form of a hawk would come every morning and eat his liver. Then Prometheus would come to life again every night only to meet the same fate in the morning.

Hercules eventually frees Prometheus from his chains and he and Zeus make their hero wager. Prometheus flies forward into time, and the fury chases after and hunts him.

The story in England that is being told simultaneously (or every other chapter) is that of an orphan named Jim and Uncle Edward who has adopted him to assist in his traveling show which is really just a front for robbery. Prometheus joins their troop unaware of their illegal activities and plays a pivotal role in bringing out the hero in each of them.

The book focuses on themes of friendship, reform, mythology and hope. Throughout it all, Prometheus is disappointed to see what the humans have done with his gift of fire.  The reader does wonder what different outcome the story would have if Zeus and Hera had not meddled and added Pandora and her jar of the world ills to the mix.

Dearly introduces footnotes at the bottom of most of his pages.  Some were humorous anecdotes, others shameless puns, and even adds a few literary references to everyone from Dickens to Poe.  I think quite a bit of it would be lost on the average elementary reader and I found near the end of the book I wanted to disregard their distractions entirely.

The story started slow but climaxed well and rushed to an ending.  This is the first in a trilogy that depicts Prometheus’s hero quest.  I admit I am curious to which hero the temple alluded to in Eden City was built for.

I haven’t had automatic success with navigating Percy Jackson fans to this series in my library.  What I can attest to is that it is an accurate version of well known Greek myths.  Dearly is well known for his Horrible Histories series and brings that flair to this work as well.

GENRE: Fantasy/ Mythology

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Posted in Fantasy, Mythology |

Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

In this account of the events leading up to the famed Trojan War of Homer’s Iliad, David Gemmell creates an imaginary, yet believable, world of strong and honorable characters in the opening book of the Troy trilogy, Lord of the Silver Bow.

The story begins by introducing the reader to Helikaon, the Golden One, thus named because of the fact “He is blessed with unholy luck. Every venture brings in riches…” Helikaon has financed the building of the largest of ships, called the Xanthos. However, finding a crew for this ship is not easy, as large and pompous ships such as this are believed to offend the god of the sea, Poseidon. Sailors believe the jealous god will not let the ship or crew survive.  Immediately the story pits man against the mythological gods making this a fun story from the beginning.

Lord of the Silver Bow centers around three main characters:

 1) Helikaon, a prince from a place called Dardania

 2) Andromache, made famous in the Iliad for her legendary marriage to Hektor, prince of Troy

3) Argurios, the fiercest of Mykene warriors who lives by a code, honor above country

 

The events of these three characters bring together a story of what could have happened, leading to the Trojan War. Although it was difficult to tell what characters really had a hand in the war and which ones were created for the story by Gemmell, all of the players seemed to just make sense. Nothing seemed too farfetched, keeping in mind it is debatable whether this war actually took place at all, and the story seemed to flow at a perfect and enjoyable pace.

The author did a wonderful job of building up Hektor, even though he exists in the story more as legend than as a character. The author also gives fans of the Trojan War cameos and glimpses of some of the central figures of the war: Ajax, Helen and Paris.

The two kings, Agamemnon and Priam were just as I have always pictured them to be and I would really not have changed anything about their characters. Priam is a great character and has a line in the book that sums up the entire story very nicely:

“My Hektor has been taken from me. His brother wants me dead, and my city is under attack. Now a Mykene hero has come to aid me…Oh, how the gods favor me!”

 

I grew up loving the Iliad and have always had an interest in the Trojan War, and whereas other story and movie adaptations of this time period made me cringe, the Lord of the Silver Bow made me long to read and study more about the period, after of course I have a chance to read book two in the series: Shield of Thunder.

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Posted in Historical Fiction, Mythology |

Till We Have Faces

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

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Every librarian or avid reader for that matter is asked the question what is your favorite novel.  And although I am often inclined to name whatever book I am currently reading I always come back to the C.S Lewis classic, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold. Written in 1956, it is the retelling of the Greek myth of Cupid & Psyche. Although if unfamiliar with the myth, it in no way diminishes the enjoyment of the story.  Lewis himself considered this book to be his best.

It is the story of two princesses, one beautiful and one ugly. In this retelling Lewis chooses to tell the story through Orual, Psyche’s older sister.  Till We Have Faces is actually the story of Orual’s struggle to find love, and to discover her own identity. The book is written in two parts, the first as a complaint to the gods, the second as her response and answer. The actual setting of the story is unclear. This is a story of emotion and psychology rather than action and physical description. Orual writes her own story, beginning at her childhood in her father’s castle. There she leads an isolated life, surrounded only by her fathers servants, advisors, and her sisters, Redival and Psyche. Redival, with her golden curls and curvy figure, is superficially pretty, but Psyche is the embodiment of perfect and natural beauty.  Orual never feels that she is loved by anyone, that is, until Psyche enters her life. Psyche’s mother dies giving birth to her, and Orual takes it upon herself to become Psyche’s guardian and to raise her. Orual loves Psyche more than anything else, but her love is selfishly and fiercely possessive. Orual is tormented by the thought of having to release Psyche from her grasp and so becomes devastated when she was led to believe Psyche had been sacrificed to the gods, only to find her alive and seemingly insane. Psyche claimed to be the wife of a god, living in a great mansion; when Psyche took her sister to her home, Orual could not see it; it looked to Orual as if her sister were living out in the open, and Psyche was seeing things which were not there. Orual becomes queen and while she is described by her subjects as “the most wise, just, valiant, fortunate and merciful” of all rulers, Orual feels that her actions are only a mask of her inner ugliness. She despairs of ever overcoming her hideousness inside. She says, “I would set out boldly each morning to be just and calm and wise in all my thoughts and acts, but before they had finished dressing me I would find that I was back in some old rage, resentment, gnawing fantasy, or sullen bitterness. I could not hold out half an hour . . . I could mend my soul no more than my face.” Like the veil she wears to hide her ugly face, she feels that her good actions only conceal the hideousness of her true self.  The title, Till We Have Faces, may refer to the process of refinement and self-realization.

Till We Have Faces is a very different type of book than I, or most recreational readers gravitate towards but should not be ignored.  It stretches you as a reader and provides great discussion questions for a book club.  I just handed it over to my 13 year old daugher a bit apprehensively and have been delighted to see her enthralled by the timeless story.  It is a book that can be picked up and read again at different stages in your life and new lessons or insights can be gleaned.

Genre: Mythology

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Posted in Mythology |