I got this book for my birthday but didn't have time to read it until now as I didn't have time to do pretty much anything else apart from university work. So when I finally had time to sit down and read this book, I was pretty, well... excited.
Ever since I read the Percy Jackson series when I was about 11, I have really enjoyed the Greek myths and I decided that this year would be the year I started learning some more about them. I initially thought Mythos would be the story of Persephone (the wife of Hades who had to spend 6 months of the year in Hades, and 6 on Earth) but I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that Fry had consolidated all of the myths into one, handy guide.
The book opens with a very clever explanation of the gods and their origins which I found extremely helpful considering that all of the following myths featured the gods and I couldn't remember enough from the Percy Jackson series to remember exactly who was who (I mean, there are 12 of them, not to mention the demigods.) It then goes on to relate the myths we may or may not be familiar with; there's the story of Persephone, Pandora and her fateful box, as well as some lesser-known myths like that of Cupid and Psyche. While fry doesn't include all the Greek myths, he strikes the right balance between those that people know, and those that we don't, leading the book to be interesting throughout.
Fry's writing style is very relaxed and casual, meaning I didn't feel I was drowning in information or was sat in a boring history lesson. Even though I love history, there's something about some history books where I feel like my brain is receiving too much information at once. However, with Mythos I was genuinely interested, and found that Fry's little anecdotes in the footnotes were very interesting; I learned about the origins of words and other extra information about the myths. Honestly, I felt like I was talking to an old friend, which made the fact I was learning things a really nice bonus.
The book was quick paced, with Fry not spending too much time on each myth, and fleshing it out just enough that I was interested in each story. Usually, when I read a book of short stories (which is essentially what Mythos is) I always feel a little disjointed when I finish one story and move onto the next, but I found that Mythos flowed really well, leading to me completing the book quite quickly.
Obviously, Fry hasn't created his own characters but I liked how he made each god his own. For example, Zeus is overly confident and has a proud streak which I feel really added to the myths depicted in the book. So even though Fry didn't create the characters, he brought them to life and made them relatable to a modern reader, which is no easy feat considering the myths themselves are over 2,000 years old!
I really enjoyed Mythos and would definitely recommend it to others. In fact, I loved it that much I've ordered the Percy Jackson series so I can re-read and enjoy them all over again.
Score: 9/10
Ever since I read the Percy Jackson series when I was about 11, I have really enjoyed the Greek myths and I decided that this year would be the year I started learning some more about them. I initially thought Mythos would be the story of Persephone (the wife of Hades who had to spend 6 months of the year in Hades, and 6 on Earth) but I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that Fry had consolidated all of the myths into one, handy guide.
The book opens with a very clever explanation of the gods and their origins which I found extremely helpful considering that all of the following myths featured the gods and I couldn't remember enough from the Percy Jackson series to remember exactly who was who (I mean, there are 12 of them, not to mention the demigods.) It then goes on to relate the myths we may or may not be familiar with; there's the story of Persephone, Pandora and her fateful box, as well as some lesser-known myths like that of Cupid and Psyche. While fry doesn't include all the Greek myths, he strikes the right balance between those that people know, and those that we don't, leading the book to be interesting throughout.
Fry's writing style is very relaxed and casual, meaning I didn't feel I was drowning in information or was sat in a boring history lesson. Even though I love history, there's something about some history books where I feel like my brain is receiving too much information at once. However, with Mythos I was genuinely interested, and found that Fry's little anecdotes in the footnotes were very interesting; I learned about the origins of words and other extra information about the myths. Honestly, I felt like I was talking to an old friend, which made the fact I was learning things a really nice bonus.
The book was quick paced, with Fry not spending too much time on each myth, and fleshing it out just enough that I was interested in each story. Usually, when I read a book of short stories (which is essentially what Mythos is) I always feel a little disjointed when I finish one story and move onto the next, but I found that Mythos flowed really well, leading to me completing the book quite quickly.
Obviously, Fry hasn't created his own characters but I liked how he made each god his own. For example, Zeus is overly confident and has a proud streak which I feel really added to the myths depicted in the book. So even though Fry didn't create the characters, he brought them to life and made them relatable to a modern reader, which is no easy feat considering the myths themselves are over 2,000 years old!
I really enjoyed Mythos and would definitely recommend it to others. In fact, I loved it that much I've ordered the Percy Jackson series so I can re-read and enjoy them all over again.
Score: 9/10
