Madeline Miller is really popular right now, she wrote “Song of Achilles” and “Circe”. Fans praise her ability to write tender scenes, but I find she drags on too long, and feel like she missed out on a lot of interesting choices with “Song of Achilles”. “Circe” has some good meat to it, but does drag on a bit in the middle. **”Achilles”** by Elizabeth Cook is a novella that covers the territory I wish “Song of Achilles” had (it touches on the role of translations, and just includes more details even though it’s shorter).
Jennifer Saint publishes books that focus on a specific female character. She wrote “Ariadne” (which also covers Phedre’s story), “Atalanta”, and “Elektra” (which also covers Klytemnestra’s story). Some people don’t like Elektra because the character’s quite abrasive, but I felt it was a fun twist on the family story.
Pat Baker wrote “The Silence of the Girls” and “The Women of Troy”, a duology about the slave women outside of Troy. Heavily influenced by “The Trojan Women”.
“Alcestis” by Katharine Beautner is a queer spin on Alcestis’s time in the Underworld. It’s eerie and tender, great for fans of “Song of Achilles”.
Natalie Haynes is a Euripides fangirl in the best way, she has a fun down-to-earth vibe to her stories. “A Thousand Ships” is a collection of stories about women associated with Troy, and a retelling of “The Trojan Women”. It pairs extremely well with “Pandora’s Box”, an accessible and readable nonfiction about women in Greek myth. **”The Children of Jocasta”** is a witty, clever re-take on Oedipus and Antigone’s stories. “Stone Blind” is about Medusa and Perseus.
Margaret Atwood wrote “The Penelopaid”, which is Penelope’s story narrated from the underworld. Claire North covered similar ground with the “Song of Penelope” series.
**”The Goddess”** by Miranda Seymour is one of my favorites, if you can find it. It’s a wonderful mix of camp and well-researched writing. It really embraces the old 70’s idea that Hellenism replaced a Great Mother cult. It’s about Helen.
David and Stella Gemmell wrote the “Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow” series, a low-magic heroic fiction that re-imagines the Trojan War. It deliberately deviates from the source material as much as possible, in a fun way. The last book is absolutely heartbreaking and raw when you take into account that Stella was writing for her dead husband.
Mary Renault is an older writer who wrote “The King Must Die” and “Bull from the Sea”, about Theseus. **”Last of the Amazons”** by Stephen Pressfield is about Theseus and the Amazons, and is a great no-magic military fiction.
CS Lewis wrote “Till We Have Faces” about Cupid and Psyche, and blends the story with his Christian views.
Hannah Lynn wrote “Athena’s Child” with a lot of passion, but not a lot of research.
If you accept graphic novels, I have a rant about Eric Shanower’s **”Age of Bronze”** and why it’s the best thing since Homer.
– I copy/pasted this from a similar thread, sorry I didn’t take the time to re-write it.
EDIT- the stuff I like best is in bold, but that’s personal taste.
Dazzling-Ad4701 on
the east German writer Christa Wolf wrote a novel called Cassandra, which I was very excited to buy but have not been in the right frame of mind to read yet.
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins is quite a hodgepodge of mythologies, but he does rely heavily on the Greek god Pan for part of his plot. i’m over Robbins, but fair play to the book.
originalsibling on
_Hercules My Shipmate_ by Robert Graves, also published as _The Golden Fleece_, retells the story of Jason and the Argonauts
Scared-Seaweed4758 on
Is The Odyssey too obvious of an answer?
LucyHoneychurch- on
Stephen Fry has quite a few (*Heroes, Mythos, Troy*). Edith Hamilton too though hers are a bit more academic in tone.
Someone already mentioned *Till We Have Faces,* which I love.
Gareth Hinds has graphic novel versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey. And Rosemary Sutcliff has novelized re-tellings.
I also like D’Aulaire’s versions of Greek Myths for children.
hostaDisaster on
I always recommend Gods Behaving Badly by Miller anytime an interest in Greek mythology comes up! Popular Greek Gods/Goddesses living in NYC in more modern times.
ChavaNotik on
percy jackson 🙂
KatlinelB5 on
Goddess of Spring by P.C. Cast is a modern day retelling of Hades and Persephone (part of a series).
Ealinguser on
You’re joking right? Every publisher’s been churning out dozens of them since Song of Achilles won the Booker. Many of them sadly are not very good.
I would rate the Pat Barker books highest of the current lot.
A long time ago, Mary Renault wrote a pair of books about the Theseus myths: the King Must Die and the Bull from the Sea, which stand the test of time.
9 Comments
Madeline Miller is really popular right now, she wrote “Song of Achilles” and “Circe”. Fans praise her ability to write tender scenes, but I find she drags on too long, and feel like she missed out on a lot of interesting choices with “Song of Achilles”. “Circe” has some good meat to it, but does drag on a bit in the middle. **”Achilles”** by Elizabeth Cook is a novella that covers the territory I wish “Song of Achilles” had (it touches on the role of translations, and just includes more details even though it’s shorter).
Jennifer Saint publishes books that focus on a specific female character. She wrote “Ariadne” (which also covers Phedre’s story), “Atalanta”, and “Elektra” (which also covers Klytemnestra’s story). Some people don’t like Elektra because the character’s quite abrasive, but I felt it was a fun twist on the family story.
Pat Baker wrote “The Silence of the Girls” and “The Women of Troy”, a duology about the slave women outside of Troy. Heavily influenced by “The Trojan Women”.
“Alcestis” by Katharine Beautner is a queer spin on Alcestis’s time in the Underworld. It’s eerie and tender, great for fans of “Song of Achilles”.
Natalie Haynes is a Euripides fangirl in the best way, she has a fun down-to-earth vibe to her stories. “A Thousand Ships” is a collection of stories about women associated with Troy, and a retelling of “The Trojan Women”. It pairs extremely well with “Pandora’s Box”, an accessible and readable nonfiction about women in Greek myth. **”The Children of Jocasta”** is a witty, clever re-take on Oedipus and Antigone’s stories. “Stone Blind” is about Medusa and Perseus.
Margaret Atwood wrote “The Penelopaid”, which is Penelope’s story narrated from the underworld. Claire North covered similar ground with the “Song of Penelope” series.
**”The Goddess”** by Miranda Seymour is one of my favorites, if you can find it. It’s a wonderful mix of camp and well-researched writing. It really embraces the old 70’s idea that Hellenism replaced a Great Mother cult. It’s about Helen.
David and Stella Gemmell wrote the “Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow” series, a low-magic heroic fiction that re-imagines the Trojan War. It deliberately deviates from the source material as much as possible, in a fun way. The last book is absolutely heartbreaking and raw when you take into account that Stella was writing for her dead husband.
Mary Renault is an older writer who wrote “The King Must Die” and “Bull from the Sea”, about Theseus. **”Last of the Amazons”** by Stephen Pressfield is about Theseus and the Amazons, and is a great no-magic military fiction.
CS Lewis wrote “Till We Have Faces” about Cupid and Psyche, and blends the story with his Christian views.
Hannah Lynn wrote “Athena’s Child” with a lot of passion, but not a lot of research.
If you accept graphic novels, I have a rant about Eric Shanower’s **”Age of Bronze”** and why it’s the best thing since Homer.
– I copy/pasted this from a similar thread, sorry I didn’t take the time to re-write it.
EDIT- the stuff I like best is in bold, but that’s personal taste.
the east German writer Christa Wolf wrote a novel called Cassandra, which I was very excited to buy but have not been in the right frame of mind to read yet.
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins is quite a hodgepodge of mythologies, but he does rely heavily on the Greek god Pan for part of his plot. i’m over Robbins, but fair play to the book.
_Hercules My Shipmate_ by Robert Graves, also published as _The Golden Fleece_, retells the story of Jason and the Argonauts
Is The Odyssey too obvious of an answer?
Stephen Fry has quite a few (*Heroes, Mythos, Troy*). Edith Hamilton too though hers are a bit more academic in tone.
Someone already mentioned *Till We Have Faces,* which I love.
Gareth Hinds has graphic novel versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey. And Rosemary Sutcliff has novelized re-tellings.
I also like D’Aulaire’s versions of Greek Myths for children.
I always recommend Gods Behaving Badly by Miller anytime an interest in Greek mythology comes up! Popular Greek Gods/Goddesses living in NYC in more modern times.
percy jackson 🙂
Goddess of Spring by P.C. Cast is a modern day retelling of Hades and Persephone (part of a series).
You’re joking right? Every publisher’s been churning out dozens of them since Song of Achilles won the Booker. Many of them sadly are not very good.
I would rate the Pat Barker books highest of the current lot.
A long time ago, Mary Renault wrote a pair of books about the Theseus myths: the King Must Die and the Bull from the Sea, which stand the test of time.