Book Review
Title: Chasing Odysseus (Hero Trilogy #1)
Author: S. D. Gentill
Genre: YA/Mythology/Retelling
Rating: ***
Review: I have read Chasing Odysseus before and only gave it one star but I felt that was quite harsh as I was reading it during a time where I wasn’t really enjoying retellings, so I decided to give it another go. The synopsis doesn’t give much away about what happens during the book and honestly I can’t remember much so I am basically going in blind which is the best thing. We are introduced to Pentheselia who is abandoning her daughter, Hero with Agelaus as she can’t fit in with the other Amazon’s her mother rules over, she has previously abandoned three other children with Agelaus including their son, Machaon. The other two boys also come from the Amazon tribe, Lycon and Cadmus but they do not tolerate men so Agelaus now has 4 children to care for but through this conversation we learn of the upcoming Trojan war as Odysseus has sought council with Agelaus and Pentheselia also mentions that the Greeks have united behind Agamemnon. Agelaus was the one who raised Paris until his father claimed him and comments that his stealing of Helen of Troy was due to his passionate heart, having an outsiders view on these events was quite nice. After a decade of living with Agelaus, the war is coming to an end so it is decided on the next trade run Hero will be allowed to go which she hasn’t before as it wasn’t safe for her to leave the safety of the Herdsmen. I really like the building of the bonds between the siblings and how Odysseus is mentioned as an almost mythical person not as the main character.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Cadmus and Hero are heading to trade some bulls for grain and the time spent in the market is amazing until they hear news that Troy has fallen to the Greeks and we know that the offering left at the gates of the city was the Trojan horse. Agelaus, Machaon and Lycon head into the city through the secret tunnels and head for the Palace hoping at least some of the royal line has survived and they have. A son of the King and his cousin have survived but Agelaus is immediately accused of betrayal Troy to the Greeks and is killed while Machaon is flogged. Obviously, both Cadmus and Hero are unaware of their brother’s beating and father’s death but they are riding home as fast as they can. Upon returning they learn of their father’s death and drive of the Prince in order to claim their father’s body and bury him. Hero offers her hair to the Gods and asks them to watch over her father’s soul and for once her brothers don’t tease her for her religious ways. A few nights later Hero gets to meet Pan, the God of the Herdsman, and he tells them that the Herdsmen will be marked as traitors to Troy forever, unless they can get Odysseus to claim his deed and remove the stain from their aid. To aid their quest Pan offers them his ship and says he will watch over his people in their absence but Hero is also consumed by a desire for vengeance and once they have caught up with Odysseus then they will go after the Prince that accused them and killed their father.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the story is very character driven which isn’t normally the kind of book I enjoyed but I was getting into a bit more than the first time I read it. The siblings find Odysseus and the Greeks in Cicone where they have plundered the land and people. Lycon and Hero are sent into the hills to gather the Cicone men to fight against the Greeks, while Cadmus and Machaon uses their intellect and wit to prevent the Greeks from leaving and free the women who had been chained up during the battle. Afterwards, Odysseus is spared but he and his remaining men flee but the siblings pursue them. They are caught up in a storm sent by Zeus, to blow Odysseus off course and prevent him from returning home as Cicone was a land belonging to Apollo and the siblings know that the Gods are on their side especially with all of Hero’s praying. By the time they catch up with Odysseus again it is on an island filled with strange fruit that corrupts the minds of those that consume it, by the time Lycon realises this Hero has eaten a lot. However, Odysseus makes an appearance and Hero terrifies him and Lycon manages to convince Odysseus she is a witch and flee with island. When their brothers find them they take a still mad Hero to their ship and set off once more after the destroyer of Troy but every time they seem to encounter him something prevents them from getting what they want from him and I have a feeling Hero might be critical to their quest.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, the siblings find the islands of the Cyclopes where they treat Hero, curing her of the lotus fruit poison as a favour from one Herdsman to another. Lycon and Hero stay with them while Machaon and Cadmus will head to the neighbouring island to see if he can speak with Odysseus. The following morning they are greeted with the racket from Polyphemus, the half cyclopes son of Poseidon and considering the story told in The Odyssey we can see where are getting into the meat of the story now. As Odysseus evades them the siblings give chase and eventually come upon a family who had housed him and the father has granted the Greeks the favour of the wind so the siblings have no choice but to stay and try and tell their tale. After recounting what really happened in Troy, the family still believe Odysseus and the siblings fate now rests with the Gods who will either damn them or prove their story true. All the while Odysseus is getting closer and closer to home and a place where the sibling might never be able to reach him and save their people from condemnation.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, the siblings continue to follow Odysseus even when he makes contact with Circe after all his men and Machaon’s siblings have been turned into animals. As Lycon and Cadmus tries to protect Circe she releases the siblings and tells them that she release Odysseus in three days and will be sending him to the realm of Hades to get the answers he seeks and from there he will travel home. On the boundary of the Underworld, Odysseus learns that the Gods favour and he will only make it home if he remembers not to steal from the God who protects an island he will come to land on and he leaves. Before taking off after him the siblings stop and make a sacrifice to Hades and speak with their father, Agelaus and their brother, Paris who are content in the Underworld and tell them to live life to the fullest while they can and that they will see each other again one day. After this, the spirits of the siblings have been lifted and they take off after Odysseus once more.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, when the siblings catch up to Odysseus once more, Machaon and Cadmus go to talk to Odysseus but rather than listening to them, he takes them as oarsmen for their ship. Lycon witnesses this and knows he has to go after his brothers and he tells Hero is anything goes wrong to return to the Cyclopes island where they will know how to find her. She tries to protest and Lycon replies with most realistic line in the novel, that the brothers can die once but she can suffer over and over at their hands. As Odysseus gets closer to home he ends up bedding another Goddess and doesn’t want to leave this one but she wants him gone. The siblings help her by tricking him into thinking he needs to return to Troy and claims his deeds before he can return home to the glory and gold that is owed him and he immediately sails back to Troy but gets distracted again. However, the siblings rescue a bard who is a friend of the Princess of the island and they agree to help the siblings find Odysseus and complete their quest.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, the siblings finally with some help from people who have the skills, wit and weight behind their names coax the truth for Odysseus about the fall of Troy and they know now the Prince is to blame for the fall of the city as he was spited at not being given Helen of Troy after Paris’ death. The siblings can now head home and free their people from the stain of betrayal but I was a bit upset that we didn’t get to see this scene considering how hard the siblings worked for it. I was also hoping for Hero to take a more action packed role than she did in this novel as she is the one the author focused on the most out of the siblings. Upon reading this book again I do agree that my initial rating of one star was harsh but I still felt let down by this book by the time we reached the conclusion as there was tons of set up and little reward.
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Paperback: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from NetGalley.
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