Review: Chasing Odysseus

Title: Chasing Odysseus
Author: S.D. Gentill
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Pantera Press
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: February 28, 2011
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

1 girl, 3 brothers… 4 daring young heroes…

Treachery, transformations and a deadly quest.

A thrilling adventure of ancient myth, monsters, gods, sorcerers, sirens, magic and many evils…the fall of Troy and a desperate chase across the seas in a magical Phaeacian ship…

Hero and her three brothers, Mac, Cad and Lycon, go on this exciting and dangerous quest to prove their murdered father’s honour, the betrayal by King Odysseus and the loyalty of their own people to the conquered city of Troy.

Review:

I love Greek mythology! I’m always looking for retellings or adaptations.

This story is a great continuation of The Odyssey. It has a logical place in the storyline. It tells the perspective of the herders and the effects the Trojan War had on them.

The theme of an odyssey is very present in the story. The four siblings go on their own odyssey by chasing Odysseus to find out why the Trojans are mad at them. The gods are also important to the story, because Hero is very pious and always praying.

One problem with this story is that since it relies so heavily on The Odyssey, I think readers would struggle if they hadn’t read it. This could be problematic since it’s aimed at a young adult audience and they may not have been exposed to Homer’s epic poems yet. I did not read them until university, so I wouldn’t have understood the story when I was a teen.

Otherwise, I enjoyed this story. Fans of The Odyssey should definitely check it out.

Author: jilljemmett

Jill lives in Toronto, Canada. She has studied English, Creative Writing, and Publishing. Jill is the creator and content producer of Jill’s Book Blog, where she has published a blog post every day for the last four years, including 5-7 book reviews a week. She can usually be found with her nose in a book. View all posts by jilljemmett