Spare, terse, and bleak. Starts at the very beginning, with the wedding of Peleus, the father of Achilles, and winds down with the eventual fates of the various heroes after the sack of Troy. Draws from numerous sources; the tale of Troilus and Cressida seems to be the mediaeval version, not any ancient Greek one. ( )

Read aloud for my child. There's a mistake about Ajax. Did he commit suicide or was he lost at sea?
But other than that, it's an exciting read for older children. ( )

I had very favourable memories of this book from a childhood reading, and they were not dispelled by a reread. As a Howard Pyle version of Malory set the mental pictures of the Round Table, so did the Illustrations of the Homeric heroes that are found in this book. It's a redaction of a little bit of the Iliad, with some of Euripedes, and Quintus Smyrnaeus' continuation of Homer to provide a clear narrative for a bright child. A satisfactory book. ( )

Making ancient Troy and the associated gods and characters accessible to younger readers is a good reason to pick up this book. While aimed at teenagers and young adults, it's also worthwhile as a hard-to-put-down volume that reads like a soap opera.

Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector, and all are here, with dialogue and exposition made easy for the young reader. I found it fun to read, as a way to re-live Homer's tale all over again and to get in touch with my inner Greek gods.

A good book for a sunny day.

Book Season = Summer

( )

The Trojan War is one of the great tales of Western culture. If you don't know even the bare bones of it, you are really missing an important bit of cultural literacy. Of course, like many of our ancient stories, we never get to encounter the originals, but rather hear someone's retellings. Well, this isn't anything like an original. Because, really, in addition to "The Illiad", there's been all sorts of tales tied in with the Trojan War. So Ms. Coolidge has taken it upon herself to try and blend all these tales into a single narrative. In my opinion, she's done a pretty good job of it. "The Trojan War" is a 251 page book that tells the tale of the War from the judgment of Paris to the return of Odysseus. I'm tempted to keep this one, but in the end, I can only recommend (highly) that you check it out. The bottom line is that as famous as the story is, the Greek heroes are a bunch of arrogant jerks.
--J. ( )