I love Greek myths, I think they are brilliant. The only real problem I've always had was where I got the information from (i.e. from random websites / wikipedia or from history books.) Truth be told, I learnt quite a lot from the PC videogame "Age of Mythology", a tactical city building and resource management game where you played as one of three Greek, Egyptian or Norse gods.
When I heard Stephen Fry was writing a book on Greek Myths I was intrigued, as I do quite enjoy Stephen Fry, but also that it was a retelling of the myths in a much more conversational and readable way. This part is very true, the way it is written makes it seem it is being told to you in a conversation, using humour and modern phrasing to add a distinctly 21st Century flair to the ancient tales. It is almost as if Mr Fry has just tucked you into bed with a hot chocolate and is reading you a bedtime story about which God is going to sleep with which sibling. If anything, I feel this book is almost best being read, or should I say heard, as an audiobook, due to the way it is written.
The content of Mythos is a large collection of Greek myths, revolving almost entirely around the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus. I was under the impression it would include the Heroes of Greek legend, however this is saved for his second book (which I should have realised upon seeing the title "Heroes"). This does not mean there is a limited number of tales, for the Gods are quite prolific in their exploits. I was pleasantly surprised that a good percentage of the book was dedicated to the Titans, the parents of the Gods, who I feel do not get as much recognition as their Olympian children. Sometimes there would be little footnotes to give additional details regarding a particular character or place, so there was always plenty to learn.
The main issue I found with Mythos was that it did seem to jump about quite a lot in regards to the stories. Sometimes an entirely new story would start being told halfway through the last, either due to a potential link in characters or events, but I found this somewhat jarring. Some stories were also very short, with a few only lasting about half a page and having no real importance to the current chapter (which were split into more themes, such as Famous Siblings, or Titans etc.). While yes it is always nice to hear more myths, sometimes it felt like they were not necessary and were just there to add a few extra pages to increase the word count.
Overall I did enjoy Mythos. It had an excellent selection of Myths, including a number I had not heard of before as well as expanding on some of the more well known ones. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in Greek Myths in any way, for it introduces them in a easy to digest manner as well as giving enough additional information for those already in the know. If you are not a fan of Stephen Fry, however, you may not enjoy it, since the way it is told is almost entirely as though Stephen himself is reading it to you.
I would give it 7 Hydra Heads out of 10 (with some cuts the number would increase)
