I found this a difficult book to review because - I have read other stories about the Greek origins myths - which were also funny - and I have also read the Greek versions of the original myths and others that were in between.
Now trying to make sense of the Greek pantheon and origins myths is very difficult because they really got their imaginations going when they found they had gods/esses that didn't quite fit in - so they made them fit. Take Venus and her origins for instance. Just how did she come to be riding out of he waves on foam? Well... and so the story starts.
The issue with this book was that there wasn't really a story - just a collection of funnies about the myths and their descriptions. Yes, it is amusing to us - or disturbing - that there was a lot of incest - but see above - they had to explain these gods somehow and having left them out of the original group...
The book fell between two stools. Stool 1 - the 'academic' version of the myths ; Stool 2 a funny story about the gods and goddesses. It was not a story. There was no trope followed and we learnt little about characters. I think the author tried to fit too much in. It would have been better to write a story about Zeus and leave it at that - and then onto another god etc etc. Other authors have don this successfully. See Gockel as an example and his stories of Loki.

I’ve been reading a lot of Greek myth retellings recently, including Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls, Helen Morales’ Antigone Rising, Madeline Miller’s Circe and Natalie Haynes’ A Thousand Ships. I’ve become familiar with the capricious behaviour of the gods and the fates of the humans subject to their whims. And during these stories, it certainly crossed my mind that wow, Zeus was a complete dick.

So I was looking forward to Susie Donkin’s examination of Zeus’s dickishness. Donkin tells us that the original myths were told by gifted storytellers as entertainment for years before they were ever written down and she has made the decision to re-imbue the stories with some of their original soap opera, low brow, gossipy qualities.

I think this was a laudable aim and the approach mainly worked. I was amused by the liberal sprinkling of twenty-first century cultural references, but I found the stories weren’t long enough or in depth enough for me, The Trojan War was dealt with in just a few throwaway lines! The book will definitely be enjoyed by a younger readership or people who are less familiar with the stories, but for me it was too slight. Recommended, but not for everyone.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

WOW, I HAD TEARS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE FROM LAUGHING SO MUCH AT THIS DAMN BOOK!!!

Susie Donkin has done an excellent job at retelling some classic Greek mythology in a humorous and engaging way, but also does a fantastic job at making them accessible for anyone who might not be too familiar with the Greek Gods and their dysfunctional family dynamics.

The modern references in this book are completely relatable and hilarious - singing along to MCR at the top of my lungs? A mood.

Can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy of thisbooj

5/5 ☆

This was brilliant fun. Having some knowledge of myth definitely helped, but the less well known to me stories (Io and Europa, for example) were still easy to follow. There's no reason I can see to tell these stories in formal, old fashioned language as of course they were written versions contemporary speech, so there's a spirit of authenticity here. I do have a minor gripe about 7 gods being described as the original 6 (zeus, posidon, hades, hera, demeter and hestia are later joined by hermes) and this is confusing, so I'll have to check the Graves. I find the light, Horrible Histories style so fun and easy to follow, and reading more myths really does help me to better understand other media. The feminist ideas here are rather well worn by this stage, not just by Miller and Haynes but even Percy Jackson makes it very clear, however they are consistent and fairly delivered.

I love reading about Greek mythology, and so was excited to read this book. It was a very enjoyable read, but not very well structured. It did seem to jump about a lot

I loved this. I don't generally know a lot about greek mythology and that did not take away from my enjoyment of this book. Brilliant.

I'm a big fan of the Greek myths so I couldn't resist this retelling of the old stories with a new spin - highlighting just how problematic Zeus' behaviour actually is! This is something I'd considered previously, but I really liked Susie Donkin's take on the stories. Donkin is one of the writers behind 'Horrible Histories', the brilliantly funny and informative children's TV series, so I knew I was in for a treat.

It's worth saying that although Donkin may be known for writing for children, this is really an adults-only book! There's a lot of swearing and some distinctly adult topics throughout.

The stories are told in a light-hearted, modern way and use our own society's morals to provide commentaries on the original myths. Even the dicier moments - reflecting the fact that Zeus is a rapist - aren't shied away from and the full list of his crimes are presented. In fact, all of the gods of Olympus are presented as petty, squabbling and quite unpleasant - which they absolutely are in the original stories too. These aren't gods worth of respect and veneration, but ones that seem very human and very flawed.

The stories are told in a continuous narrative (although divided into chapters) so you get a good sense of the myths and the reasons for various things that happen (given the history between the gods and goddesses). It starts with Ouranos and Gaia, goes through the creation of the Olympian gods and then a range of the stories focused on them (not just Zeus). Some of the stories are well-known - for example, we hear of Medusa, Persephone and Zeus' many infidelities - but there are others that I was much less familiar with. It holds together well as a book and not a fragmented set of stories.

This all sounds very serious, but Donkin tells the stories in a humorous way which is very entertaining and easy to read. While I didn't always love the imagined conversations, I really loved the jokes which often riffed on something contemporary - the image of Zeus watching porn on his laptop, for example, or the references to Argos (newly without catalogue), plus the sly digs at certain incompetent blond/white haired leaders... There's lots to enjoy and it is very amusing.

As already mentioned, some of the original stories do feature rape and other things that are absolutely unacceptable in our society. Donkin confronts this head-on with no excuses for the behaviour and uses it as more evidence that Zeus is - in her words - a dick. And he absolutely is!

I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the Greek myths. If you know the stories already, you'll enjoy the comedic retelling and the jokes. If you don't already know the stories, this is actually a pretty good - if extremely cynical and funny - overview of the Greek pantheon. Either way, it's a fun read.

I always love reading new interpretations of the Greek myths and this was a fun one! Donkin quite rightly asserts that mythology has perhaps been taken far too seriously and her retellings attempt to return them to their true purpose, entertaining the masses. Keeping true to the original stories the updated language and modern references bring them right up to date.

Overall, it was an enjoyable take but I did find it lacking in structure. There’s a lot covered here and sometimes the order didn’t quite flow as we jumped about between myths. I also felt that at times the retellings were a bit too rushed and could have done with more time spent on setting them up, if you’re not already familiar with the tales then there might be some significant gaps.

Despite this, I’d definitely recommend this book as a good starting place if you know nothing of Greek mythology. It’s very engaging and accessible, just keep in mind there’s plenty more to explore! I’d also recommend it for anyone who knows the myths and fancies a laugh, it puts on paper many of those thoughts most modern readers have probably already had, namely Zeus is a dick.

We've all heard of the Greek Gods. They're dramatic, egotistical, and love a bit of drama. So why do we see to swoon over them? Worship them? Back in the day, they were the source of salacious gossip amongst the Greek population. Someone to laugh about when your own life is just that little bit shit. Crops failing? Don't worry, at least you haven't been trapped in a net, naked, with your lover by your really ugly husband. Husband cheating? At least he hasn't had his way with every God/Goddess/human in existence and apparently impregnated them all.

This really is a reimagining of the Gods and their more drama filled stories as if they were around today. It's a world where Danae joins Tinder in order to get off Crete, Poseidon is a massive surfer dude, and Zeus...well Zeus is still a dick.

Some of the layout to the stories is a bit chaotic, bouncing around between God's stories without much structure, and the writing is a bit all over the place - but this definitely raised a smile. It's certainly different from other mythology retellings I've read.

Such a laugh!! As someone who already knows a lot about Greek mythology I already knew all the stories, so was just wanting a light read that humourously retold them and boy did I get what I was looking for. For anyone who knows anything about Greek mythology you know the stories are utterly ridiculous and absurd, and it's wonderful to be able to read a book which highlights just how absurd it all is. Yes there was artistic licence taken with the retelling (none of the gods were watching escape to the country despite what the author says) but this is what makes it all so much funnier, adding these extra bits to make it more relevant to today, and yet those extra bits not even being anywhere near the most ridiculous bits of the stories. The only thing I'd say is there's an awful lot of swearing in this book so personal, although I absolutely enjoyed most of it, I wouldn't buy this book just for that as it detracts from the humour to me, expletives are a lazy man's humour, but if this was turned down I'd wholeheartedly recommend to everyone who listens as it was so funny