Herc is both a staggering piece of scholarship and an extremely silly book. You don't have to dip deep into the many legends of Hercules / Heracles to come across things that seem contradictory or even outright horrific (the bit where his kills his wife and five children is often skated over). And you don't need to be a ex-fan of right-wing nutjob Kevin Sorbo to note that within the character of Hercules the Hero multitudes are hidden. So this is that book. Basically an oral history of the life of Hercules told by the supporting characters: his family, his employers, his enemies and - quite often - the dead. Including that wife and those children.

This is a fun project, but the humour arises solely from how Rogerson juggles these viewpoints. Imagine growing up with Hercules, already prenaturally strong as a baby. Imagine being his human father, being told about how Zeus tricked Alcmene by pretending to be you (as noted, its at least gives plausible deniability as opposed to pretending to be a swan). The book is written snappily, with care in particular for the voices of the women in his life who understandably tend to find Hercules rather boorish. This is pretty much the case with everyone and it doesn't take long into his labours to find people genuinely afraid when a sniff of Hercules turns up (and he is also a very smelly man). Wherever Herc goes, so does trouble and tragedy.

What is clever here is not just repackaging a whole tranche of Greek myth into a consistent(ish) narrative, It is instead the lively readability she imbues her characters with, a freshness that does repeat the problem with living in interesting times. In taking the myths as her source material, and rarely stepping outside them except for the obvious unspoken consequences (many a livelihood is ruined by his instinctual go-getting). It wears its scholarship lightly, and rather is happy being a smart bit of entertainment - that also will cover an entire classics topic.

A retelling of the myths of Hercules from numerous view points - relatives, friends and lovers and foes. For me there were just to many narrators and skipping around the time line that the novel became a little disjointed. The language used throughout was very modern and for me just felt out of kilter with the subject matter. Maybe I’ve just read too many myth retellings and I’m becoming jaded but this wasn’t one of my favourites. I think it’s a bit of a marmite which some readers perhaps younger than me will love and find entertaining but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

Strangely, I've never given Hercules much time. He is the least interesting of all the heroes (except for maybe Theseus. Not a fan of his either) even with his habit of killing those close to him. His 12 labours I know, but much of his story is a mystery to me beyond that. Strong, he may be, but always viewed as a bit of a dullard, his is a tragic tale but maybe not tragic enough?

Herc gives a number of fresh perspectives on the life of Hercules as it is narrated by those who knew him best. What a great way to breathe fresh life into Herc's existence! Fun and fully enjoyable, unless you are one of the many who died by his hand, this was a treat. I did learn quite a lot about him and could see the good and bad of the man. Whether he was as dull a dunce as I always suspected, I couldn't say, but this story of his life was such a fun outing, it didn't matter.

This should be the story of Hercules…but it’s not… This is the story of everyone else…

One of the most original retellings of Greek mythology, Herc is told in a mockumentary-style format with plenty of humour and sarcasm. Herc explores the people behind the legend; his family, lovers, friends and his enemies. It’s a refreshing take on Hercules’ story told from the perspective of those around him.

The author doesn’t shy away from exploring Hercules’ romantic relationships with other men and it broadens the reader’s understanding of who Hercules really was.

The language used by the author is modern and colloquial and at times, it jars with the classic elements of the original story. I can see what the author is doing though as it works to make this Greek mythological figure more relevant (and maybe more accessible?) to a contemporary audience.

I love Phoenicia’s use of dry humour and sarcasm – there are so many interactions between the characters that made me laugh out loud. The pacing is perfect with plenty of brutal scenes and raw elements in keeping with the original story.

It’s hard to feel any sort of empathy for a person who caused so much chaos and pain for those around him and the author captures this in her retelling. And don’t worry if you struggle with all the characters – Phoenicia includes a glossary so you can get your head around who is who!

Thanks to NetGalley and HQ publishing for the arc. Herc is out now. 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately, the writing style and narrative format of this book was not for me. I struggled to connect with any of the characters since the chapters were so short and the perspective changed so often. I think it would be better suited to someone who enjoys non-fiction or maybe has more knowledge of Greek mythology, as the format was almost interview in style, and there were a lot of names and references. I do love to see queer rep in Greek stories though, so seeing Herc's sexuality explored was a positive point.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Netgalley for granting me an e-ARC of this title. I actually really did not get along with the ebook formatting and I was finding it difficult to read, which may have just been an issue with the ARC and how it looked on my Kindle. Regardless, I decided to wait until release date and then I listened to the audiobook on Scribd.

Herc is a Greek mythological retelling centring (obviously) on Hercules. As the author notes at the end, Hercules is in a LOT of stories, so the book is made up of chapters from the points of view of the many people he comes into contact with, friends and family and enemies and everything in between. I've studied Classics and read a lot of the myths, so I knew a lot about Hercules' life, although there were definitely episodes and details that I had forgotten. I especially liked Meg's POV near the beginning, as well as some of Hercules' family members.

I have to be honest, though - I did not really enjoy this book. From the very beginning, the narration irritated me. At first I thought it was the audiobook, but there are so many narrators so I don't think it was that one issue. It was more to do with the fact that the writing style didn't really gel with me. It felt a bit too modern and the humour didn't work for me, although it might for some people.

I felt that the writing kept me at a distance from the characters, and while I did prefer some of the POVs over others, I still had the general feeling of disconnect. Part of this may stem from the fact that Hercules is not a hero I love to read about, but I also just didn't connect with the way he was portrayed. I felt almost no sympathy for him, but I also didn't find that he was portrayed in a complex, satisfying way like some reimagined mythological characters are (like Medea etc). As this is an extremely character driven book, enjoyment will definitely hinge on a connection to the characters, so that's why it didn't work for me.

This is a minor thing, but I did find the decision to call Heracles 'Hercules' a little strange considering Hercules is the Romanised version and all the other names in the book seemed to be Greek. I supposed this might be because Hercules is easier to shorten for the title, and much more recognisable. Still, this did puzzle me a bit, especially as someone who has studied classics and Ancient Greek. But most people wouldn't think about this!

I didn't hate this book by any means, or I would have just stopped reading, but when I finished I just felt nothing. I will say that I enjoyed it more as it progressed, but it still wasn't for me. I know some people will probably enjoy this, but I found it to be a disappointment, especially because I usually enjoy Greek myth retellings.

2.5 stars

Riotous fun and tragedy
Review written for NetGalley.
Quite a change from the solemn and sententious tales of Greek heroes that I've read in the past! Told from the points of view of almost all the other people Hercules may ever have met, this is a funny, fast and wild retelling of Hercules' life and deeds. It's a kind of comic tragedy (not surprising given the basic premis that Hercules was born of some kind of god/human mating and that he committed terrible deeds almost from the beginning). It's very clever. For me, like all greek myths, it went on a bit long but that's sort of inevitable as he appears to have done an awful lot of stuff! Married twice (I think), had lots of children (at least 50+) slept with loads of heroines and other kinds of women and also quite a few men. He also killed a lot of people all against a convincing background of rural poverty and ancient (rather worn) glory. Nearly all of these people had something to say about him - obviously many of them uncomplimentary!
The only problem I had was that several chapters appeared not to have been edited for kindle at all - the line breaks were completely off so that nearly all the sentences were broken into different lines. This made it very hard to read. I did wonder if it was supposed to imitate poetry in some way but couldn't see any reason for these chapters to have been treated differently. One star down for that. Otherwise, I recommend it.

This should be the story of Hercules: his twelve labours, his endless adventures…everyone’s favourite hero, right?
Well, it’s not.
This is the story of everyone else:
Alcmene: Herc’s mother (She has knives everywhere)
Hylas: Herc’s first friend (They were more than friends)
Megara: Herc’s wife (She’ll tell you about their marriage)
Eurystheus: Oversaw Herc’s labours (He never asked for the job)
His friends, his enemies, his wives, his children, his lovers, his rivals, his gods, his victims.
It’s time to hear their stories.

This one fairly rattles along at a pace, funny, fierce and refreshing. It’s a retelling unlike any I’ve read before which was unexpected but I enjoyed it. What I loved is that it’s not really Hercules story, well it is, but because it’s told through the eyes of others, we get their point of view and it feels broader somehow.

‘What? …. I speak of a man who served on a ship to get out of the rest of the trouble he was in and that, my friend, is a tradition older than time itself.’

The humour was fab, it is dry and made me laugh. Although I did feel sorry for pretty much everyone who comes into contact with Herc as they mainly end up dead and often by mistake!

‘He might have chosen to carry a club – if there ever was a better picture of what men are overcompensating for, I don’t know what it is’

With way more versions than you can count telling us the story of Hercules, this one brings laughs, tears and a fresh perspective- joyous!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

3.5 stars

I really liked the way this book was written from everyone elses' perspective than Hercules--the lovers, family, friends and wives. It's a brutal retelling that doesn't gloss over the brutality and despair that follows Hercules' life.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get on with the tone it was written in; it was very colloquial and modern which I just didn't find inkeeping with the theme. It was quite jarring to read the word 'eejit' in an ancient Greek tale.

It was a really interesting read but for me, it didn't quite hit the spot. I probably wouldn't reach for it it again but enjoyed reading about Hercules' adventures.

Herc might be a read that sits outside of what you expect. Herc 'the hero' is not a hero in any shape or form and this story tells of his true envisioned characteristics through others' eyes. Suffice it to say he was an increcibly unlikeable characters with very little in terms of redeeming attributes.

I always appreciate the rawness and sometimes brutality in a good greek mythology retelling. Herc is incredibly brutal in the narration of his senseless murdering proclivities and family were not safe from his acts.

His brother and mother seemed to have a belief in an underlying goodness; I didn't see it.

This was a reasonably engaging story. I appreciated that we don't see that many reimaginings of Heracles and this was that view point. However, the story lacked hope for many of the pages and it was senselessly grim in parts. Overall, not my favourite.

Thank you to the publisher through netgalley for the review copy.

3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Herc explores the years of Heracles’ life from birth to death through the people he loved, hurt and involved himself with. This multi pov book, while showing the greats he achieved, shows the much darker side to his trials and the lack of true care and compassion he showed for those around him. It also explores the tragedies that followed Herc and the lengths to which he was able to get away with despicable actions due to his heritage as Zeus’s son.

The raw disgust and honestly bewilderment that Heracles managed to get away with continued to baffle me throughout the entire time I read this book. The short chapters and the perspectives of so many individuals creates a reliable and extensive view to the classic tale of Hercules.

Things I particularly enjoyed about this book
- the short chapters made for an accessible and easy reading experience that allowed me to fly through the book.
- The humour in this book is raw and unfiltered and at times it had me giggling out loud.

Things I think could’ve been done better
- while there’s a guide and the multiple pov’s help direct the storyline, I felt that with such an expansive list of characters I really didn’t know who was speaking half of the time and I found it hard to empathise with most of the characters as many I just didn’t get to know in this narrative, leaving the story feeling quite empty at times and falling short.

This sounded so interesting and Hercules stories has always intrigued me so I was looking forward to reading this. Unfortunately it just didn’t work for me.
The way it’s written was really interesting and we got to see Hercules from many different perspectives.
But I still found myself losing interest and thought it was really slow at times and I also wished we could have seen more of meg especially as she’s mentioned in the synopsis yet we hardly see her.
I do think others will enjoy the story though

I started this book enjoying the fresh, entertaining narrative structure and wanting to journey with Hercules as his story unfolded. I immediately warmed to the multiple POVs and the structure reminded me a lot of Stone Blind. There are some dramatic events in Hercules' early life that I felt were well told and fitted into the different perspectives well. However, eventually I found the pacing didn't work for me. There was just too much story to cover and consequently I became less and less engaged. Also whilst initially the different narrative voices wooed me in, as the book progressed I began to find them tiresome and overly trite making them less authentic and their characterisation less believable. This is an entertaining book if you like a lot of plot, but I need more meat to flesh out events for me to really feel involved and this book just tripped through too lightly.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

This is a fresh and original take on the Hercules myths with a focus on the people around this legendary figure. the writing was fun and enjoyable to read, and i could really feel the connections between the characters and their complicated feelings for Hercule, someone who is difficult to love because love is a human emotion and he can be very un-humanlike.

While I enjoyed the writing, it took me a while to get through this book. I think something about the pacing felt off to me - around the halfway mark it felt like the book should already be ending. That being said, I found the actual ending to be kind of lackluster. I wish we had gotten a chapter of Hercules in Hades after his death.

All in all an enjoyable read to add to the collection of ancient greek retellings that I just didn't particularly connect to. I do appreciate that it didn't shy away from queerness though - obviously it's inaccurate to apply modern labels onto classical figures but highlighting the importance of Hercules' male lovers alongside his female lovers is something that i didn't even get while doing a classics degree, so it's refreshing to have it here.

It took a little while to warm up to this one. Initially, I found the constant switching of viewpoints a tad aggravating. But when I realised that we revisited several of the supporting cast more than once and got a stronger sense of their different personalities, I was able to relax into the story and enjoy the ride. And it is a real rollercoaster. I knew sufficient details about Hercules’ life to brace myself for the first main tragedy. However, even then it made for wrenching reading. That said, there are commentaries that simply made me laugh throughout – Eurystheus, who was in charge of setting Herc’s famous labours, was hilarious. Especially the business of not hiding in a jar…

And this is a story that needed some light relief, without disrespecting the misery that inevitably follows those who come to the attention of the gods. Hera, the wife of Zeus, is Herc’s unremitting enemy throughout his life and causes more than enough grief. By contrast, Herc’s immortal father tends to only show up to mitigate his wife’s attempts to kill or otherwise harm his son.

What is impressive, is how strongly Herc’s overall character shines through this interesting retelling of his very eventful life. By the end, I was struck at how much I understood him and some of his decisions, which previously I’d merely assumed were inexplicable because he was from another time, or possessed of a vengeful goddess. Essentially kind and good-hearted, Herc nonetheless wrought havoc on those he most loved. Much of the time, it was due to divine interference – but his own personality also played a part in some of that havoc.

I’ve found myself thinking about this one a lot since I finished reading it. I’m sure it’ll be one of those special books that I’ll still be mulling over in years to come – there aren’t many that make that cut, these days. Highly recommended for fans of Greek myth retellings. While I obtained an arc of Herc from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

I loved the premise of this one - as it’s Greek mythology but with a twist, it’s a retelling of the great hero Hercules (or Heracles), but a warts and all retelling. The uniqueness of this one, is that the voices telling you about Herc’s exploits are the family, friends and people he comes across on his travels. And their stories are not always complimentary.

At first, I loved the writing style of Herc. Rogerson has a really unique writing style for her little foray into Herc’s adventures. It’s quirky, funny and really fresh. But unfortunately I started to struggle with engaging with the characters - as there’s a lot. Really a lot. And I found it really hard to identify each of them and hear their unique voice. It just wasn’t there for me. And it was hard to work out how they knew Herc. Some of the voices and stories did stand out - the Amazons spring to mind. But most of them merged into each other. There is a glossary of characters at then end - but it would have been more helpful to know their relationship as their story is introduced. Other readers may get on better with it.

Thanks to the team at HQ and the author for the opportunity to read this review copy.

Many thanks for NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this quirky, humorous retelling of Heracles' story. The characters use very modern language which takes some getting used to considering they are in ancient Greece. The story is told from the point of view of many different characters throughout his life and the are each have their own voice as well as portraying the story.

Really interesting retelling but too many pov’s for me personally! The mythological element got a bit lost I felt but overall a fun read!

This is the story of Hercules… sort of. Actually, it’s the story of the people around him. The people he loved, the people he killed, and everyone in between.

I’m a massive fan of Greek mythology and re-tellings, and I thoroughly enjoyed Herc. The story follows Hercules over his entire life, from birth to his labours and afterwards, to his death, but is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of other significant characters he came into contact with: his family, his lovers, and others whose lives were affected by their association with him. This is a fantastic way to tell the story and keep a somewhat impartial viewpoint, because Hercules is a troubling character – a hero of course, but followed by death and pain wherever he goes.

Rogerson did a brilliant job with giving each narrator their own unique voice. My favourite had to be Eurystheus, who was in charge of overseeing Herc’s labours and suffered much more from it than Hercules did. I enjoyed the modern tone and humour throughout.

I absolutely loved this book and its unique take on telling the story of Heracles. His story is told by the people in his life, the silenced characters and I honestly think it was the perfect way to tell it. We get to see another side of Heracles and we get to see how much of a complex character who is surrounded by the death of those he loves.

I also really liked how queer and feminist this book was! It didn't shy away from the romantic relationships Herc had with other men and I loved that we got to hear about them! I will admit this book did bring me to tears on numerous occasions, especially when it came to Meg's final chapters. They were so heartbreaking!

Honestly Herc is such an addictive, gripping and amazing read that I found myself not wanting to put down. I really recommend picking this one up if you love Greek Mythology!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.