Sort of about Hercules, but mostly about everything and everyone else, this outrageously funny reimagining captures a feminist, queer and comedic representation of all the bits you missed whilst Hercules was stealing the show!

It’s brilliantly written - truly, it is. The humour, whilst sometimes very heavy handed and deliberate (similar to the blurb, to give you a flavour of it) also has a lot of heart. The relationships portrayed between characters are really fun to read and feel very well imagined - you’re championing their stories without really realising.

But for some reason, it just felt way too deliberate and contrived to me. I felt like I could see the authors perspective, their thought process, behind crafting this book so much so that it didn’t feel like a relaxed, enjoyable story; it felt like an academic exercise in how to be funny and flip stories on their heads (both things I enjoy, but it was just too obtuse and intentional).

A great book, I enjoyed it a lot, it just wasn’t totally to my taste in terms of delivery.

ARC provided from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

I was really impressed by this one. It might be one of the best retellings of the ancient greek myths (and actually any myths) that i've come across.
I love that you got the point of view of so many characters, how they felt about Hercules and their relationship with him. It shows all the different opinions, some who loved him, some who hated him and everything in between. Each has a very unique voice, so you never feel like you're reading the same thing (i've read books from different POV's before, but often the characters all sound basically the same, or some have really over the top differences, both of which are annoying. this book doesn't seem to do that, it hits a perfect middle ground).
I also really appreciated that the language used was modern, despite the mythological setting. I often find the language in some myth retelling to be a bit too old fashioned, or terse and it can make it hard and boring to read. But because the author has used modern language in this book, it makes it much easier to read, and in my opinion, more fun.
Overall, this was a really excellent book. I was already recommending to people before I'd finished it.

Herc is a work of mythological fiction surrounding the life of the great hero Heracles/Hercules. I liked that the novel went deep into his backstory, as most retellings involving Hercules only focus on him being a hero, whereas Herc explored his early life leading up to him becoming a hero. I really enjoyed the multiple POV chapters throughout, as they allowed other characters to get their thoughts and feelings across, and it added a sense of depth to the story which worked very well. I especially loved how different characters’ personalities came out in the writing styles for each chapter, for example, a younger character would speak in a casual and less formal way. This really allowed me to feel like I was meeting these characters and not just reading about them so this was one of my favourite features about the book. I love Greek mythology but had not previously read a lot about Hercules so this book gave me a much needed refresher and was very entertaining along the way. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in Greek mythology or ancient history, or anyone looking into mythological fiction, as I believe this book is accessible to a wider audience due to its use of modern language throughout, which fits the beautiful writing style. I’m very grateful I got the chance to read this book!

Herc is the debut novel from Phoenicia (love her name!) a retelling of the story of Hercules. Although told with a twist through everyone else rather than himself, his mother, friends, wife, siblings and enemies.

This book is funny, no like really funny throughout. I loved how we got to see the realities of Hercules and not just him as a hero. He appears in lots of the Greek myths and this author has done an absolutely fantastic job of including so many of them - his 12 labours, punishments and the slayings of monsters (and his family oops) b

I liked how the author made it so everyone looked up to him but still treated him down to earth, like a normal person such as calling him by his nicknames H or Herc.

I really enjoyed the different relationships woven throughout and this book was so well put together - great, clear flowing writing.
I will be recommending this book to others and looking out for more from this author.

The strength of this book is that it uses Hercules as a thread to tie in lots of the famous mythology stories. Hercules is involved in most and if you know your mythology, it's quite nice seeing everything link. At first I really liked this. The different POVs enrich the tale of Heracules/Hercules. However, around 18% in Hercules started using street slang like 'cuz' for cousin. The POV from his young nephew was really cringy. You can tell it was written by someone attempting to write as a child and it just fell flat. Similarly, his sister's POV is awful. It one of the few female POVs and it makes women of Ancient Greece come across as air heads. "My brother's are like 14 years older...like, he's not hideous or anything... I'm a freaking dream." Awful. The language occasionally slipped back into things like 'S'up', 'Innit' and 'Bro' which really detracted from the story. If you are a teenager who wants to learn about Ancient Greece, this book could be for you. If you're already familiar with mythology and are an adult then I think you'll be disappointed with the language as it's as if it's written by a 16 year old.

herc by phoenicia rogerson || 🌟🌟🌟🌟

thank you to netgalley for an arc of this book, due to be published on the 31st of august

a feminist & queer retelling of hercules written from perspective of people around him: his wives, his lovers, his companions, his family, greek kings & others he meets on his travels. it weaves hercules' adventures with humour, terror & tenderness. I was pulled in from the first page and really enjoyed reading this✨

A VERY STRONG novel about a VERY STRONG guy! 💪✨

🦁 'Herc' by Phoenicia Rogerson is a retelling of the myth of Hercules / Heracles, as told by his family, friends, lovers, and enemies. It spans his entire life, from birth to death, with all the highs and lows in between!

💙 I thoroughly enjoyed this. It canters through a MILLION interwoven myths at break-neck pace. I loved how fast-paced it was, the story was constantly in motion and never felt slow. SO MUCH research must have gone into this.

✍️ Thought the 'gossipy' style worked really well. We never hear Heracles' point of view, only everyone else talking about him - they all have different perspectives on him as a human and as a hero.

⚔️ Heracles' violence towards his family and others was never excused, rather it was explored and examined. A question hangs over the whole story - how much should we glorify so-called 'heroes?'

🌈 Heracles apparently had a lot of lovers and wives (the ultimate chaotic bisexual) which meant a LOT of narrators. I have no idea how Phoenicia Rogerson kept track of all the different points of view. I'm guessing a very intricate spreadsheet?!!

✨ Overall, this was an exciting and emotional novel which I'll be recommending to everyone.

🗓️ 'Herc' will be out on 31st August 2023

🎁 Thank you to Netgalley & HarperCollins for my advance readers' copy!

- Katie

[Review already posted to Instagram at @katiespencebooks, tweet to be posted to @katiespencey on Friday]

I am a massive fan of mythological retellings, there is something about the way we tend to interpret myth using modern sensibilities that I find fascinating (though I am also a fan of the original stories, you just have to ignore the very masculine slant the majority have in order not to find them hugely frustrating).

This story was very different, in that instead of projecting the tales of Hercules’ heroic acts and making them even greater, it presents you with a new perspective, that of the people who love him and are the unfortunate victims of his attention (be that in positive or negative ways).

This book takes a look at what it’s like to be the person in the know, the one who knows what someone is truly like behind the glitz and glamour of a famous persona. Obviously, we get the story told from multiple perspectives, his wife, his lovers, his siblings, his mother, his cousins and many more. And while it feels as though sometimes they might be holding back, they aren’t shy about acknowledging that Hercules isn’t this ‘great guy’...

Like The Shadow of Perseus, this book is highlighting that just because someone is a hero doesn’t make them a great person. Like Perseus, Hercules was a victim of his own fame. He believed he was above the rules, and this is only too evident in the way that he treats the people who care about him, while blaming the punishment of his evil ‘step-mother’ Hera for the crimes he commits.

Rogerson is clever in the way that she frames each event, whether it’s any of Herc’s 12 labours or the awful end of his marriage to Megara and their unfortunate children. There are moments of sadness and horror interjected with pure humour when you can’t help but see that Herc is viewed, by many, as a petulant child who both doesn’t know his own strength, or understand that he must take at least a modicum of responsibility for his actions. He is viewed by them as neither wanted nor tolerated, but they humour him.

A very interesting book that gives you a very different perspective of this mythological demi-god’s life and the lives of those he was linked to.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for sharing an advanced copy of Herc with me.

I was really excited to get into this book and I was certainly not disappointed. I found the way the book was written through the eyes of the women in Hercules' life really interesting. We've known of the man as a hero and a legend.

However, through the women in his life and other's around him it's clear that he is simply just a brute,

Absolutely loved this book! I loved how many different perspectives there were. Beautiful storytelling as well. Will 100% be recommending this!

3.5* star - I feel like I have been spoiled by a lot of Mythology retellings recently, but they did impact my enjoyment on Herc. I place that fault on myself more than the book as I can see why others would love it, it is interesting to see the retelling from what is essentially the depositions of others.

I have a lot of thoughts about Herc, and I will try really hard to be coherent. So what I loved the most was that we never got Herc telling his own story. It is Hercules's life through other mouths which works for a myth retelling. we are told though other mouths what Herc is feeling and why he behaves as he does. I thought this was something new and different in a very saturated genre.

It did, however, make the reader feel distant from the titular character and made it difficult to connect with our characters as we moved on so quickly. However, there were two chapters at the end, which I have highlighted and added sticky notes that made the whole experience of reading Herc worth it.

Overall, I enjoyed Herc to a certain extent and would read more from Rogerson. I would love to see her tackle the Illiad, which might work better in this sliced-up vignette style of writing. I could see her writing almost short stories from each character's perspective of the war.

I've read my fair share of ancient retellings, and when I saw this beautiful cover I immediately jumped at the chance to read this story. Whether you're familiar with the Greek/Roman myths or you just love the 1997 epic Disney movie - everyone knows who Hercules is.

My initial thoughts for this novel were that I was going to devour this book like the Nemean Lion devoured the poor Corinthians, however, that wasn't the case. It took me longer to read this retelling longer than any other. Let me start off with saying this story isn't from Hercules's point of view. It is a series of depositions from the people that were the closest to the great 'Hero'. Most are now in the depths of Hades - a direct result of knowing the son of Zeus.

Each chapter is a different perspective, often jumping forward and backward through the timeline of events. This can be difficult to follow unless you are familiar with the events of the Labours or the people in Herc's life - a lot of the names are very similar!! It also seems that the characters giving their accounts either love or despise Hercules (called Herakles earlier in the story - this is not hard to follow) these opinions can become repetitive and I often found myself skimming indistinguishable praises or slights by kings, lovers, family and friends. A modern speech style is also used frequently through the text, which I felt didn't work to its advantage. There is definitely a skill to writing in an ancient voice and making it relatable yet mystical to the reader and reading sarcastic, contemporary language from almost every character felt more jarring than funny.

What I loved about this book is how complex Hercules seemed to be and I would have loved to have had his own voice to prove his feelings and concerns to the reader, but we are often told by other characters that he is a man of few words. The demigod is neither depicted as a hero or a villain respectively, his great deeds are proven through trails and his love for particular people but he also commits acts of atrocity - whether it was by the hand of Hera or not. We are shown Herc's soft side when he falls for his first love Hylas (LGBTQ rep). He is kind-hearted, childlike and easy and we are then shown his true terrifying god like power when he murders his wife Megara and their children. It's hard to pin his character down and this made me want to read more about him - not necessarily opinions about him.

Giving this a middle-of-the-road review as I feel this book would be a fresh, alternative and somewhat funny novel for someone who may be fatigued by other serious retellings. I would definitely still recommend this book to anyone who loves classical mythology.

I love a good mythical retelling. This book takes a look at the life of Hercules from everyone else's perspective. Honestly, for the most part he was described as a rather unlikeable character and an idiot. This was quite a refreshing take on the hero from my childhood as portrayed by Disney. I also liked the bisexual element of the character, it was really the only narrative that gave his character any soul. It was an enjoyable, easy read with short chapters that I always prefer. I also appreciated the character breakdown at the start because there are a LOT of POVS to keep up with.

The reason I found this interesting is because I find recently all mythology retellings seem to navigate the story of women. so it's been a while since I've read a retelling of one of the heroes. this was really well written and I enjoyed that it wasn't actually about him and was really an insight into how people saw him. It was something I haven't read before and commend the author.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an eARC of this book. 🙂

I thought this was an interesting read I don’t usually read retellings as i prefer the OGs but it was nice seeing the Hercules story from the pov of people around him. Was not expecting the scene involving his family 😳 overall a good read I don’t know if I’ll read anymore retellings I’m the future but you never know 😊

This fantastic retelling of Hercules was brilliant. The multiple PoVs made it a easy and enjoyable read. Characters were interesting and it was interesting how the choices that was made impacted the world around him.

Phoenecia Rogerson's modern retelling of the Hercules myth is a fun, captivating read. While I was familiar with Hercules and his famous Labours, this book introduced me to lesser-known stories and characters. Rogerson portrays Hercules as a complex figure, sometimes kind and gentle, other times prone to dark deeds that lead him to undertake the Labours to redeem himself.

One of the strengths of the book is the unique voice given to each character and narrator. Some of the voices sound quite young, but they all have something to say about Hercules. Through their perspectives, we learn that he dislikes swords, loves food, has questionable hygiene, is proud, and speaks his mind. As the story progresses, we get a fuller picture of the man behind the legend. The book also explores Hercules' sexuality, depicting him as fluid in his attraction to both men and women.

You get Theseus discussing "How to Become a Hero; descriptions of Delphi as an "awfully dusty place" and Hercules being knocked down by the falling corpse of Icarus, that and more add to a sense of quirkiness and humour. I found the character list at the end of the book very helpful, and a family tree would be a useful visual addition.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Rogerson's fresh take on the Hercules myth and had a lot of fun discovering it. I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys accessible and spicy retellings of Greek mythology.

Thanks #NetGalley for the ARC

#Herc #caninebibliophile
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This brilliant retelling follows the exploits of Hercules - from his labours to his loves - exploring a character who might have been a great hero, but wasn't (according to a lot of the figures in his life) a great guy. And it's told from the perspective of everyone but Hercules himself.

I loved reading this novel and am still thinking about it now, weeks later. My favourite thing was definitely its format, with funny interludes, letters, and brilliant, individual voices. Every character's chapters felt different. It was a clever way to approach such a complicated and dark story and created a sense of balance because there are SO many view points - those who love him, those who fear him, those who think he's a hero, and those who call him a monster.

Herc shows the monstrous side of heroism, where the gods sometimes feel like they've being used as a convenient excuse rather than the masterminds of Herc's trauma - and given their frequent appearances throughout the novel, their sudden absences when something goes terribly wrong is perhaps quite telling.

This is also the first of three stories I've read this spring featuring Atalanta as a character. I love the way ancient myths can be woven together and interpreted in different ways, creating endless new stories for readers to enjoy. I loved Herc and cannot recommend it enough.

This is the story of Hercules, except it's not. It's actually the story of everyone else, all the people whose lives he influenced, whose stories he touched. His brother, Iphicles. His childhood friend and lover, Hylas. His first wife, Megara. His cousin, Eurystheus, who oversaw the famous labours. And many, many more. Each has a different part of the story, a different perspective on the mighty hero Hercules.

I love a good Greek retelling, and this is one of the best. It doesn't shy away from the horror and tragedy of Hercules' life, but it is also full of the soft and tender moments too. It deftly explores the way Hercules is perceived by the people he interacts with, and takes you on that journey with it. At times, I hated Hercules, at other times I loved him, but I was always scared both of and for him.

The prose is very modern, a fun juxtaposition with the setting of ancient Greece, making it very easy to read. The blurb describes it as a queen, feminist retelling, and at times it definitely is, but mostly it's just fun. A fun, moving, heartfelt retelling of some of the world's most famous myths.

This book is recommended for for fans of Madeline Miller, but in my opinion it's quite different stylistically, and won't necessarily appeal to all fans of hers. Instead, I would say read this if the sound of a Greek retelling with modern sensibilities attracts you. I also think this would appeal to anyone who likes dark, humerous fantasy - think Skulduggery Pleasant.

Rating: 4.5/5, rounded up.