This was an interesting story of a very different kind to the usual stories about this part of the Meditteranean.. Some great descriptions that brought the story to life. A very clever conclusion

I was invited to read this and i have enjoyed reading other book set in this era.
I am disappointed. The first chapters have the main characters visiting a “prisoner of war camp” where captured Athenians are kept in appalling conditions. This is apparently a regular occurrence for entertainment and involves gratuitous violence.
I kept to my rule of reading at least 20% of book I am doubtful about but as this continues the language and the action is rude and unpleasant and i have decided not to continue. It is not for me.

This book is absolutely genius, i loved it so much and it will definitely be one of my favourites of 2023. It's funny, heartwarming and brutal all wrapped up in one very interesting and well paced story. It's based upon some fact which really opened up my eyes to this part of history. It;s a tale of friendship, love, grief and loss, and how arts can bring people together to show us what really matters in life. My review really doesn't do this book justice, I can't get into words how much I enjoyed it and would encourage anyone to give it a read!

I was eager to read this book having read a novel many years ago with a similar focus on the aftermath of the disastrous Athenian expedition to Syracuse and the way in which some of the young Athenians escaped death by reciting the plays of Euripides, loved by some Syracusans.

Initially I was disappointed, the jokey style, the Irish dialect and rather modern characters weren't what I expected and it took me over half the novel before I began to enjoy it for what it was rather than what I had anticipated. It deals with the power of art and storytelling, the horrible aftermath of wars well and the characters do take life and feel real. The final scenes are poignant.

Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for a review copy.

Glorious Exploits is set in 412 BC where an invasion of Sicily by Athenian soldiers has failed, and any invaders who haven’t been killed have been dumped to die of heat and starvation in the Syracuse quarries.
Two local potters, Gelon who is grieving the loss of his son and wife, and Lampo
an immature young man who still lives at home, have no work and too much time on their hands. They decide to visit the quarries and after hearing some of the Athenians quote Euripides in exchange for crumbs of food decide to put on a production of Medea in the quarry.
Some historical novels can be a little dry but Lampo’s (the narrator) voice has an Irish dialect that surprisingly doesn’t seem at all out of place.
As their seemingly impossible dream begins to take shape events force Lampo to find his courage and take risks he would never have previously considered.
This tale of friendship (particularly the bond between Gelon and Lampo), determination, class, culture and most of all the healing power of art make this an exciting, occasionally amusing, original story that will stay with me. Absolutely loved it!

Many thanks to Penguin Random House UK for an ARC

This is, without a doubt, the single most important piece of #ancienthistory fiction published in the past decade (if not longer).

I have struggled for some time to write this review, as I have struggled to summarise just how much, and in how many ways, I love this book. And how I think it is so necessary, and so vital, particularly to our understanding of the ancient world.

The failed Sicilian Expedition of c.413BC was devastating for Athens and, due to the biased nature of our sources, we hear very little of the Syracusan side of the war. We do know that captured Athenians were held prisoner in Syracusan quarries, and were forced to recite snippets of plays (which were always performed in Athens). Ferdia Lennon has seized this remarkable anecdote, and created something truly astounding out of it. The voices of Lampo and Gelon are real. Their home, their lives, their feelings, are real. I want to pour over this book and read it again and again and again, because I haven’t come across anything quite like this in all the ancient historical fiction I have read. Lemon’s writing is empathetic and hilarious and absolutely devastating. Simply magnificent.


Thank you so, so much to NetGalley and Penguin FigTree for this genuine privilege. I am an Editor in Classics at a major academic publishing house, and I’ll be recommending this to everyone I possibly can.

What a fantastic novel. Original, erudite, sad, funny, violent, touching and totally engrossing. I absolutely loved it.

This is a cut above the recent slew of women's gaze mythology/history (and I really enjoy them).

The writing is excellent. The characterisation is superb and the ending, as is life is definitely messy.

Read it.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin - and well spotted Penguin if this really is a debut novel.

An irreverent and rather cheeky take on the Ancient World and Greek drama in particular. Laugh out loud funny at times the two main characters are on mission to use Athenian prisoners to put on a production of Medea. That made me laugh before I even started reading. They certainly have glorious exploits trying to raise money and get embroiled in some rather dodgy dealings without even trying but their friendship is tested as things are not always as they seem. A little heavy on the swearing at times which got in the way of the story and spoiled my enjoyment of snappy writing and a fast moving plot. Great fun.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

There are some books that have the power to make you look at the world a little differently after you have read them, and I truly believe this is one of them. I didn’t know anything about the Peloponnesian war and I didn’t care about the Peloponnesian war before reading, and none of that mattered once I read the first page.

The style was immediately fresh - though it takes place in 400BC I did not have to struggle with olde language as it is written “in contemporary Irish dialect”. This choice is not jarring as you think it might be, somehow it just works. It was genius, it added flair and humour to some parts of the story, but did not feel gimmicky in the more emotional beats.

The story itself: a tale of overcoming differences, the power of art and love, brotherhood, romance, war, quests, victory, defeat, heartbreak, Glorious Exploits honestly had it all. It was both an epic and a tragedy and a comedy. The plot of the novel nearly mirrored the plays put on by the characters inside it. It was fully fledged and magnificent.

I nearly cried on the tube reading it on my tiny phone, I could imagine scenes in the climax as clearly as if they were played on a movie screen in front of me. You will not know until you read it what the desperation of that hill and that fence in the night felt like. It felt vivid and real! And that is such a rarity.

I will be buying this for myself and for others when it releases. I am truly thankful I was allowed to read it!

I will be publishing my review via Goodreads and Storygraph on 11 January 2024

Whilst i was heavily intrigued by the premise of this book, it took me a long time to get into it and sadly did not end up necessarily enjoying it.

This book is delightful and original. It's genuinely one of the best I've read this year. It's written beautifully, with a narration in a contemporary Irish vernacular that brings an element of humor and makes the story feel modern and relatable. It's dark, deeply funny, with glimpses of hope scattered throughout. It's also very readable, I burned through it in two days because the story really immersed me and I wanted to see what happened next. I thought it was well paced and had a satisfying ending.

The novel features two friends, Lampo and Gelon who are unemployed potters during the Peloponnesian war. Syracuse defeated invading Athenians and imprisoned them in a quarry. The two friends like to go to the quarry and mess with them to pass the time. Gelon often has them recite from his favorite playwrite, Euripedes and gets the idea to stage a play with the Athenian prisoners as actors, the closest he ever gets to seeing his hero's work staged in Athens. We see the process as they bring it to life, securing an eccentric patron, getting to know the 'actors', collecting a group of children to assist, securing different elements they need, and promoting the play. Along the way we really get to know the characters and root for them even when they don't necessarily deserve it.

I did not know anything about the Peloponnesian war or Euripides going into this, but I appreciated the glimpse into this place and time which felt well researched but accessible. This accessability is also helped by the MCs not being war heroes or gods like a lot of ancient/historic greek retellings.

I've been recommending it to everyone I can and I really hope it gets the attention it deserves, I think a lot of people would enjoy it.

The refreshingly original novel following two Sicilian potters putting on a play using captured Athenian soldiers. Clever, funny, heartbreaking. One to look out for in 2024.

From the first chapter of Glorious Exploits you are
thrown into a liminal world and this is how the rest of
the book remains. Fast paced, witty and incredibly
easy to read Lennon's prose is jovial then knife edge
sharp. The entire book is about a play, the
importance of the play, how the play is important
both to the people but to society, how creativity and
the arts are so interjected with the human experience
that to try to rid one of the other would be to kill off
both entirely. At times I found myself giggling along
to the two main characters, at other times | found
myself shocked by their actions and how they treated
others. Then, the beautiful end. One of the most
unexpected, poignant and lovely endings and not one
I saw coming at all. A really fantastic read if you are
looking for something a bit different. Coming 2024.

This book exceeded my expectations and then some. It's an original, funny, heartwrenching and hopeful piece of historical fiction that I would thoroughly recommend you pick up.

In a nutshell, this story is set in Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War. We follow friends Lampo and Galon as they decide to use some captured Athenian's to put on a unique performance of Euripides in the quarry they are imprisoned within.

I really did fall in love with this book, the writing is fantastic and the characters (especially Lampo) jumped off the page. The juxtaposition between the Ancient Greece and the contemporary dialect was so refreshing and made Glorious Exploits an absolute pleasure to read.

Really excited to see how this one does when it is released and I will for sure be buying a copy for myself.

Please also check out my TikTok as I will be posting a video review of this amazing book - @indiacaitlinc

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

THIS IS AN ARC REVIEW
Follow Lampo & Gelon as they manoeuvre their way through their directorial debuts. After all the who can put on a play as well as the Athenians and luckily for these two Syracusens they have a whole quarry of them!
I really admired this viewpoint narrative, it’s a really interesting reading concept; to see something or someone through one persons eyes. In saying this though it’s also part of the reason why I struggled with it. Being introduced to to certain events and scenes that we only get a glimpse of because Lampo wasn’t present therefore it’s just bits and pieces of information as he is simply reiterating someone else’s experience. This infuriated me as personally I like to know all that is happening or has happened. But eventually you do end up with about 80% of the information which at least eased my mind!
Look out for this book when it gets published 25.01.2024

So Gelon says to me, “Let’s go down and feed the Athenians. The weather’s perfect for feeding Athenians.”⁣
⁣
It’s 412 BC and after defeating the Athenians, Syracuse is thriving. The prisoners of war are being left to bake in the heat in the quarries outside the city, treated like zoo animals by many locals. Included in this number are Lampo and Gelon, unemployed potters, who take a notion: to put on a performance of Euripides’ 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘢 with a cast of Athenians in the quarry. While Gelon has been introspective and mournful since the death of his son, our narrator Lampo is just a happy-go-lucky lad, but their turn at being directors causes Lampo to question what he really wants in life. ⁣
⁣
This is a book that felt written for me, specifically. Written in the Dublin vernacular and surrounding Euripides’ 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘢 and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯? Sign me up! But this story explores so many themes: the horrors of war and its aftermath, the tragedy of the death of a child, and how art can create purpose and community. What’s amazing is how so many of these themes are in Euripides’ original work, are featured here in the novel and are still relevant and important and largely unchanged 2,500 years later. Similarly, gormless Lampo at the age of thirty suddenly realising he wants more than drinking in the pub every night and living with his ma is a tale as old as time. ⁣
⁣
GLORIOUS EXPLOITS releases on 25th January 2024, just in time to read this short book before launching into House of Flame and Shadow. My deepest thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

A unique take on Ancient Greek historical fiction, Glorious Exploits is funny, dark, sad, and redeeming all in one book. I am not particularly well versed in Greek history and that was not a barrier at all to getting engaged in this story. The efforts of two out of work potters in Syracuse to put on two Euripides plays with a cast of captive Athenians are both ludicrous and heartwarming. The ending is brilliant, without giving anything away it is really a beautiful way to draw this tale to a close.

I feel I ought to start with a warning!
Anyone sensitive to bad language... cover your ears...well eyes in this case! Glorious Exploits is pretty full on with its use of invective, but none of it seems gratuitous, trust me!
This is a romance, a tragedy, a history and maybe even a mystery....oh yes...and a little bit of The Great Escape thrown in for good measure.
Two out of work potters in Syracuse take it into their heads to use the starving captured Athenians in their local quarry as actors in two of the most famous Greek Tragedies. Medea and The Women of Troy.
Of course they intend to have as their audience ( because " a play with no audience is just a rehearsal") the very people who watched their sons and husbands and brothers slaughtered by those same Athenians, befors they, in their turn were defeated and slaughtered and captured.
What could possibly go wrong?.A lot, obviously but this is a book that is seldom if ever obvious and that is what makes it.... well glorious I guess!
It is a book not without fault, but as a debut novel it is has so much going for it that, it can be forgiven those faults it has
Be warned though, Greek tragedies never end well for everyone.....

This might just be the most original book I have read this year - and I loved every word.

Best friends Gelon and Lampo live in a rapidly growing and changing city, jobless after their factory closed, Lampo still living with his mother at thirty, Gelon grieving the loss of his family. Unemployed and with little money, life revolves around visiting the bar and dreaming, all too aware that they are have nots in a world of haves. So far so familiar, only our protagonists live in Syracuse nearly two and a half thousand years ago, a city that, against all odds, fought off the Athenians three years before the book starts - which is why there are several thousand Athenian men imprisoned in their quarries, dying slowly of disease and starvation. Men who are so grateful for few scraps of food they'll recite poetry in return for olives. And Gelon really adores Athenian poetry, especially the work of Euripedes. Which is why he has a brainwave. Why don't they put on a play right here, in the quarry, a Greek Tragedy performed by actual Athenians?

Sure they are broke, their potential actors are despised, hated and dying, they have no theatre experience or scripts, but when the duo find an actual actor and realise that thanks to him, they can put on not just Medea but also Euripedes new play The Trojan Women, a work not yet seen or heard in Syracuse, the dream takes on a life of its own.

Poignant, funny, dark, violent, heartbreaking, tender and eminently readable, you don't need to have read Thucydides or Euripedes, to know anything about Ancient Greece or the Peloponnesian war or Greek tragedy to be instantly absorbed into this vivid and human world. I'm not sure I have ever used tour de force in a review before, but this book deserves the title. A staggering achievement. Highly recommended.

Recommend if you like: well written novels, ancient historical fiction with down to earth dialogue, quarries, greek theatre, creepy patrons, irony, my book taste because I LOVED this one

Normally NetGalley ARCs sit on my virtual shelves gathering dust for a fair few weeks (at least) before getting picked up. But I got approved for this just before we flew to Sicily, where the book is set, albeit a good 2435 years ago. I love nothing more than reading a book whilst being where it is set, therefore Glorious Exploits went straight to the top of my TBR.

With this in mind, I thought the concept was cool, but I was reading the book for a pretty obscure reason that had nothing to do with the genre or plot. So I was very happy when I fell in love with it.

Plot in one line: Two Sicilian potters use captured Athenian soldiers to put on Greek plays

Loved because:
The book was very readable, with relatable dialogue and characters.
The story was super satisfying, with a perfect ending but not in a HEA way which I loved.
The atmosphere was perfect and deeply immersive.

Lil extra reasons I like this book:
I was sat in a Sicilian villa, with Etna in the background, just outside of Centuripe, and the characters travel past Centuripe!
The author got his MA at UEA and now lives in Norwich, I got my MMath from UEA and now live in Norwich!