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The 4th and (hopefully not) last of Fry's books retelling Greek mythology has us follow Odysseus on his way home after the Trojan War. Talk about a road trip with road blocks. *lol*



Odysseus has made some divine enemies by coming up with the tactic that brought about Troy's fall, but also through some other in-/actions. Thus, when he and his small fleet sail home, they are stormtossed from island to island and meet cyclopses, sirens, witches, gods and other creatures and people while Odysseus' wife, Penelope, is left home to raise their son alone and, ultimately, fight off a host of impertinent suitors.
To think how much more quickly he could have been home if Poseidon attended all meetings as required and if Odysseus' men had heeded commands (after all the battles fought together, one could have expected better of them)!



Anyway, the story is very well known, but the way Fry tells it is fresh and new, though always faithful to the original and respectful in tone in a way that absolutely befits the original.
Fry's version is also speckled with references to the previous 3 books and the stories retold in those.
And he's once again giving the same kind of cultural references we're used to by now.
So much from history, linguistics and even biology makes more sense if one knows the relation between it all and Fry has a wonderful way of bringing it all together in a holistic way.

A wonderful breakdown of this massive tale that jumps from here to there and even from the "present day" to flashbacks and then the future.
Honestly, I had not known the correct order (from the original) since all the versions I encountered to far seem to have streamlined the plot - which is the wrong thing to do since it makes the reader miss some important connections (not to mention that the original way the story was told is more thrilling and has sorts of cliffhangers and a better flow within the story).
Stephen Fry guiding us through all the disasters, betrayals, ensanarements, intrigues and quests and in the order they are said to have occurred, was comforting and brilliant.

I have both the wonderfully shiny (and signed) hardcover

but I also listened to the audiobook because the author narrated it himself and his voice is like a drug (without any negative side-effects) to me.

Gorgeous voyage through history and mythology, rich with details and told in a magnificent way. Read it! I know you'll love it!



P.S.: My only regret is that I didn't take my time reading this book and posting many funny gifs in the status updates. *lol* It lends itself perfectly to that. Oh well, I can always do that when re-reading this book (which might be soon indeed because it's so good)!