Reviews with content warning for Violence - Metamorphoses: The New, Annotated Edition

I've decided to start doing relatively in-depth reviews for each book I read this year straight after I finish them to help me digest them better, I guess.
This was both my first book of 2023 and my first 'ancient text'. I was quite worried about this being hard to comprehend as it's very long and very old, but for the most part it was extremely accessible and fun to read. I devoured this epic poem.
Ovid really was ahead of his time with this piece, especially with the humour. The translator also did a great job of making it accessible and comprehensive to English-speakers.
The theme of change was very interesting to explore, and the theme is persistent throughout the poem. Metamorphosis was used as a tool for freedom and for punishment within the stories. To save a woman from assault, she would be turned into a bird, and to punish the assaulter, he would also be turned into a bird. This was very strange and an interesting contrast.
Some of my favourite stories include; Narcissus and Echo, Orpheus and Eurydice + Orpheus' Songs (Pygmalion, Hyacinthus, Venus and Adonis), Daedalus and Icarus, Daphne, Salmacis and Hermaphroditus and Iphis. The poem is separated into 15 books, and my favourites were the middle ones from 3-10.
There was a lot of s-xual assu-lt in this book, so beware that most of the stories do include it in one way or another. Some of the stories were extremely disturbing an gruesome, for example 'Tereus, Procne and Philomena'.
There was also a lot of queer subtext in this poem, which I loved.
In short, make this the one 'epic poem' you ever read.

Content Warnings

kingcrookback's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

In terms of the sheer amount of story, there's a lot here. And because it's a panorama of Greek and Roman mythology, there are many, many content warnings potential readers should be aware of. I tried my best to cover them all. I read this with the intention of getting some background on the Ovid references Shakespeare makes in his plays, given his Renaissance humanist education. So, it was kind of a fun game for me, being able to recognize a few things. I was also very big into Greek mythology when I was younger, and it's very interesting to see it through a Roman lens.

Ovid hates Ulysses so much, it's genuinely kind of hilarious.

Content Warnings