Reviews

Metamorphoses by Ovid

whippycleric's review against another edition

dark funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

This translation by David Raeburn is refreshingly accessible. Having recently finished Dante's Comedy I was worried this would be a difficult read but was pleasantly surprised about how easy it was. Considering it's effectivity a collection of all the Greek myths related to metamorphosis the book flows very well, Ovid managed to chain the stories together so it doesn't feel like a collection of independant stories. If you're interested at all in Greek mythology then this should be on your must read list. Stephen Frys mythos is another good one to read, and have 2 versions written 2000 years apart to compare. I'll look up more Raeburn translations because this was so well done. 

alaan's review against another edition

5.0

Amazing. This is The Bible. Recommended to every myth nerd. How Ovid just describes the characters transforming is breathtaking. You get amazing tales of sadness and sorrow from some of the Sun's experiences, with eternal happiness and love from Philemon and Baucis or with both sadness and happiness with Orpheus and Eurydice.

ilseoo's review against another edition

4.0

This book consists of 15 volumes in which Ovid links many Greek myths together through their shared involvement with some form of transformation and arranges them around topics. The brilliance with which he lets myths flow into one another can’t be denied. However, although the stories are great and well written, they do have a repetitive quality to them. Therefore, I put this book down for a while and decided to read only one volume a week. This way, I enjoyed it more.

imgayforspace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

passthesalt's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

haven't read all of it — was only assigned part of it — but as far as translations go, this one's pretty good! I'm definitely planning to go back and read the rest

willem's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

kristenmtan's review against another edition

4.0

4/5
one of my favorites from hum so far tbh!
yes i only read half of it but we’re counting it anyway because that was what i was assigned to read

itkovian_books's review against another edition

4.0

Great source for mythology, obviously. Loses a star only because subjectively, I couldn’t stand any of the stories occurring after the Trojan War, so my experience unfortunately ended slogging through.

lumedranou's review against another edition

mysterious medium-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

3.5

kimananda's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

4.0