A review by theelliad
Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures by Stephen Fry

3.0

Oh yay another book on male heroes just what we needed. Just like mythos, this was excellent in its narrative approach to the myths making them endlessly approachable, however that said I cant look past the male-centric telling of these stories. While I’ve noticed this is both books, it is impossible to ignore his dismissal and villainisation of the female characters within the myths, Fry truly embodies the male classicist perspective which I feel we’ve moved so far past. I think if this had been written maybe 30 years before it was I would like and understand its perspective more. Futhermore, from the knowledge I have this is riddled with inaccuracies (I’m no classical genius but from what I could tell Roman and Greek versions are continually confused). While I respect this as an initial introduction to these stories, I pity any who take this as the gospel truth when there is such a wider canon of myth retellings! On the other hand, as far as the audiobook goes I thoroughly enjoyed it, it feels like a series of bedtime stories that took me back to reading my kids illiad years ago, the voices create distinct and interesting characters (even when i’m not a fan of the presentation) and if i ignore the knowledge i already have i can respect and praise Fry’s writing and I appreciated the defence of Oedipus and Freud🫶