Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad

A succinct, elegant and rather beautifully written (and, here, rather beautifully spoken) version of The Iliad, wherein all of human folly seems bound up in a rather gruesome purpose, with the gods either literally interfering, or the embodiment of happenstance and foolishness and wayward passions, or both, since this is poetry and myth. Though fascinated by Greek mythology, I never precisely *liked* the story of Troy as a kid, it was too morally dubious, its so-called Heroes rarely heroic. Now I realise that was the point, and find myself appreciating it for the masterpiece it is, historically mythologising people of great stature who nonetheless did things because they wanted to and not because they were heroic as we understand it. show more Its encompassing of human nature is a work of extraordinary intelligence and empathy, and while it might have soothed and stroked the egos and memorials of those it praised, for the rest of us it's a dark, if thrilling, fable of death and destruction. Sutcliff, as may be expected, presents a straighforward children's version with subtlety, intelligence and sympathy. show less

The blood. The slavery of women. More blood. On the other hand, it was high time for the Odyssey prequel since we've read so many iterations of that particular piece of Greek literature. And Sutcliffe's retelling of this war story hit the right notes for the boy . . . and sparked a lot of discussion about the notable lack of purely "good guys" in the context of this story. (The portrayal of Achilles in all his vengeful violence was a real eye-opener.)

Holy god, Alan Lee can paint. (He was the concept artist for Jackson's trilogy, and you can totally see some of the same epic sweep and body language in the watercolors here.)

This is the Iliad-plus. it's the story of the rage of Achilles, with the added context of why the Greeks are in Asia Minor at all, and it goes up to the end of the war, including the horse, and Laocoon, etc., etc. It sticks pretty closely to the canonical text — although it leaves out Iphigenia, and the story I love that Helen tells in the Odyssey, about how she was imitating the voices of the Greek women when the Greeks were inside the horse, and it also leaves out Neoptolemus /Pyrrhus — but by and large, this would be an EXCELLENT introduction to the Iliad show more and the heroes therein for a child. Not sure of the intended age range — it's designed like a picture book, except that, well. Iliad. EVERYONE DIES. WITH GORE. And the language is pretty damn sophisticated; like, Sutcliff adapts some of the epic similes. A well-read eight or nine-year-old could probably handle it, but a well-read eight or nine-year-old would probably reject it out of hand for looking like a baby book. (I know I would have.) show less

Excellent Iliad 101
Review of the paperback of Rosemary Sutcliff's (1920-1992) posthumous 1993 text-only original.

Newcomers to Homer's Iliad will likely be surprised to read that it begins with Achilles' quarrelling with Agamemnon and ends with Hector's funeral i.e. all sorts of iconic mythological fiction tropes such as the Achilles Heel and the Trojan Horse do not appear in it at all.

Rosemary Sutcliff combines all of the major sources from Greek Myths and the Aeniad with Homer's story to provide an excellent complete distillation of the Iliad story in a very readable young adult fiction edition here. It will hopefully be an excellent introduction that will encourage interested readers to further explore the original sources of a show more timeless epic of love and war. show less

Homer's Iliad adapted for young readers. When Paris of Troy steals Helen away from her husband King Menelaus, Menelaus and his Greek allies declare war on Troy to get Helen back. The war lasts 9 years, with key heroes rising to the occasion before getting killed off. Then Odysseus comes up with the idea of building a wooden horse and hiding Greek soldiers in it and bringing it into Troy as an offering for the goddess Athene. Never knew "The Iliad" was so violent, what with characters being speared, dragged, poisoned, stabbed!

As the gods and goddesses of Olympus scheme, the ancient world is thrown into turmoil when Helen, the most beautiful woman in all of Greece, is stolen away by her Trojan love. Inflamed by jealousy, the Greek king seeks lethal vengeance and sends his black war ships to descend on the city of Troy.

In the siege that follows, history's greatest heroes, from Ajax to Achilles to Odysseus, are forged in combat, and the brutal costs of passion, pride, and revenge must be paid. In the end, the whims of the gods, the cunning of the warriors, and a great wooden horse will decide who emerges victorious.

Homer's epic poem, The Iliad, is one of the greatest adventure stories of all time and Rosemary Sutcliff's retelling of the classic saga embodies show more all of the astonishing drama, romance, and intrigue of ancient Greece. show less

So I love the story of the Trojan War, but not this particular adaptation. I felt like the author brushed over the truly meaningful and important scenes (Achilles' death) and spent a lot of time focusing on the less important parts of the story. There was no drama to it, and there is A LOT of drama going on in The Iliad.