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The Best Books Inspired By Greek Myths Of 2024…So Far
By Michael Giltz,
1 day ago
Here are some of the best books inspired by Greek myths of 2024…so far. Ok, Greek myths (and Roman and Norse and Japanese and Korean and you name it) have always been a big deal, inspiring books ( Percy Jackson! ) and movies ( The Lord of the Rings! ) and musicals ( Hadestown on Broadway!) and tv shows and poems and songs (Nick Cave) and artwork and video games ( Assassins Creed: Odyssey) and more.
But if you’re really into stories inspired by myths and legends, these are definitely good times. Three good books came out this week alone! It never ends. So let’s play catch up. Here are some of the best books of the year, most inspired by Greek myths and some from further afield. And then we’ll tease you with three more books coming out in the months ahead, books that promise to be among the best of the year. So let’s get reading. At the head of the Parade are…
The Best Books Inspired By Greek Myths Of 2024…So Far
Courtesy of Flatiron Books&comma Grand Central Publishing&comma Primero Sueno Press
Three new books came out this week that take inspiration from Greek myths. That’s why we did this roundup of some of the best of the year.
Author Jennifer Saint knows her way around this territory: she’s already had hits with novels like Elektra and Ariadne. Now she tackles Hera, the story of Zeus’s sister turned wife (that’s Greek mythology for you). They overthrew their cruel dad but then Zeus pushes her aside and proves just as tyrannical. Hera ain’t having it.
Nataly Gruender does her own take with Medusa, the god with an eternal bad hair day. But rather than a monster or villain (or punchline, like I just did), Gruender takes a cue from Ovid and other ancient depictions. Medusa is raped by Poseidon and then cursed by Athena, making her villainy (if any) quite understandable. Gruender puts us squarely in her camp by telling Medusa’s story from her perspective. Gruender sees her, looks at her squarely in the face, which of course is the one thing so many men before her were afraid to do.
Caro De Robertis plays off the myth of Psyche and Eros to tell a story of sweet, forbidden love. Eros is ordered to destroy Psyche but falls in love, whisks her away to a hidden palace where they fall madly in love but can never really be open with each other. With the constant pressure to never doubt, never question and never reveal their love, even the best romance might crack. If this one does, the heavens will reel.
Oydsseus got all the glory in The Odyssey. But Claire North gives his beyond-faithful wife her due with a trilogy of books that climax with The Last Song of Penelope. Her long wait is over. But Odysseus arrives home in disguise, not just to plot revenge against her many suitors but to test his wife’s fidelity. That would be irksome to say the least, but Odysseus’s machinations may well plunge their home into civil war. Leave it to Penelope to figure out a way to balance these competing needs while protecting her family at all costs.
Kids who grew up with Percy Jackson never outgrow their love of the myths that inspire it. So they’ve gobbled up these two new books.
In the wholly reimagined Icarus, our hero is a thief who steals artwork and replaces them with his dad’s perfect forgeries. Life is easy…until the night Icarus is caught red-handed by Helios, the lonely son of a wealthy and powerful man. Helios has one demand: be my friend. They become much more than that, imperiling everything the two young men hold dear. Given this is based on Icarus, one can be forgiven for reading the novel with a sense of foreboding which makes their love all the more poignant. Death’s Country is set in Miami, the hot, steamy, vaguely criminal Miami of our dreams. So without getting too complicated, Andres, Renee and Liora are a very content, polyamorous triad. But Renee dies and Liora and Andres must venture into the underworld to rescue her before it’s too late. Did I mention Andres already died and made a deal to come back to life, a deal that may be kaput the moment he returns down under? It’s Orpheus and Eurydice (the story that inspired the musical Hadestown ) but since there are three in this relationship, maybe we can hope for a partial happy ending? Greek myths are definitely not a guarantee for Happy Ever Afters!
UK writer Natalie Haynes enjoyed international success with Pandora’s Jar, a book that gave the women of ancient tales their due, to hilarious effect. She returns with Divine Might, which focuses on the goddesses of Greek myth. It’s an ideal primer on who’s who, with a savvy and informed take on Athene, Hera, Aphrodite and the like. Think Anna Russell, but with Olympus instead of Asgard. And if you know who Anna Russell is, let’s have lunch!
All the earlier books are inspired by Greek myths. But we could range much farther afield for this roundup. Ancient myths and legends inspire all sorts of novels and romances, and not just romantasies. But for one of the best–and one that is inspired by Chinese folklore–check out Song of the Six Realms. You’ll feel right at home if you’ve read any of the books mentioned above. But you’ll also have the treat of being immersed in an entirely new, millenia old mythology peopled with all sorts of characters and ideas new to you. Xue is a lowly musician who must survive by her talents. A god in disguise woos her with an offer to free Xue from her indentured life if she comes perform at his palace for one year. That’s when she discovers he’s actually the Duke of Dreams and a rule of the Six Realms and that the Six Realms are in danger of ruin. And who holds the key to saving it (pun intended)? Xue. But you saw that one coming, didn't you?
We’re not done yet with Greek myths and legends. Here are just three of the many books inspired by them coming out in the next four months.
In September, Medusa gets another friendly biography in The Witch of Colchis.
In October, Mark Haddon–the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time– is back with a collection of short stories, reimagining the minotaur in the labyrinth, the man turned into a stag for glimpsing the goddess Diana in the nude and the age-old problem of asking for a wish but not thinking through the consequences of having it granted.
And in December, Pat Barker completes her acclaimed trilogy about the women of Troy with The Voyage Home. A major figure in the UK, I always assumed Barker’s masterpiece would remain her World War I trilogy dubbed Regeneration, often mentioned as one of the great works of historical fiction . Some thirty years later, she may well have equaled that peak.
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