Heros by Stephen Fry

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This is the follow up to Mythos in which Stephen Fry retold the stories of the Greek Gods, this time it is the next generation of tales of the mortal heros.

These are tales that exist at the edge, mostly slightly beyond the edge, of my knowledge – so it was really enjoyable to have such an accessible introduction.

Fry narratives the tales with snippets of commentary, conversational, at times with tongue in cheek but never dismissive of the tales – he treats the heros as real and rounded characters.

Finding the “moral” of the story is not the central concern, although there are moments when the motivations of the Gods and Mortals feel very familiar to contemporary life – but often it is there egos, vanity, and jealously that is the clearest mirror to our own.