Odysseus:The Greatest Hero of Them All Bk 1

When I was growing up, Tony Robinson was one of my heroes (and still is), with his many TV appearances in series like Blood and Honey and Stay Tooned, and audio cassette readings.

In this book (which he wrote with Richard Curtis - one writer of classic 1980's comedy Blackadder) he presents a retelling of events in Homer's epic poem, The Iliad, and chooses to see the whole story from the point of view of one character, Odysseus. The result is well written, pacy and often truly hilarious.

When the story begins he is just a 16 year old boy, and because we see the action and story through his eyes we identify with him. He is cunning and crafty but essentially a good person. He gets married to Helen's best friend, Penelope while still a young man.

When he is eventually called up to fight, initially, he tries to avoid going into battle in the Trojan War and looks for ways for there to be peace in the city.

Each of the Greek heroes has a different personality - Odysseus is cunning (to make up for his smaller size perhaps?), Ajax is painted as stupid and lumbering, Menalayus is strong and powerful and Achilles is the ultimate Hero of the Greek Army. In the story, Odysseus becomes best friends with another Greek prince named Diomedies.

Though this was written for children (and I did love this book as a child too) I now find it interesting that we're being asked to care for a main character who is, in several ways a cheat and a liar. These qualities get a positive spin in the sense that Odysseus uses his brains to make up for his lack of muscles, to help him get out of sticky situations, and can show that you may not be the strongest or fastest person but you could have some other special skill.

Though the Trojan War is said to have taken place in the 13th Century BC, Robinson and Curtis weave contemporary (and maybe even a little black) humour, and sensibility into the narrative, which can be very funny indeed. Mythical beauty Helen, for example, has a fondness for chocolates and there's some breaking of the fourth wall when the author is describing a great shield - telling you to turn over if such talk bores the pants off you.
The writing on the pages is broken up with witty illustrations. Sometimes they resemble a comic book and other times are simpler line drawings.

This is an enjoyable and often hilarious book which I would definitely recommend, especially if you enjoy Robinson as a storyteller.