Hot(ish) off the heels of her excellent book on Norse mythology I bought Guerber’s work on classical mythology, which I know rather better. As such, there were fewer surprises and less novelty value. Also, as the intro mentions, she deliberately avoids what might be called the racier details. In this edition, which is illustrated, there’s plenty of fantastic artwork covering the gods, heroes, and monsters of classic myth. Note that Roman rather than Greek names are usually used, with the exception of Cronus/Saturn.
Overall, the coverage of stories is very good indeed, although personally I prefer Greek to Roman names as (almost always) the origins are Greek. It’s also worth noting there’s no mythological comparison, so this might be better preceding than succeeding the Norse book.
While there’s no detail of the racy stuff (and I think nothing homosexual whatsoever, though I could be wrong) there is still reference to rape and abduction etc. Which is just as well for Jupiter or his chapter would’ve been rather short. In addition to the excellent artwork there’s also a map at the front/back which isn’t strictly needed but can be interesting for the various journeys.
As with the very enjoyable Norse book the writing style presents an engaging amount of detail without wandering into flabby padding territory, and I often read more than intended in a session.
My decision to add this to my sizeable reading pile was very much vindicated, and I recommend this to anyone after classical mythology tales in a single volume.
Thaddeus
