Just take a deep breath, and relax.
Let’s be honest, this review is going to be less of a book review and more of a Steven review. I made the intelligent decision to read this book and then to buy it on audiobook immediately after and I have to say, this is one of the few times in life where the audiobook far outstrips the written word.
I have no issues with audiobooks, I think they’re a fantastic thing to listen to when walking to work, commuting or on long drives, the brilliant ‘Audible’ adverts with the two Orang-Utans, one mindlessly playing games and scrolling social media and the other immersed in a world of imagination encapsulates that. However I feel that the real power of a book comes from the images you conjure yourself, and internal monologue is vitally important to that, giving the characters their own voice according to how you personally see them is the best way to improve the overall literary experience.
That is, unless you have the opportunity to have Steven Fry read the book for you.
Perhaps it’s because I’m of the generation that grew up listening to Harry Potter books, so expertly and meticulously read by Mr. Fry, perhaps it’s because he wrote the books himself so understands the characters best, or perhaps he’s just so well read that he knows how the voice in your head should sound better than even you can. Whatever the reasoning, listening to Steven read a book he wrote about a subject you’re (and he’s) interested in is truly one of those golden pleasures in life that very few things can compare to. There’s nothing like walking through the dark and rain streaked streets of London, head bowed, feet dripping in dirty road-water but your head full of images and stories of your favourite characters of antiquity, clashes between titans and gods ringing loud in a booming baritone in your head, small love stories dictating the mythological timeline spoken soft and delicately like secrets in the wind. There’s not much that can distract a youth like myself from an evening of television but three times I found myself sitting on the sofa, glass of wine in one hand and the trials of Hercules being dripped into my ears with absolutely no other input involved. It was a revelation, a throwback to a world without internet and saturation of media, it was both quiet and yet altogether enough, in short it was what a literary experience should be.
Mythos and Heroes are fantastic books, simply put, and very well written. Don’t get me wrong, these are no Charles Dumas or Tolstoy epics, they provide too much ‘fact’ to be considered a conventional novel. But then neither are they Greek Myth encyclopaedias, enjoyable narrative sacrificed for dry commentary and badly drawn pictures of Hoplites. No, Steven has trod the line here, expertly sliding between conjuring engaging storylines whilst providing the maximum amount of information possible. They’re stories we all vaguely know, versions told and retold throughout our childhood but never really understanding where they fit together, how one correlates to the other and who is related to who and how. As Steven points out, that’s kind of an expected deal when it comes to myth, if everything fitted together nicely then it wouldn’t be myth it would be history. What’s glorious about these books is the way in which he seamlessly flits between the two; one minute engaging dialogue, the next scintillating historical factoids, bouncing from captivating storyteller to knowledgeable quizmaster in the space of a paragraph. Frankly it makes for one of the most fascinating reading/listening experiences I’ve ever enjoyed. Who knew learning could be so much damn fun?
And you really do learn. The web of Greek myths has been until now nothing more than a group of entertaining stories that sit semi formed in childhood memories and crap Hollywood adaptations. Now though, having read the ‘Fry Editions’ there is a distinct and linear timeline that’s been formed. From this you are able to extract and realise real life modern influences that these stories have had, on etymology, psychology and modern story telling. The power of the Greek Myths, of their Gods and Heroes is as timeless as the stories themselves, their influence further reaching as the horny hand of Zeus himself, and the impact they still have in our day to day lives astonishing. This isn’t to say that the books are simply regurgitating stories that we’ve all heard before, no, there are stories in there that a lot of people probably hadn’t been aware of, such as Belaraphon riding Pegasus, the full tale of Jason and the Argonauts (the Greek version of the Avengers) and the original Greek creation myths, from inception to titans to the ‘modern’ Pantheon as we know them. For me it was the birth of Hermes and his childhood that was a particular fascination. Each new story unearths a little more intrigue, shows us a little more depth and helps to weave the web together, individual strands pulled into a tapestry to present the richness of the original myths in a way that makes them feel like a cross between a Bernard Cornwell page turner and your favourite ever history lesson.
Above all else however, these books are a release. They are the epitome of what comfortable literature and reading for the sake of reading should be. They are a perfect escape, a warm embrace given freely by a man who knows and excels in his craft. Reading Mythos was the first time in many years that I felt a book really absorb me, pull me from reality and deposit me comfortably into a nice green suede chair, sipping a light scotch whilst surrounded by wood-panelled bookshelves, it’s an escape to a happy place, a removal of reality into the warm embrace of a charismatic world created by the most charismatic man on earth.
