You don’t need to have read Mythos, the first book in Fry’s Greek Mythology series, in order to understand what’s going on in Heroes. The book spans over 400 pages and contains two sections with lovely artwork to accompany the stories. His latest book, Heroes,was released in November by Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House in the U.K. I was pleased as I grew older to find that not only was he a brilliant actor, but he is also a talented podcast host and an author of many books. While listening to Mythos, I was reminded of the power of the human imagination how all these characters, with unique personalities and attributes, each with highly complex relational ties with each other, were all dreamt up and then passed down through the generations to the present day.I’ve enjoyed Stephen Fry’s sense of humor ever since I watched him in programs such as Blackadder and A Bit of Fry and Laurie when I was a kid. But what stood out for me after listening to Mythos, was the realisation of how much of ancient Greece has influenced our modern day English language, and how these stories have seeped into our consciousness knowingly and unknowingly through other famous pieces of art, plays and even in cartoons! Let’s just say, expect to be more educated, than you’re going to be entertained (although Stephen Fry’s narration and delivery is all together entertaining). Don’t be expecting a free-flowing epic tale of gods and monsters! But expect a 15+hour long, back-of-the-book style glossary, listing out countless titans and gods, but retold in short stories, in a style fitting for a 21 st century entertainment consumer.

Now when the book’s title states that it’s a retelling of Greek mythology by Stephen Fry – it literally does mean that the book is a literal retelling of the classic Greek tragedies and triumphs by Stephen Fry – but retold in his witty and sardonic style. And to top that off, we’ve always enjoyed TV programming featuring Stephen Fry – so we were bound to enjoy his Mythos audio book! My wife and I have been avid fans of Greek mythology for a while now, for me it started when we listened to the entire Percy Jackson series a number of years back, while my wife’s fandom of Greek mythology goes back to her childhood, when she grew up reading her hardcover Greek mythology encyclopaedia. What can I say? The book’s title says it all!

Stephen fry mythos review