Oh, what to say about Iris, Messenger? I wasn't overly impressed with the book as a whole. The re-tellings of the myths were well done, but if you're as familiar with them as I already am; they're kind of moot. I honestly skipped over the last three or four of them to just read Iris's parts.
I guess the most logical theme for this book's post would be: mythology. There are SO many different mythologies, and all of them spiral together and overlap. Did you know that the biblical flood is also seen in works like Gilgamesh, a classic from what is now modern day Iraq? For this post though, I'm going to focus on (obviously) Greek Mythology.
A lot of people get Greek and Romany mythology confused, because: they're basically the same thing with different names. The Percy Jackson/Olympian books are doing an excellent job of melding the two (Rick Riordan is my new favorite author; can you tell? I think I've worked him into almost every single book we've read so far!). But we're going to catch up with the Greek versions; mainly because they're cooler and the originals.
And I totally agree with the whole Heracles vs. Hercules thing.
Here's a pretty well put-together AMV from Disney's Hercules w/ music from Simple Plan.
Finally, reccomendations. Even if you didn't like Iris, Messenger (I'll be the first to admit, it's not going on my re-read list), there are TONS of other just as good greek mythology books out there.
First and foremost: I always highly reccomend reading Rick Riordan's books, starting with the Lightening Theif. Did you know that there is a graphic novel version as well?
Books:
Abandon by Meg Cabot (Persephone/Hades retelling)
Goddess Girls series by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
Corydon series by Tobias Druitt
The Game by Diana Wynne Jones
Goddess Boot Camp by Tera Lynn Childs (I think this is actually the second in the series)
The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
The Immortal Fire by Anne Ursu
Anthologies:
Tales of Greek Heros by Roger Lancelyn Green (w/ an introduction by Rick Riordan)
Horrible Histories: The Groovy Greeks by Terry Deary (isn't in MORE, but the Rotton Romans is! I love this series!)
What a Beast! by Sophia Kelly
From Atalanta to Zeus by Suzanne I. Barchers
A Gift from Zeus by Jeanne Steig
Movies and TV:
The Gods of Olympus
Defying the Gods
Hercules
Xena: Warrior Princess
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules (Disney)
And I think that should be MORE than enough (pun not intended) to get you through your Greek mythology fix...but if you need more reccomendations, just ask. I'm sure I can come up with a few dozen more.
Up next we're reading Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner.
(From Amazon): Storm, Aurora, and Anything Eden live in a decaying mansion on the edge of the wilds with their erstwhile father and indolent mother. When an accident leaves them orphaned and at the mercy of the sinister Dr. DeWilde, these three courageous and eccentric sisters are forced to flee into the woods, where they encounter kidnappers, sweets-filled orphanages, mountains of ice, diamond mines, and some ravenously hungry wolves.
Happy Reading,
Samma
