Due to the lack of good books that I can find that have been printed in recent memory, I've decided instead to do a review of a very well done classic. For the uninformed, Homer was a rhapsode who lived, at the earliest, around 850 B.C. He is one of the earliest known writers of true novels, and his two most famous books are The Iliad, and its' sequel, The Odyssey. I would have done a review of The Oddysey, but someone else is already doing a review of The Oddysey, from which I definitely did not steal this introduction from. All introductions and plagarism aside, I'll start the actual review part of the review now.
The Iliad begins rather strangely. It begins with a wedding banquet, featuring all of the gods and goddesses, save the goddess of strife, Eris. Angered at not being invited, she tosses a golden apple into the banquet labelled, "For the fairest." Three goddesses, Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena (goddesses of Love, Marriage, and War respectively) claim the apple as their own. To settle the argument, they ask Paris, the Prince of Troy, to judge the three of them. Fearing that they may lose, each one tries to bribe him: Athena with Wisdom and Battle prowess, Hera with command of all Eurasia, and Aphrodite with the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris takes Aphrodite's bribe. Unfortunately, the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, is already married to Menelaus, the King of Sparta. Paris goes to Sparta, seduces Helen, and then departs back for Troy. Enraged, King Menelaus calls on his brother, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, to aid in an assault on Troy in an attempt to take Helen back.
The majority of the book is spent during the ten-year course of the war, featuring a largely varied cast of characters ranging from the not-quite-immortal immortal Achilles to the most definitely mortal prophetess Cassandra. One of the most unique things about this story is that it is told from both perspectives; and although the Greeks do seem to get a little more in the spotlight than the Trojans, that is understandable because Homer was Greek himself. The plot progresses very well leading up to the final climax of the story, which I won't spoil despite the fact that it's already spoiled elsewhere in this newspaper.
The plot and characters aside, this book reminds me a great deal of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. Like the Lord of the Rings, The Iliad has both some very interesting and (often) action-packed parts and some more boring exposition, but unlike Lord of the Rings, they are mostly necessary. Besides, a book about a war that lasts ten years can't be all battles, and most of the slower parts are welcome. In terms of the other parts, it's not too long of a book, especially next to its sequel. For some people, the rather antiquated language used in most translations may be a bit much, but if that doesn't bother you, the book shouldn't be too much of a bore to read.
All in all, this book is really good, despite the fact that a great deal of the characters just seem insane from time to time. And if you find the writing style or word choice to be poor, remember that that isn't Homer's fault. The book was originally written in Greek, and a really old kind at that. If you're reading it now, you're most likely reading an English translation. Unfortunately, we can never really appreciate what it was like to read it 2700 years ago.
(4/5 stars)
