Herc A Queer Greek Mythology Retelling

I am in love with this book. I genuinely never wanted it to end, was always excited for the next chapter, and wanted to gatekeep the hellll out of this book to have it be my own personal gem. But everyone deserves to read this; so September 5th everybody better show up and hop on this train because it’s a messy, sad, and crazy ride. This is not Hercules’ biography, rather the bridge of narrations of those around him who loved him or those who got caught and burned in the fire surrounding him. And I found every moment of it to be brilliant. This book felt like a giant gossip session and I loved it. It was like each character was brought into a confessional to just relish in all their honest opinions of Hercules, good or bad, and none of them held back that’s for sure. I laughed more times than can be expected and loved the new perspectives and ways of narrations that the story was told as. Rogerson introduced such unique formats of storytelling it was so much fun. There’s a 50 point bullet point list for all 50 sisters who Herc slept with and their perspectives; it was absolutely perfect and hilarious. However the letter correspondences between characters were truly the shining stars for me. So unique and perfect for building relationships and showing personalities to people who in the original texts may not have had a lot of lines to shine. I will say, this is a more modern retelling of classic tales. You will find more casual language in dialogue (calling prisoners “chickadees” stood out most) and insults (calling people “little shits”) that what you could assume to be found around Greece during the time of Hercules, but I found it to be an immersive, quick, and very enjoyable read. I cannot wait to see what this author decides to do next however I will pay big money to see another character focused novel come from them. It will be hard for me to find another mythology book that can top this one unless it comes from Rogerson herself.

I didn't expect this book to catch me as hard as it did, but I can now highly recommend this unusual retelling of Hercules. The original Greek mythos is not changed, but the narrative perspectives change to all different kinds of people that walked alongside Hercules. It was written so well, I laughed, I cried, I was fully invested (even though you kind of know how it ends).

I didn't expect it to be this good. The different POVs are so well and interesting written, i loved all of them and it made the experience even better. The audio book was a perfect choice for this with all the different voices that could enhance the character aspects. I have many thoughts after hearing this story and I love that. There are always so many aspects to someones life. I hope to read more of the author in the future!