Captivating for kids and adults

I am preparing to teach a unit on Ancient Greece and mythology to my kids and their homeschool co-op. Black Ships before Troy is the version of the Iliad that they were assigned. I found this version to be perfectly appropriate for both my daughter (8) and my son (12), though both of them have a fairly refined sense of story and have been exposed to a lot of different kinds of literature.

Black Ships is beautifully written and even uses much of the verbiage from the epic poem to retain the imagery that resonates through Homer's Iliad. What it leaves out is the many details such as the listings of the various commanders and kings and how many ships were under their authority, among other types of details that may be lost on children. The interplay between the gods and men is retained and the feelings and emotions of the characters throughout the story are beautifully portrayed. The essence of the Iliad is perfectly intact, making this a perfect introduction of a foundational story to young audiences.

For younger children, the scene in which Hector's body is dragged is hard to take--it is supposed to be, and elicited strong reactions from my children and gave us material for discussion. Why did Achilles do what he did? What kind of things can grief do to a person? What should he have done, and do you think he could have resolved this a different way? The redeeming factor is that Hector's body is preserved by the gods, so that helped a bit.

I found the reading of this retelling of the Iliad for a younger audience to be a definite enrichment to the literary lives of my children and highly recommend it. We listened over lunch every day and in the car and couldn't wait for the next chance to turn it on. Five stars all the way around.

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19 people found this helpful

Amazing story!

I've listened to it 23 times.It is a great performance and has a feel of Ancient Greece.

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3 people found this helpful

A wonderful telling of a classic story

This retelling of the story of the Illiad is wonderful, vivid and dramatic, and Robert Glenister reads this perfectly. This ancient story is made entertaining, accessible and has been made into a classic audiobook, and one which is well worth adding to your collection.

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3 people found this helpful

Enjoyable for the whole family

We have the book illustrated by Alan Lee. The children turn pages while I wash dishes. We all enjoy Glenister's narration. Thank you audible!

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2 people found this helpful

Highly Recommended

Where does Black Ships Before Troy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was a standout, largely due to the performance, by the lovely Robert Glenister. The story, though of course familiar, was told well and at a great involving pace.

What did you like best about this story?

The narration

What does Robert Glenister bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His voice has a very pleasant tone and he does the different voices very well, without being over the top

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2 people found this helpful

ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF, THE MAGICIAN

Rosemary Sutcliff brought this ancient epic to life in a way that I would never have become introduced to if not for her. If you’re interested Homer, this retelling is a lovely place to start! Add to the pleasure of such an enduring story a generous dollop of fabulous voice acting, and you have a winning combination!!!

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1 person found this helpful

Great retelling

A gripping retelling of the Trojan war… well- paced and well narrated. A pleasure to listen

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It was super great I highly recommend this book to people who like Greek mythology and ancient history and stuff like that

Very good book
It is a very good book if you like Greek mythology and ancient history

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Writing was excellent, but beware audience age

Let's face it. Homer was epic, but his story is more "adult" than kids' books or more modern sanitized tween versions. The story is brutal and full of adult sexual inferences. The author does a GREAT job of keeping the story from being explicit or inappropriate. However, parents should be aware that this story is more for middle school aged kids and up.

That said, my kids and I really enjoyed the story as told by Rosemary Sutcliff. She does justice to the events by her engaging prose which captures the gravity and mystique of the events and characters of Homer's epic. She made the story sound not just exciting and heroic, but beautiful and tragic. She did an excellent job, and the narrator was superb. This was a very easy listen that I did not want to stop. I bought the next book immediately.

In previous readings of this story, I had thought the characters simply moved and bullied by the gods so that they did things without their consent. In Sutcliff's retelling, I thought the characters were as much victims of their own weaknesses and choices as they were moved by the gods to act certain ways. It made me think a bit and also made it easier to explain a sort of moral lesson from the work which is filled with brutality and adultery. We face evil consequences for betrayal and pride, hurting many innocent people along the way, but humility, forgiveness, and friendship can ease our pain and right many wrongs. I think many others have seen these things in Greek poetry so her rendition is fitting. In all, this is a superior audio book.

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Purity good

This story was very very good but it is not very good for Small cildiren

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