Heck yes, give me more Greek mythology fiction!!!

I love the writing and the retellings. It took me back to reading Percy Jackson for the first time. Overall, I truly loved it.

an Okay Read

Ich hab das Buch relativ schnell gelesen, obwohl der Funke nie wirklich übergesprungen ist.
Band zwei werde ich deshalb nicht lesen.

I enjoyed this fast-paced, entertaining novel. The imagery, the language, and the plot all nicely contributed to this work. I have already recommended to several friends. From the start of the novel, being dropped into the Trojan war, through the remainder of Aeneas's story I was hooked and left wanting more. The interweaving of the gods arguing and meddling keeps the tradition of Greek mythology, which I appreciated. Fans of mythology, action, and adventure are sure to enjoy this novel. Thank you for the e-galley in exchange for my honest review.

Yes!!!! Another Percy Jackson in the making, if not better! As a history and classics and mythology buff, this was everything I wanted! Great job, and please write more!

Aeneas’s country is destroyed by war. Now it is his fate to lead the survivors of his country to a safer place. And thus, the adventures and tries of Aeneas begin.

The Way Home is a retelling of Aeneas' story based on the ancient Roman poet, Virgil. Retold in a simple language fit to the YA genre, the story is reinvented, and the author has given her own perspective into it. Of course, this can be risky, since the story of Aeneas originally comes from one of the great Masters of Poetry of all time. However, Julian Barr has managed to sculpt a very interesting story out of the works of Virgil.

All in all, it was a very good effort, one that will definitely get the younger - and the older, too - readers familiar with a great work. Some of the writing could have been more refined, but it was generally very interesting.

I love classics but this book was hard for me to read. I loved her retelling and her characters. Its actioned packed and totally reimagined. Overall great story but hard to get into for me.

I love reimaginings of classics and "The Way Home" was no exception. I haven't read the original Aeneid yet but everyone probably knows the general outline of his journey from Troy to Italy and I loved seeing what the author did with it. I really enjoyed reading this action-packed version of events which managed to subvert expectations and establish the cruelty of the gods. I'm definitely continuing with the series.

I'm not familiar with the Aeneid, although I have heard of Odysseus and the Trojan war. So when I read the synopsis of The Way Home, a retelling of the Aeneid, I was intrigued and thought it would be a good way to introduce myself to this aspect of the myth.

The Way Home follows the journey of Aeneas, a Trojan prince. It starts when the Greeks are ransacking the city, having been smuggled in by the giant horse (although I don't think Aeneas ever realised this is how they got in). Unfortunately, he didn't manage to save the royal family or his wife and ends up leading a band of refugees. And thus, their journey to find their new home begins.

At the same time, we see that this is part of a fight between Hera and Zeus. Hera wants to make her preferred city dominant, while Zeus has other plans (which involve Aeneas). The other gods are pulled in as they side with one or the other, or even switch allegiances.

I absolutely enjoyed this story. Although I didn't really know of Aeneas before, I have a translation of The Odessy before so I knew the other side of the myth. It was very interesting to see how Virgil retold the story from a relatively 'minor' character's viewpoint, and how that was, in turn, retold as The Way Home. I actually paused the story quite a lot to google certain characters or events and read more about it.

By the way, is anyone else shocked at how young Aeneas was when the story began? The book introduces his son, Julos, first and I thought he was in his twenties or something but then a few paragraphs later, I find that he's only nineteen! I know that was a product of the times but wow, the kid is extremely mature for his age. And I guess the book making his age clear at the beginning was a good move because I found myself giving him a lot of latitude after that.

Since this is a YA retelling, the language is simple and direct, which makes it a good introduction to the myth. I found it easy to empathise with Aeneas and his people, even though they lived thousands of years ago and thousands of kilometers away.

However, since this is the first in a trilogy, the book ends on a sort-of cliffhanger. It's not a very big one, but it did make me impatient for the second book. Perhaps I'll find one of the accessible translations of The Aeneid and read that while waiting.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

The Way Home: Ashes of Olympus by Julian Barris the retelling of the Classic Aeneid by Virgil.
Like the classic, The Way Home focuses on the journey of a hero that has lost everything and will lose more before finally settling into his new homeland (Rome).
The story begins in the middle of the siege of Troy, after the Greeks have entered the gates via the wooden Trojan Horse. The story is very fast paced, the first quarter of the book Aeneas has lost his king, queen, wife and his country. The story also switches point of views between Aeneas, the goddess Hera, and other side characters. The constant switching of point of views also helps the fast pace. Every time the story goes back to one character they are in a different place and situation so the reader has to quickly catch up on what has happened since they last read from that character's point of view. The diction of the this version is easier to understand that classic due to the author using more modern slang/terms throughout the story.
Overall this is a good retelling of the Aeneid. It is fast paced and could be slightly confusing due to pace of the story, different names but it is easier to read than the original classic. This would be good for people that are interested in Roman founding stories before they go for the classics.