This book recounts the story of Troy, which like so many tales of Ancient Greece sounds almost like any other type of history until one of the characters falls in love with a sea creature or enrages a god.
At first the narrative is a little bogged down with the genealogy and I found it mildly annoying that the footnotes kept referring to his previous books (a bit like pop-up ads) although the page references would be useful if these books are in your possession.
At times the quantity of information made my head spin especially as many of the characters’ ancestral stories were told in flashback making reference to other characters or their ancestors. I became confused as to which tales were part of the backstory and which were advancing the story of Troy.
After about 10% the story picks up and we can ‘hear’ Stephen Fry’s voice through the written word.

The story of Helen and Troy is not unfamiliar. We studied The Aeneid at school and as a child I loved Greek Myths devouring books on the subject at the library. Stephen Fry provides a lively retelling.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it especially to fans of Stephen Fry but it did make me realise that I am not quite as enthralled by Greek Myths as I used to be.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Chronicle Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Like the title suggests, Troy is a retelling of the Trojan War but it is also much more than that.

Stephen Fry manages to give us a detailed, and yet easy to follow, account of all the events that led to the Trojan war, as well as the side stories of all its major players.
Not only that, but he manages to do so in a humorous and witty way, in an easy voice often punctuated with wry humor.

A fun read that I highly recommend to every mythology lover!

Always interesting and entertaining! I love how Stephen Fry writes. Though reading this was colored by the movie, and really so many characters to keep track of, it’s still interesting read.

Though it makes me wish I read Heroes.

Thank you Chronicle Books and NetGalley for this arc.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved it so much!! This was really amazing and so well written, Fry's way of narrating and retelling the story of the Iliad or the rise and fall of the famous city of Troy was brilliant just brilliant, a masterpiece. I would recommend this book to anyone either lovers of Greek myths or not. This was such an enjoyable book that I would love to re-read.

I don't know why I started with this book knowing that I own his other books that I've not read yet but I've loved the story of Troy since I discovered it and I had a period of time where I would read and watch anything related to the Greek mythology with all its great heroes, odd creatures and gods. Troy's story was the one that still fascinates me, it's the one that depictes the real nature of men in its greatest and worst moments. The story of Troy has no end for the thirst for power, greed, revenge, war, hate, love, betrayal, loyalty and so on is still present to these days, men at that period of time are the same as today's men, it's only the ages that changed.

The story of Paris, Helen, Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus will never get old. It's true that Fry's version is less boring than the one told by Homer but at the end it is still the same story with the same events and end. I cried more easily with Fry's version and laughed a lot more. I tell you if you have been scared all these years of the Homer's version just read this book and you won't miss anything from the original one but be sure that you will really have such a good time while reading this one.

Troy's story inspired so many artists and here you might find some great examples with the pictures added to this book. It's a pure culture knowledge journey so why won't you try it?!

What a fun retelling of The Iliad. Stephen Fry doesn’t disappoint. I enjoyed so much. The Iliad is a favorite of mine. I love the extra information we’re given about the characters and the asides about the names, so similar. I liked the conversational tone and it was a nice change from the verse of The Iliad.

This book was a fun read. I’ve always loved Greek and Roman mythology, and I’ve been intrigued by the story of Troy ever since I saw the movie with Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom way back when. I’ve never read The Iliad in its entirety, but I plan to get around to it someday. I also love history – it was actually my major in college. Troy was a great choice for me because it was a unique combination of history, mythology, storytelling, and wit that only Stephen Fry can concoct.

Troy tells the story of the rise and fall of the city of Troy from its earliest beginnings until the day Odysseus and the Greeks enter the city in the belly of the Trojan horse. While I knew the story, Fry’s rendition provided more background I didn’t know, such as how Priam came to be king and Paris’s secret upbringing. Characters such as Achilles, Hector, Helen, and even the gods are brought to life in a new way. Fry has an interesting way of using modern phrasing that helps make the topic more approachable and humorous, which turned what could be a dry subject into an entertaining story. It was a little jarring to read the modernized wording at first, but if Fry’s intent was to make the story of Troy appeal to a wider audience than just history nerds, I think he accomplishes that goal. In addition, while there were often a lot of names I couldn’t remember or keep track of, Fry lets you know which characters you don’t need to remember to follow along with the main story.

While you don’t need to read Mythos or Heroes first, the first two books in Fry’s three-part series that ends with Troy, I wish I had read them beforehand. I actually own them both but haven’t gotten around to reading them. There are a number of references to the other books in Troy, and Fry includes in his footnotes where those references can be found in the other books. I think reading the other books first would have helped me keep track of the characters I wasn’t familiar with and better appreciate the earlier chapters of the book.

Overall, I give Troy 4/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC! All opinions expressed are my own.

Stephen Fry is wonderful! I adore all of his books in this set. I have Heroes, Mythos and also bought Troy. They are gorgeous books that all deal with Greek mythological stories. I love the structure and appearance of these books and Troy is completely worthy of the high praise of the other two. These are books that you can read cover to cover or choose sections and read those individually. I have been a lifelong fan of this genre but have reignited my love for it with the publication of many recent books set in this genre. Troy is a fantastic tale of the Trojan War with all that accompanies war.
Highly recommend for those mythology lovers. Troy is fantastic, as are all of these books.
#Troy #NetGalley #ChronicleBooks

I have read different versions of the story of Troy. I have been confused by different versions of the story of Troy.
None have been as easy to follow and well explained as Stephen Fry's. It's a marvel of well-organized data and carefully plotted characters and relations that simplify the incredibly complex work and the cast of characters of Homer into an easy to follow and understand narrative that lays out the folly and savagery of the war of Troy.
Don't let the nigh unpronounceable names and copious use of footnotes keep you from reading this. The story itself is an epic for the ages for a reason, and this edition is the easiest to read I've ever encountered.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the educational read!

Stephen Fry has an excellent way with words. This was a very good retelling of the Illiad and went into much more details than I've previously read (not having actually read the Illiad myself). I thought it was interesting and smooth, with excellent pacing. Having read this one, I would be very tempted to read his other two Greek mythology books as well.

This was...comprehensive. It wasn't bad, but, once I got started, I was never excited to pick it back up. There's so very many names. Fry does a great job of laying it all out and tying the pieces together but it is tedious, even with the occasional humorous quips. This is getting rave reviews, so maybe it's just me or the timing.

This was such an amusing and enjoyable read for me, I expected a retelling of iliad, which truthfully, I've never read, Ive asked a history teacher about it once, heard the main points of the story and just let it go, I may like historical fiction but I wasn't genuinely invested in Greek myths and legends up until very recently.

This retelling of the Iliad included so much more than just the kidnapping of Helen of Sparta, the Iliad and the fall of Troy there was so much explained and got me thinking I seriously started reading a whole different book and forgot about doing so. This was super easy to read and not at all an annoying chunky historical book!

Although it kind of included abit too many footnotes that could have just as easily made if into the appendices. So much lovely and great attention was spotlighted on details I may have never heard of before, which is just purely wonderful.

Totally recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC.

I have always loved Greek mythology and this telling of Troy and the Trojan War was fantastic. So well written and witty and easy to read. I really loved it. Thank you to Netgalley and Chronicle Books for the ARC.

This was a fantastic book telling all the myths associated with the rise and fall of Troy
Having recently read The Iliad I was vaguely concerned that this book would be too repetitive and I would not enjoy it. However, I was so wrong! Stephen Fry explores more myths than are associated with The Trojan War than are covered in The Iliad including the origins of most of the vital characters which was intriguing. Even the parts that I was familiar with from The Iliad were enthused with Stephen Fry's amazing sense of humour and writing that definitely lends itself to being read in his voice in your head. My only criticism would be sometimes the notes referring to Stephen Fry's other books upsets the pacing of the book but other than that its great. Laugh out loud moments and amazing writing! I 100% recommend this book to everyone if you love Greek Mythology or if you want a gateway into Greek Mythology without having to struggle through the original texts.

While the writing is solid, interesting storytelling is cast aside in favor of an academic tone, quickly becoming a tedious read. Against the current trend of innovative and complex retellings of the Classics, Troy feels outdated, providing no new insight or interesting takes.

Greek Mythology is a topic I would never get bored of. Whoever Author wrote it or some fans
making up theories, those would never fail to make me amazed and wonder how either one can
be a messed up or a great being.

This version is somewhat kind of a summary. It is like Stephen Fry had written a summarized
story of Troy in which every kind of reader would understand. I love Greek Mythology but
sometimes I also find it overwhelming for its profound characters and their backgrounds. But
this was not that kind of book, this is a tad bit easier to understand.

This is a story of Troy, the marvelous kingdom in all the world, a place where it also began and
end with Zeus, a kingdom where there are wondrous Horses and uncountable riches, last and
let us not forget its greatest fall, the Trojan War. Where the Trojan horse originated. Everyone is
familiar with Trojan because it is a name of a virus that could infect our gadgets. Not everyone
would know where it originated but everyone would agree how decisive and effective that virus
is, just like where the name came from. I would not start telling you its story, it is for you to find
out what great stories lies with that name. what I can tell you is that this book includes a lot of
back story for readers to fully understand a specific character so first-time readers would not
have had a hard time.

This story is not new to me. I kind of already know what are the events in this story but I still find
myself amazed. I am still grateful for the wonders of Greek Mythologies provide and moreover in
retelling the story of troy by Stephen Fry.

Stephen Fry's Troy is a modern version of Homer's Iliad, written in agile and fun prose that brings Homer's work closer to today's readers, without neglecting the drama and depth of the original work. A magnificent work from start to finish!

Excellent!

Following on from his "Heroes" and "Mythos", this is another thoroughly engaging and entertaining retelling of the classic tale.

Fully recommended.

A dramatic retelling of Troy told in this author’s exuberant, humour-tinged voice…

I have been a fan of Stephen Fry for ages. I really wonder what he can’t do. Author, actor, literary and arts scholar and so much more. I don’t know how he finds time for it all but I can only be happy about it. I’d read his fiction novels and loved them for their wit and humour. Troy was anything but a light story to tackle – at least to read – but compelling it was…

There was a dizzy cast of characters involved in the story of the Trojan War. I’d heard the story over the years but never dived into it like I did here. Not an easy read, but one worth the time to understand and dig into the character’s minds and hearts. Tinged with humour, this dramatic writing was told with high emotion and a sense of purpose.

I had no idea this was the last in a trilogy but Troy has whetted my appetite for more and luckily, there is!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. I tried to read this book but the format had the pages going up and down and not side to side and i kept losing my place so i gave up. i will buy the hardback because it was starting out really good

Stephen Fry has done it again! “Troy” is the third instalment of the Greek Mythology by Stephen Fry.

First of all, who doesn’t love Stephen Fry? His prose is amazing and the way he tells stories is incredible, understandable and so witty. There are, of course, more detailed books about the Trojan war (yes, I forgot to tell you about that: Troy, as it’s name suggests is the retelling of the 10 year long Trojan War). But the beauty of Fry’s book is that it is understandable and educating at the same time, The Iliad and Homer are great classics but boy are they complicated and “dense” stories. This one, on the other hand, explains it to you in an understandable way. Despite the fact that I already knew to story of the Trojan war, this book has taught me so much! I learnt so many new things and the way the characters were presented allows you to remember them well (there are quite a bunch of them so this was very handy).

Fry’s footnotes are so funny, you absolutely need to read them.

I have heard there will be a new instalment next year about the Odyssey. I’m very excited.

Thank you very much to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange of my honest review.