This was unfortunately hard to get into which I was quite surprised about given that I love Greek mythology and Greek retellings. Maybe it was because of the tone of the story or maybe the language used (too casual?) but I sadly could not finish it! I really hope that this is not a common feeling and that someone out there really enjoyed this! I did really enjoy the concept and I'll be sure to check this book out when it comes out and give it another try :)

In an ancient Greek world of monsters and legends and gods, Doug wants to make it on his own without the influence of his father’s reputation. In the kingdom of Larissa, far from the home of his birth, Doug is making a pretty good start. He has a steady job selling dairy treats at a franchise location and Doug’s outlook is bright.

And then Doug meets Princess Larisa, and the two fall madly for each other. But her father, the king, will have none of it. After all, Doug appears as nothing more than a yogurt slinger—not nearly good enough for the princess. Doug must prove his worth.

Under the orders of a dark influence, the king challenges Doug to complete twelve tasks. Doug makes the only decision a hormonal, confident young man can. He accepts.

While Larisa stays in Larissa to search out the source of the king’s odd behavior, Doug takes his nerdy brother Modifixeus on a trip of a lifetime. Along with a gaggle of automatons and the blessing of Zeus, Doug finds himself over his head almost immediately. If he doesn’t find a way to complete the tasks, Larissa and all of Greece will fall to the dark influence.

Even worse, Doug and Larisa won’t get that magical kiss they just know is in their future—if they survive long enough to experience it.

DNF at 23%. I’m sorry but this book just wasn’t for me. I liked Mod a lot and he was the most compelling character so far. I’ve seen other reviewers say there were a lot of references to deep Greek mythology and I’m just not that well versed in it so maybe it just wasn’t for me. But really it was just the humor. After the first task where he had to put a suppository in the dog and it pooped everywhere mountains of poop…it was just clear this book was not my humor and simply not for me.
I won’t rate/review anywhere else as I never do with a DNF because it seems unfair to the author when I didn’t complete the book. But it just wasn’t for me.

One of the most entertaining novel set in Ancient Greece I read in a long time: vwell plotted, witty and a lot of fun.
Good character development, world building and storytelling.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Twelve Trials of Doug is a fantastically hilarious reimagining of Greek Myths and it had me howling with laughter throughout. There is a wonderful resurgence in Greek Mythology inspired retellings and a chaotic caper is a great format a la the likes of Tom Holt.

Telling the Lass of your dreams that you would "Go to Hades and back for you" is one thing, but the theory and application are two very, very different things

Doug is happily working in a Yoghurt franchise, serving delicious chilled dairy products to all and sundry in Greek mythology when he meets the stunning Princess Larisa and is immediately smitten. Problem, her father, the king, is really not impressed by her intended and Doug needs to do something big, in fact, something on the level of an epic oddessey of Homerific proportions (see what I did there? hehe) to prove that he is worthy of Princess Larisa's love. The thing is, there are dark forces behind the Kings words, and he demands that Doug completes twelve tasks to win the hand of his daughter

"Going to Hades was a given. It was the "and back" part that looked iffy"

Jeremy Brundage is a brilliant comedy writer and had me laughing throughout this brilliant book. The writing is fast paced without missing a beat, the humour on point, the world building and character development is grounded firmly in the storyline and the supporting cast are simply hilarious! A brilliant read

Thank you to Netgalley, Cursed Dragon Ship Publishing and the author Jeremy Brundage for this very funny and engaging ARC. My review is left of my own volition and all opinions are my own

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Monty Python meets Ancient Greece!

TTTOD is a slapstick comedy retelling of the 12 labours of Hercules where Doug is trying to achieve the one thing most young men hope for - to impress a girl. It’s intelligently written, and I personally found the majority of the jokes hilarious (“quack” being my favourite). If you know your Greek myths and history you are going to really enjoy Doug’s journey.

If you don’t know your Greek myths and history, however, I think you are likely to find yourself a bit lost. The author does a lot of explaining in the footnotes for any tricky bits, but a joke is spoiled when you have to explain it. Also, I personally would not have added explanations to the pop culture references and left them as Easter Eggs, but that’s just me.

A very enjoyable, and thoroughly recommendable read.

Doug lives in the kingdom of Larissa he’s also in love with princess Larissa she is a daughter of king Tutamite’s unfortunately he works in the food court and the king doesn’t deem him appropriate for his daughter it doesn’t help that a dart spirit has taken over Tutamites this is why he sends Doug to be the victer of 12 trials. With the help of his stepbrother Modafixseus, his helpful gadgets and the strange Passi they collect along the way Doug will not only solve many of Olympias‘s problems he may just win the heart of Larissa. Doug Will come face-to-face with Medusa free a Minotaur in milk a while raging cow just a name a few but he will also make friends with some strange folk along the way he will be offered treasure and gold but all he wants is Larissa. Meanwhile Larissa is trying to figure out what is wrong with her dad and she also will come in contact with strange people while trying to figure out the mystery. The big question is will they be together in the end? I absolutely loved and totally enjoyed this book with a mix of modern day gadgets slipped into the past you would think the book would be ridiculous but it is ridiculous it is ridiculous in the best of ways! This book is clever witty the dialogue will have you laughing there’s no lol in the book it’s one great thing after another. I have never read a book by this author before but I will definitely be looking for other books by him all absolutely loved this book. It truly is a great great read! I want to think the author and net galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This witty and comical story is written as if you are watching a cartoon. Set in ancient Greece, it tells the tale of Doug, who becomes smitten with Princess Larisa. In order to prove to her father, Teutamides King of Larissa, that he is a worthy successor and suitor, he is given twelve tasks started out by Heracles, a son of Zeus and the king's consultant.

The king is being darkly influenced and tries to make each task more difficult as Doug's quest continues. The Gods become involved throughout his journey as it becomes increasingly obvious that this is affecting their realms as well. Doug is accompanied by his brother Mod in the beginning and acquires new accomplices along the way.

I thought the plot was clever and the humor well placed. Even though the story setting is ancient Greek, the punchlines do have modern references. The author also incorporated footnotes to try to deliver even more humor to some of the comedy written. It's hard for me to keep my place reading flipping back and forth, so I did not read the footnotes until the end. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and thought it was a uniquely written comedy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cursed Dragon Ship Publishing, LLC, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a great concept for a Greek mythology story, I enjoyed how good everything worked together and the characters were exactly what I was looking for. I enjoyed the twelve trials and how they fit in the mythology elements. Jeremy Brundage writes a great story and left me wanting more.

If you love Maz Evans and Rick Riordan then this is the book for you! Doug has fallen for Larisa, the King's daughter. The King sets him 12 quests to complete to win Larisa's hand. With the help of his brother, Modifixeus and 6 automatons, Doug sets off to complete the tasks. A humorous read with underlying messages of the power of kindness, compassion and selflessness. Perfect for a dull, rainy day.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC of this book.

DNF @22%

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I got drawn by the title and description. I love a bit of Greek mythology and a main character named Doug in a world of gods sounded just ridiculous enough to draw me in.

However the story itself is what I'd describe as a good idea poorly executed. This could be just my sense of humour. I prefer sarcasm and most of what I got was not a very good parody that felt forced at most times.

I obtained an ARC of this book. I absolutely loved the entire story. The hero Doug must prove himself through 12 trials to win the girl he loves. The trials are challenging, yet are full of fun, laugh, satire, and history of Greek Gods, Goddesses, and mythology. I really enjoyed this book. I laughed alot and Doug and his band of friends always work together to get him through his trials. The ending is great and you never know what is coming next, and the trials are interesting, funny, and keep you wanting more. I thoughly enjoyed this book! I highly recommend it. I look forward to more adventures from this author, and hopefully from Doug and his team. 5 stars.

It took me a few attempts to get into but I feel that might’ve been more to do with me than the book itself.
Worth checking out should you feel it’s your jam.

At the start it felt a bit clunky and I overestimated the reading level of the book - but as I really got into the book it picked up from there. The plot kept me entertained - maybe just my love for Greek mythology inspired content - and it keeps you going but I think I suffered from it just not being my kind of humor. I think that's just the thing with a lot of books that are, at their heart, focused on making people smile or laugh. Not to say it was unfunny it was just... not funny? That sounds mean, and I genuinely do not mean it that way.

Let me state upfront that I'm a tough audience for comedy.

Having said that, the approach this book takes in attempting to be funny completely failed to raise even a small smile from me. It consists mostly of anachronism (it's set in mythical Ancient Greece, but has many contemporary cultural references; for example, the protagonist works for a yoghurt franchise in a food court, and is, of course, named Doug). There are also footnotes. I assume the footnotes were inspired by Terry Pratchett, but just because Pratchett made something work for comedy doesn't mean that someone else can do the same. The footnotes are frequent, intrusive, and mostly asides that are intended to be comedic but, as I said, fail to hit that mark as far as I'm concerned. I stopped reading about 10% of the way in, just before the announcement of the quest that I gather forms the main plot, so I can't comment on how well that plot is handled. To me, a would-be comedic book that fails at comedy can redeem itself by having characters that aren't just stereotypes with silly names, and a plot that works in its own right as an interesting story. I hadn't yet seen any evidence of character depth, but I'll give the plot the benefit of the doubt.

The book has probably had a very good editor go over it, since the mechanics (as far as I read, and in the pre-publication version I got via Netgalley) are mostly correct, apart from a couple of instances of dialog where the tag is incorrectly punctuated as a separate sentence. That's rare in the books I see these days, and deserves to be commended. So if your sense of humour is more like the author's than mine, this may very well be a good book for you.