Reviewer: @ockurrrt_can_read (Instagram)
Rating: 5/5
“He’s half mortal, half god, and he never worked out how to be either.”
Oh this ATEEEE!!!
Crumbs? Nowhere to be found. She’s queer, she’s feminine, she’s greek mythology. The only Hercules retelling that truly matter in my opinion.
A hilariously heartbreaking story filled with so much hatred and love.
While Herc is quite disliking, the writer is not. I love a good introduction for characters and Phoenicia does this perfectly. There was no confusion with which character is which. I actually understood greek characters without having to Google something every 5 minutes. And let’s not even begin with all the connections to other hero’s stories, it was so fun gasping every 20 pages because the puzzle pieces slides in perfectly!!!
Herc truly makes you see that all hero’s are truly not hero’s seeing as their actions have oh so many pain attached to those around them. And if is by the actions of the gods or the hero’s themselves there is always something deeply sad attached to make any reader ache for them or in this case for the people around them.
Thank you @jonathanballpublishers for this wonderful read and thank you @thatphoenicia for this iconic retelling.
Reviewer: @rozanne_visagie (Instagram)
Rating: 5/5
“Herc’s going to be a hero. He’s going to kill monsters. His life is going to hurt.”
A greek mythology retelling that needs to be on everyone’s TBR! Herc by @thatphoenicia is inspired by the famous Hercules and is a raw retelling detailing his life.
How did people describe Hercules? “My life was improbably still before I met him.” “Few people tried to understand Hercules.” “He was wind and wildfire, flood and drought all worked into one. When it was your turn to have him, you could only hope to steer your people to safety.”
How will I describe him? He was a flawed character but one who still had his moments of glory. I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did! At first, I thought the story would be told from Herc’s POV, but then I was surprised by a multiple POV. Sometimes, multiple POVs can be confusing, but Rogerson wrote it so well that the reader is well aware and can keep track.
We see Herc through other’s eyes, how he impacted their lives, how they fell in and out of love with him. I have never read a retelling of Hercules and never thought that his story could be so interesting, but I was proven wrong. A list of characters is included at the back, and greek mythology lovers will spot some familiar names who make an appearance in this story.
I highly recommend reading this book! It would will be the perfect book to sit alongside The Song of Achilles and Circe.
Reviewer: @theratherslowreader (Instagram)
I enjoyed how funny Herc was at parts. Overall, though, I did not enjoy the writing style. It felt very ‘young’ to me.
Besides all the gore and violence, the tone of the writing went beyond YA territory and into the realm of middle grade, in my opinion.
The multiple POVs conveyed the sense of the many different opinions of Hercules perfectly. While I personally do not enjoy multiple POVs, it worked in this book.
The queer aspects of Hercules’ life being included were appreciated. I’m glad that the author did not shy away from the fact that he was said to have both male and female lovers.
I would recommend this book to those who enjoy YA Greek retellings.
Herc is available at: