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Book of the Gods #3
The Arms of Hercules
Volume III Book of the Gods
A Splendid New Fantasy by the Author of Ariadne’s Web
Fred Saberhagen, New York Times bestselling author of the Berzerker Series, continues to puts his own twist on Greek mythology, continuing the series that kicked off with The Face of Apollo and Ariadne’s Web with Book III, The Arms of Hercules.
Hercules is the son of the nearly omnipotent Zeus, King of the Gods, and of a human mother whose beauty sparked lust in the great god. The arms of Hercules look no more muscular than those of many other men—but his father was the greatest god in the entire world. Hercules, the son of Zeus, has crushed monsters, giants and legendary warriors in combat.
Until one challenge The harrowing underworld, the one place where strength does not matter. Pitted against the greatest monsters that classical literature and Saberhagen’s vivid imagination could create, Hercules’s struggle comes to life in his fight to the death, against Death itself.
A Splendid New Fantasy by the Author of Ariadne’s Web
Fred Saberhagen, New York Times bestselling author of the Berzerker Series, continues to puts his own twist on Greek mythology, continuing the series that kicked off with The Face of Apollo and Ariadne’s Web with Book III, The Arms of Hercules.
Hercules is the son of the nearly omnipotent Zeus, King of the Gods, and of a human mother whose beauty sparked lust in the great god. The arms of Hercules look no more muscular than those of many other men—but his father was the greatest god in the entire world. Hercules, the son of Zeus, has crushed monsters, giants and legendary warriors in combat.
Until one challenge The harrowing underworld, the one place where strength does not matter. Pitted against the greatest monsters that classical literature and Saberhagen’s vivid imagination could create, Hercules’s struggle comes to life in his fight to the death, against Death itself.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 2000
3 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
About the author
Fred Saberhagen
335 books496 followersFred Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his ''Beserker'' and Dracula stories.
Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.
From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.
Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.
From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 11, 2013
Novelists of the world - you need to start writing about Hercules! Do you think as Greece's most famous hero that he is overdone? Well, when it comes to novels, sadly he is not even CLOSE. I've read a decent number of novels retelling Greek myths and I'm always on the look out for more. However, this is the only one I could find that is about Herc. I've seen him mentioned or cameo in others, but this is the only one I've found that is devoted to him. And it's kinda boring.
Saberhagen maintains the strength and aspects of the stories, but he takes the approach of "the legends have exaggerated my life but here is the less awesome truth". At one point in the book he even takes the time to lay out all 12 labours, numbers them, and proceeds to state whether they are false or not. Yawn. If you don't want to include them all, then don't. He does maintain some and the battle between Herc and the Hydra is pretty exciting. The rest of the story is not. Saberhagen also does what most modern adaptations of Herc do and that is skirt completely around the more unsavoury aspects of the character. Does he kill his family? Nope. Die by Centaur blood at the hands of his wife? Nope. Commit tons of murder due to his crazy temper? A bit. Sleep with all the ladies and get drunk all the time? Nope. But he is strong!
The story is told to us by Herc himself in first person and he takes great pains to explain away every little thing he does. Especially if it's controversial. It leaves us with an unsatisfactory kind of whiny hero. The final battle between the gods, Herc, and the giants is also a bit of a let down. Too much time is spent "not wanting to say too much about what certain gods did to avoid embarrassing them" or something.
Positives of the story? Well Saberhagen does maintain the magical element. This is not "ordinary things happen and then legends added gods/magic" retelling - which I despise. The gods do exist and the Hydra is a hydra. Saberhagen's gods are interesting. They aren't immortal beings, but faces that humans pick up and wear until they die and someone else wears the face. They give the human super powers and the faces themselves are immortal. It didn't make a lot of sense, but this is the 3rd book in the series and I did not read the two others. The story is clear enough to follow without the first two, but I can tell that maybe the faces and the giant fights will fit better in a series. The problem is, I'm not sure I want to bother reading them to find out. The pace of this one was very plodding, and if he can make Hercules, one of the most violent and crazy heroes, dull, then well... what's he going to do with Theseus or others?
Anyway, maybe I'll check out the earlier ones and give him the benefit of the doubt. They are at the library.
We'll see.
~Mel
Saberhagen maintains the strength and aspects of the stories, but he takes the approach of "the legends have exaggerated my life but here is the less awesome truth". At one point in the book he even takes the time to lay out all 12 labours, numbers them, and proceeds to state whether they are false or not. Yawn. If you don't want to include them all, then don't. He does maintain some and the battle between Herc and the Hydra is pretty exciting. The rest of the story is not. Saberhagen also does what most modern adaptations of Herc do and that is skirt completely around the more unsavoury aspects of the character. Does he kill his family? Nope. Die by Centaur blood at the hands of his wife? Nope. Commit tons of murder due to his crazy temper? A bit. Sleep with all the ladies and get drunk all the time? Nope. But he is strong!
The story is told to us by Herc himself in first person and he takes great pains to explain away every little thing he does. Especially if it's controversial. It leaves us with an unsatisfactory kind of whiny hero. The final battle between the gods, Herc, and the giants is also a bit of a let down. Too much time is spent "not wanting to say too much about what certain gods did to avoid embarrassing them" or something.
Positives of the story? Well Saberhagen does maintain the magical element. This is not "ordinary things happen and then legends added gods/magic" retelling - which I despise. The gods do exist and the Hydra is a hydra. Saberhagen's gods are interesting. They aren't immortal beings, but faces that humans pick up and wear until they die and someone else wears the face. They give the human super powers and the faces themselves are immortal. It didn't make a lot of sense, but this is the 3rd book in the series and I did not read the two others. The story is clear enough to follow without the first two, but I can tell that maybe the faces and the giant fights will fit better in a series. The problem is, I'm not sure I want to bother reading them to find out. The pace of this one was very plodding, and if he can make Hercules, one of the most violent and crazy heroes, dull, then well... what's he going to do with Theseus or others?
Anyway, maybe I'll check out the earlier ones and give him the benefit of the doubt. They are at the library.
We'll see.
~Mel
Displaying 1 of 1 review