Ye Gods!

by Tom Holt

Being a Hero bothers Jason Derry. It's easy to get maladjusted when your mom's a suburban housewife and your dad's the Supreme Being. It can be a real drag slaying fabulous monsters and retrieving Golden Fleeces from fire-breathing dragons, and then having to clean your room before your mom will let you watch Star Trek. But it's not the relentless tedium of imperishable glory that finally brings Jason to the end of his rope; it's something so funny that it's got to be taken seriously. Deadly seriously. In this epic tale of gods, heroes, reality bifurcation, and junk food, Tom Holt once again justifies his place among the leading writers of comic fantasy.

Genres: Fantasy, Humor, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Mythology, Comedy, Ebooks

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Tom Holt (Thomas Charles Louis Holt) is a British novelist.
He was born in London, the son of novelist Hazel Holt, and was educated at Westminster School, Wadham College, Oxford, and The College of Law, London.
Holt's works include mythopoeic novels which parody or take as their theme various aspects of mythology, history or literature and develop them in new and often humorous ways. He has also produced a number of "straight" historical novels writing as Thomas Holt and fantasy novels writing as K.J. Parker.

Reviews

[Paulo (not receiving notifications)]

The Olympian gods still exist!
The Titans who fought the gods are also still around and want to pay back.
And a hero (a son of a god and a mortal) is on the loose in a killing spree.
Imagine what would happen if Prometheus, besides the fire, gave to Man the concept of "Joke". And if the god of war, Mars painted in his shield a large "Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament" logo, and has been seen at anti-war rallies, incognito. What would happen?
General management screwed up and is conspicuous by its absence, so mortals keep up with daily business and forgot the basic rules.
"Ye Gods" is a nice simple book without complicated words or extreme philosophical concepts. But it's longer than necessary; sometimes it drags on in boring descriptions. But when the "funny" hits the proverbial "fan" we are allowed to smile with pleasure.
The explanations of the divine functions of each of the gods of antiquity and their subordinates, the Forms, is the funniest part of the book but the idiomatic expressions can give you a hard time understanding under context and slow down your reading pace.
The books the author wrote under the name K. J. Parker are another matter altogether.
It's not Terry Pratchett but certainly, you won't waste your time if you read it.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm very surprised that nobody has written a review of this book, yet. In the hopes that this will be useful to someone, here goes.

For me, reading Tom Holt's Ye Gods is another attempt to find a funny fantasy writer like Terry Pratchett. The book actually reminded me of some of Pratchett's earlier Discworld books (for example, The Color of Magic, The Light Fantastic): short on plot, long on silliness, with a few insights sprinkled here and there.

The plot is very similar to the Percy Jackson books (written by Rick Riordan, although Ye Gods is more geared toward adults and appears to be a stand-alone novel, where the Percy Jackson books are a series. In both, though, the main characters are caught between the Titans and the gods.

In Ye Gods, Jason Derry is the son of Jupiter (the Roman god) and a mortal woman. This, of course, makes him a Hero, when he's not being a pest by doing things like killing large monsters and bringing home the bodies. (Imagine the cleaning bills!)

Jupiter and the other gods are none too pleased with the way the world has turned out -- particularly that humanity is largely ignoring them. See, in addition to stealing fire and giving it to mankind, Prometheus also told man the first joke. Armed with humor, mankind was then able to successfully deal with life independent of the gods. So Jupiter and his fellow ex-gods try to change the world into a place where there is no laughter, so that they can have complete control over humans. Prometheus and another Titan have a plan to save the world. Jason figures very large in this plan.

The book is fairly well written. Sometimes the humor (or humour, I suppose, since this is a British author) seems a little forced, but there were some good chuckles and a few good belly laughs. The characterization isn't terribly compelling -- something that I notice about Terry Pratchett's first books, too. Since this is one of Tom Holt's earlier books, I'm hopeful that he improves in his later books, too.

[K.A. Ashcomb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jason, the hero and the son of god, is running around filling his destiny, following Hercules's steps. But you might say his heart isn't in it. Being a hero can be tedious. Then there are your aunts and uncles, and dad, the Greek gods, who are using you for their amusement. Plus, all is not well amongst the gods, and here our hero Jason is, in the middle of it. That's the premise in a nutshell, and I love how Tom Holt pokes fun at this hero myth, tearing it apart. He continues emphasizing the flaws of the gods, showing how silly, petty, and human they are. He has transported the myths to the 90s setting (no cellphones and DVDs, not when the book was written.)

While the setting is fantastic, and there are some clever insights into human nature and our myths, the book falls short with its plot, pacing, and characters. Or this was the case for me. I love Tom Holt books, most of them at least, but sometimes they are too messy for their own good, and this was one of those books. The distracting jokes distract the flow. The characters are annoying. I know the characters are meant to be flawed. I like that fact, but their function is broken to either serve the plot or some joke, and that gets annoying and soon.

I'm afraid this book didn't work for me. I cannot remember any longer what I thought when I read it the first time around. But if you are thinking of picking up this as your first book to read by Tom Holt, please don't. I would either start from Expecting Someone Taller or The Portable Door, or even being radical and starting with You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps. The last book was the first book I ever read by Tom Holt, and while it was in the middle of the J.W. Wells & Co. series, I fell in love. So let's see if I still is the case when I get to it in my attempt to reread all Tom Holt's books.

Thank you for reading. Have an amusing day <3

[Kelly Is Brighid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belly laughs! Read it in one sitting it was so engaging & light-hearted.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I think standard humor just isn't for me. I probay sound ridiculously picky or pedantic, but humor by itself just isn't enough to carry a story for me. It feels like eating potato chips - all the motions of food, but no actual substance or nutritional value.

Was this funny? Yeah, I guess, at points. And the story itself was unique, even if the style of humor wasn't. It just felt like there wasn't much of a story there, and there weren't really any characters that felt fleshed out enough for me to invest in at all. It felt more like the author was trying to be clever for the sake of being clever than for the sake of telling a story.

I'm not giving up on Holt - he's written a ton of stuff, and maybe I just picked the wrong book. But this was.... okay. I wish I could say it was amazing.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holt's comic fantasy books range from ehhh to terrific/near-Terry Pratchett quality, so choose wisely. The early "Ye Gods," Expecting Someone Taller" and "Flying Dutch" are very funny, followed by several years' worth of hit-or-miss farces, followed by the wonderful "Portable Door" and its sequels. Some of his relatively serious historical novels (originally published under the name Thomas Holt) are even better, especially "Goatsong" and "The Walled Orchard" (ancient Greece) and "Meadowland" (medieval Norse) -- you'll laugh, you'll cry, etc. Too bad he seems to have stopped writing them. He does, however, do brilliant pseudohistorical novels these days -- basically set in the Greco-Roman world, but with much more flexible history and geography -- using the alias K.J. Parker. They're listed as fantasy but have next to nothing in common with the wizards-and-orcs school of writing.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've gotten burnt out on the powers of the Greek gods a la Rick Riordan, this paean to the powers of aggro may be for you. It's not unlike Gods Behaving Badly, but funnier and rather less sordid.

[Hannah F · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite of the 3 Tom Holt books I've read ..well I tried a 4th but qhit bec it was slightly funn y at times but just dragged and dragged. lots of boring bet.the funny bits. More boring rambles than funny bits .

A problem I find with the whole doughnut series.

This one I like a lot because:

1 Its short!
2 there is a lot of funny bits
3 no major deep thought conversations with a characters self every bloody chapter
4 its a funny satire on humans


ps once again I see people compatrung him whether negatively or positively , to Terry and Douglas why the bloody hell ?!?

Whether you think it's on par with Douglas (nn no hes not, but NO ONE is.. ..not even Terry )

As for comparing toTerry ( he comes closer to Terry with the longer series but he's different. What he and Terry do have in common? The tendency to lose the movement of rhe plot with stupid side stories..and LONGggggg way too often "deep " philosophical rambles.

Both should of cut them from their longer books. made it way more interesting and less tendency to skim lots chunks .

Basically so tired of people praising or criticizing writers based on whether they're as good or worse than their favorites. I find that idiotic. I ask my thoughts on the book.

[Dylan Vargas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no way to accurately review this story because it was so damn bizarre, both in plot, content, structure, and style. I use the term story with vemon, as this was not a book or novel it was an utterly pointless and directionless story. First, I am infuriated by how it butchered Greek mythology and the pantheon; it warped and altered myth, gods, and their impact on the world incomprehensibly. Additionally, all the characters were either weak, stupid, infuriating, or all of the above. Finally, the plot was so convoluted, complex, opaque, childish, directionless, paced terribly, confusing, and everything bad. Not once did I enjoy what I was reading at any point, I was also confused, annoyed, bored, or angered. Just a bad story without moral conclusion, character growth, stakes, coherence, and everything that makes a story palatable.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book loved the spin on what happened to the Greek Roman Gods...if you are a little fuzzy about your Roman / Greek equivalent gods you might want to do a bit of a brush up. The author switches between the two quite regularly depending on who enters which scene. This was a very entertaining book. It can get a bit slow sometimes but a good read.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

An arduous mishmash of Greek mythology references, 90’s pop culture and relentless, unfunny dad humour culminates in this confusing and boring tale of a modern day hero against his father Jupiter. Complete with literally the same jokes every chapter.

[Dipintus · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels a bit like Terry Pratchett - similar style and humor and style, similar themes... but, at least as I'm concerned, just not as good - although in Holt's defence he didn't have 40+ books worth of stories to plump up his world and characters. Still worth a try if you like satyrical fantasy.

[Beki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this hilarious! Reminded me of Terry pratchett but shorter and in sometimes easier to follow! Hero was bit annoying, preffered the gods, Mary and his mum! Read for my reading group, and definitely want to read more by Tom holt.

[Derzu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor man's Terry Pratchett, there were a couple of glimmers in there but on the whole it didn't work for me. I understand other books from Holt are better starting points but I already had this in my library from long ago.

[Jennifer Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt a little long but still good.

[Jonathan Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

great...funny and educational

[Ch J Loveall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have tried in electronic form and print form and no longer want to try.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of quirky fun. However I'm not sure it completely finished.

[Olly Colluphid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best Tom Holt. The plot feels confused rather than convoluted with forced exposition on the last page to make it hang together.

It's ok.

[José Alejandro Vázquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Divertido, con muchas referencias a los 80 y 90 mezcladas con la mitología romana, pero no tan bueno como los libros anteriores de la saga.

[Kerem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light hearted fantasy story of Jason Derry, the child of Jupiter and a human mom. Plenty Greek mythology and chaos.

[Janet Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.

[Peter Cranwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

So funny and very cool

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m currently in the process of reading Rick Riordan’s latest book, The House of Hades, but Holt actually wrote about Greco-Roman gods and demigod heroes in the modern world before Riordan ever did. In the world presented by this book, the gods have basically retired, although they are still able to affect events in the mortal world through the games they play. The main protagonist is Jason Derry, the son of Jupiter (with a few exceptions, Holt sticks to the Roman names) and a suburban housewife, who spends much of his time slaying monsters and going on quests. Really, I didn’t feel he was a very well-developed character, but the book as a whole was funny enough that it didn’t matter all that much. We find out that Prometheus didn’t just bring fire to humanity, but also humor, and it was really this that upset Jupiter. After all, a sense of humor makes it harder to take the gods seriously. The Titan teams up with the eagle who eats his liver (they’ve developed a camaraderie over the centuries) and Gelos, the spirit of laughter, to stop the gods from destroying humor. The idea of jokes as weapons, while not original with Holt, is used to amusing effect. The gods typically act like you’d expect, with a lot of bickering and such, but I did find the characterization of Mars to be pretty interesting. Since warfare has greatly advanced and he hasn’t, he’s become quite nervous, and sometimes attends anti-war protests. As a mythology fan, I noted times when Holt stuck pretty closely to the myths as they’re generally known, and other times when he deviated quite a bit. For instance, he correctly identifies Lemnos as the place where Vulcan landed when thrown from Olympus, but his description of the Hydra is nothing like any version of the monster I’ve ever come across. He does provide an out for himself by saying that the myths were often edited by humans, though. And it’s not like there isn’t a lot of leeway when dealing with stories that were written in many different ways over the years anyway. Overall, quite a fun read.

[Steve Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason Derry is a hero; his real father is none other than Jupiter. Jupiter is a nasty piece of work really, chaining Prometheus to a mountain just for bringing fire to the human race; except that is not all he did. Prometheus also told the first joke! He gave the humans a sense of humour with which they could literally laugh in the face of the gods; and the gods want it back!
This book starts slowly and finishes more with a whimper than a bang; but there is more than enough fun and frolics in the middle to make it worth a read.

[Tim Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the weakest book that I've read by Holt thus far. Not that there was anything inherently wrong with it. It just always felt like a bit of a chore to pick it up and read it. None of the characters really captured me. The situation wasn't so interesting that I felt compelled to keep reading as opposed to doing something else.

It was just kind of there.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jason is a hero who is pushed around by the gods, the enemies of the gods and his mum. This book is the tale of what happens when he finally cracks, and why he is fated to do so. As ever, there are puns galore from Holt, and I hope that a name check for Thyrestes is a good omen for the crossword competition in which he was the last answer! I'll let you know ...

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny. And, Holt sustains the style, plot, characters throughout the entire book (a long one). I didn't feel any parts of it were lagging.

[Tyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, another Tom holt novel. not high literature by any stretch of the imagination, but packed with funny jokes and puns that would make you groan. Great fun to read!

[Sweetdhee]

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