Will’s Reviews > The Iliad > Status Update

I also must mention the Diomedes plot line that we see before reading about Hector. He is basically the reason behind the Greeks going ahead of the trojans, but after his ‘heroics’ he is warned not to harm gods, so before battling a Trojan (Glaucus) he asks him about his past, the two find they have a familial connection to one another and become friends and do not fight. Homer’s storytelling is incredible

Up to book 7 now, the last chapter was probably the best so far, zoned in on Hector and his mindset about the war and his role on it. We saw his disappointment in Paris and his struggle dealing with the fact that the war will be a lose-lose for him. The Greeks are too strong to beat so he either faces death, or humiliation and the loss of his wife to be a slave to the Greeks. Yet in the end he returns and fights on.

Just finished book 2, follows on from the first in the same vein. I like how character focused the story is, they’re all well written also. The second half of this book does go all Bible on you though, with about 5 pages of a list of the Greek armies and where they come from. But I had already heard that Homer was prone to doing this so I’m not worried that the rest of the book will follow this theme…

Starting the second book now, really really good start, it’s obviously a modern translation and easier to read that the previous books I’ve read but homers style is still clear and present. The characters have depth and conflicting morals. The Gods feel superior but still multidimensional.