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 remains: 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.
From Publishers Weekly
Mutant livestock such as mastodroms and cameloids roam a land very like Greece, where Saberhagen places a mild retelling (with obligatory debunking from the hero's viewpoint) of the Hercules legends. Our hero here has admittedly superhuman strengthAbeing an acknowledged son of ZeusAbut is humble about his prowess, leadership skills and even appearance. His famous first task, the killing of the Nemean lion, occurs in the course of a normal chore assigned to troublesome youths: guarding remote herds. Other tasks he stumbles into by even greater chance, while more are assigned by Hermes, the messenger of the gods. But Hercules regards the codified list of his 12 Labors as ranging from misinterpretation to complete fabrication by his fans. Saberhagen, the veteran author of some three dozen novels, including a series featuring Count Dracula and the SF Berserker books, sticks fairly close to familiar territory, offering a classical fantasy with centaurs and rare but convincing appearances by the gods. He drops a few unsatisfying hints that magic and divinity are based on an unexplained technology (one word, "odylic," describing this mysterious technology, dates from 1850: briefly, this seems to be a clue, but goes nowhere). This tale will satisfy those who like hero stories, but the book, third in a series (The Face of Apollo; Ariadne's Web), lacks the frisson possible to SF with plausible explanations, as well as the power of some other retellings. (Dec.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Continuing Book of the Gods, the series that kicked off with The Face of Apollo and Adrian's Web, New York Times-bestselling author Fred Saberhagen (The Berserker (tm) Series) again puts his own twist on Greek mythology in Book III, The Arms of Hercules.
Hercules is the son of the nearly omnipotent Zeus, King of the Gods and a human, whose beauty sparked lust in the great god. The arms of Hercules looked no more muscular than those of many other men--but his father was the greatest god in all the world. Hercules, the son of Zeus, crushed monsters, Giants, and legendary warriors in combat.
Until one challenge remains: the harrowing of the underworld, the one place where strength does not matter. Hercules is pitted against the greatest monsters that classical literature and Saberhagen's vivid imagination could create, and his struggles come vividly to life in his fight to the death, against death itself.
**
From Publishers Weekly
Mutant livestock such as mastodroms and cameloids roam a land very like Greece, where Saberhagen places a mild retelling (with obligatory debunking from the hero's viewpoint) of the Hercules legends. Our hero here has admittedly superhuman strengthAbeing an acknowledged son of ZeusAbut is humble about his prowess, leadership skills and even appearance. His famous first task, the killing of the Nemean lion, occurs in the course of a normal chore assigned to troublesome youths: guarding remote herds. Other tasks he stumbles into by even greater chance, while more are assigned by Hermes, the messenger of the gods. But Hercules regards the codified list of his 12 Labors as ranging from misinterpretation to complete fabrication by his fans. Saberhagen, the veteran author of some three dozen novels, including a series featuring Count Dracula and the SF Berserker books, sticks fairly close to familiar territory, offering a classical fantasy with centaurs and rare but convincing appearances by the gods. He drops a few unsatisfying hints that magic and divinity are based on an unexplained technology (one word, "odylic," describing this mysterious technology, dates from 1850: briefly, this seems to be a clue, but goes nowhere). This tale will satisfy those who like hero stories, but the book, third in a series (The Face of Apollo; Ariadne's Web), lacks the frisson possible to SF with plausible explanations, as well as the power of some other retellings. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Description:
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 remains: 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.
From Publishers Weekly
Mutant livestock such as mastodroms and cameloids roam a land very like Greece, where Saberhagen places a mild retelling (with obligatory debunking from the hero's viewpoint) of the Hercules legends. Our hero here has admittedly superhuman strengthAbeing an acknowledged son of ZeusAbut is humble about his prowess, leadership skills and even appearance. His famous first task, the killing of the Nemean lion, occurs in the course of a normal chore assigned to troublesome youths: guarding remote herds. Other tasks he stumbles into by even greater chance, while more are assigned by Hermes, the messenger of the gods. But Hercules regards the codified list of his 12 Labors as ranging from misinterpretation to complete fabrication by his fans. Saberhagen, the veteran author of some three dozen novels, including a series featuring Count Dracula and the SF Berserker books, sticks fairly close to familiar territory, offering a classical fantasy with centaurs and rare but convincing appearances by the gods. He drops a few unsatisfying hints that magic and divinity are based on an unexplained technology (one word, "odylic," describing this mysterious technology, dates from 1850: briefly, this seems to be a clue, but goes nowhere). This tale will satisfy those who like hero stories, but the book, third in a series (The Face of Apollo; Ariadne's Web), lacks the frisson possible to SF with plausible explanations, as well as the power of some other retellings. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The third of the Books of the Gods continues Saberhagen's exploration of classical mythology as a springboard for fantasy. In it, Hercules is an experiment of Zeus'--a type of mortal hero who can survive to champion the gods in their battle with the Titans. From his mid-teens, Hercules proves that Zeus knew what he was doing. Hercules lacks heroic stature, but he has street smarts, along with magical strength and magical invulnerability. He progresses through his various labors and other adventures over the years, with Saberhagen sometimes interestingly varying some of them, such as Hercules' aborted attempt to accompany the Argonauts. As the book proceeds to its climax, Apollo and Theseus arrive from previous volumes of Saberhagen's series. Finally, there is the long-anticipated battle with the Titans. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Continuing Book of the Gods, the series that kicked off with The Face of Apollo and Adrian's Web, New York Times-bestselling author Fred Saberhagen (The Berserker (tm) Series) again puts his own twist on Greek mythology in Book III, The Arms of Hercules.
Hercules is the son of the nearly omnipotent Zeus, King of the Gods and a human, whose beauty sparked lust in the great god. The arms of Hercules looked no more muscular than those of many other men--but his father was the greatest god in all the world. Hercules, the son of Zeus, crushed monsters, Giants, and legendary warriors in combat.
Until one challenge remains: the harrowing of the underworld, the one place where strength does not matter. Hercules is pitted against the greatest monsters that classical literature and Saberhagen's vivid imagination could create, and his struggles come vividly to life in his fight to the death, against death itself.
**
From Publishers Weekly
Mutant livestock such as mastodroms and cameloids roam a land very like Greece, where Saberhagen places a mild retelling (with obligatory debunking from the hero's viewpoint) of the Hercules legends. Our hero here has admittedly superhuman strengthAbeing an acknowledged son of ZeusAbut is humble about his prowess, leadership skills and even appearance. His famous first task, the killing of the Nemean lion, occurs in the course of a normal chore assigned to troublesome youths: guarding remote herds. Other tasks he stumbles into by even greater chance, while more are assigned by Hermes, the messenger of the gods. But Hercules regards the codified list of his 12 Labors as ranging from misinterpretation to complete fabrication by his fans. Saberhagen, the veteran author of some three dozen novels, including a series featuring Count Dracula and the SF Berserker books, sticks fairly close to familiar territory, offering a classical fantasy with centaurs and rare but convincing appearances by the gods. He drops a few unsatisfying hints that magic and divinity are based on an unexplained technology (one word, "odylic," describing this mysterious technology, dates from 1850: briefly, this seems to be a clue, but goes nowhere). This tale will satisfy those who like hero stories, but the book, third in a series (The Face of Apollo; Ariadne's Web), lacks the frisson possible to SF with plausible explanations, as well as the power of some other retellings. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The third of the Books of the Gods continues Saberhagen's exploration of classical mythology as a springboard for fantasy. In it, Hercules is an experiment of Zeus'--a type of mortal hero who can survive to champion the gods in their battle with the Titans. From his mid-teens, Hercules proves that Zeus knew what he was doing. Hercules lacks heroic stature, but he has street smarts, along with magical strength and magical invulnerability. He progresses through his various labors and other adventures over the years, with Saberhagen sometimes interestingly varying some of them, such as Hercules' aborted attempt to accompany the Argonauts. As the book proceeds to its climax, Apollo and Theseus arrive from previous volumes of Saberhagen's series. Finally, there is the long-anticipated battle with the Titans. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved