Rating: 
Summary: alright, but not exactly what I was expecting
Review: It was OK. Short-looking; didnt finish reading it, It just didnt catch my interest and to be perfectly honest, wasnt what I was looking for: a detailed novel of Achilles. If you want something like that, this isnt it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Trojan Horse
Review: The book does have some truly great moments; including the beginning where Odysseues confronts his old comrade, Achilles, in the Underworld, and also a creative portrayal of the centaur Chiron, Achilles' friend & mentor. However, Ms. Cook fails to do justice to Achilles and his unveiled Rage, which is the very 'Kleos' of the hero and the mantra of the Iliad: "Sing muse of the wrath of the Son of Peleus." Cook's narrative is short story snippets of interesting anecdotes that span the full length of AChilles' life. However, she never succeeds in capturing the depth and morose fire of this proud hero...instead much like the Trojan Horse this seemingly great gift is hollow...the ending with Keats is a mistake as well--evidence that Cook is an armchair academic and lacks the warrior's heart to face the wrath of the son of Peleus with worthy words, falling far short of the Homeric mantle.
Rating: 
Summary: Sensual and wilful
Review: There are two kinds of novels about Antiquity: the historical novels like 'Quo Vadis' and 'I, Claudius' and novels about a character from mythology. I prefer the latter because there is more room for fantasy and imagination. In the 1970's the German writer Christa Wolf wrote some outstanding novels about mythology like 'Medea' and 'Cassandra'(the latter translated in English). And now there is 'Achilles' by Elisabeth Cook.
It's a wilful novel, sensual and sometimes erotic, about Achilles, one of the Greec commanders who besieged Troy. Peleus, his mortal father, begets him with Thetis, a sea-goddess. (A whole chapter is used to describe a fierce and erotic battle between a common man and an immortal woman - it's not very likely he should win but he does).When Achilles was born, Thetis washed him in the river Styx, which made him invulnerable except for a spot at his heel where his mother held him. (Near the end of the Trojan war, Paris kills Achilles by shooting an arrow in his heel). E.Cook gives a personal interpretation about Achilles'heel: she explains why it's the fault of his father instead of Thetis' fault.('Blame it on the father!', I've heard it before). It are these things that make the novel worthwile reading: it's not the mythological story-almost everybody knows it-but the descriptions, events and interpretations imagined by E.Cook. One of the highlights of this story is the description of the Trojan river ( or river-god if you like ) Skamander who tries in vain to drown Achilles.
In the last part of the novel, the poet John Keats makes his appearance. Achilles and John Keats had both red hair it seems, but that's not enough to explain the appearance of a completely superfluous personage.
Though Keats spoils the fun a little (he's so out of place!) it's a novel interesting enough for those who like Antiquity as the background of a story.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, thought-provoking book
Review: Written in the form of an ancient ballad, this book tells the story of brooding Achilles, from his conception by his mortal father and immortal mother, through his discovery of love, to the plains of Ilium, and on to the abode of Hades. And then, when the story seems to be over, it telescopes out to include those touched by Achilles story; Helen of Troy broods in her apartment; Chiron the centaur reexamines his life; and the poet Keats looks back on yesteryear.This is a wonderful, thought-provoking book. It does not retell the story of Achilles to make a modern point, nor does it seek to entertain by recasting the story as modern prose. Instead, this book presents a story, such as those told so long ago. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a great story.
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