The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles in Pick-a-Shelf

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The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles

Padraic Colum

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Mar 11, 2011 Slayermel rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, historical-fiction, mythology, library, audiobooks

I really enjoy Mythology of all types, but I do have a certain weakness for Greek mythology, I鈥檓 not sure what it was that originally attracted me to it as a child but the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, Zeus and his lightning bolts, all that was absolutely fascinating to me.

This is the story of Jason who was supposed to be the king of Iolcus but his uncle Pelias had taken the thrown from Jason鈥檚 father Aeson. Aeson worried that his brother Pelias was going to do harm to his young son as he may view h I really enjoy Mythology of all types, but I do have a certain weakness for Greek mythology, I鈥檓 not sure what it was that originally attracted me to it as a child but the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, Zeus and his lightning bolts, all that was absolutely fascinating to me.

This is the story of Jason who was supposed to be the king of Iolcus but his uncle Pelias had taken the thrown from Jason鈥檚 father Aeson. Aeson worried that his brother Pelias was going to do harm to his young son as he may view him as a threat to the throne, so Aeson sent his young son with a servant up into the mountains to be raised by Chiron who had trained many young heroes in the past.

Pelias had been warned that a young man half shod coming to his Kingdom could be a danger to his thrown, so when Jason arrives as a grown man in Iolcus wearing only one sandal Pelias decides to send Jason on a quest to retrieve the golden fleece which is dangerous and near impossible, therefore removing the threat from himself.

Jason has Pelias build him a ship and request the presence of any other young men who wish to join on the quest to make a name for themselves. They named the ship the Argo and that is how the Men became known as the Argonauts. :0)

There are lots of other side stories to the original quest and we learn a lot about some of the other Argonauts on the many adventures they encounter. Some of the other characters who appear whose names you may recognize Artemis, Orpheus, Heracles, and Atalanta.

I actually listened to this one as an audio book in the car back and forth to work; the reader was Fred Williams who has a very calm and soothing voice to the point where he almost put me to sleep at first when I started listening to it. I eventually got used to it but it took a while. I found some of the story jumped around a bit and there where so many characters that in some parts I couldn鈥檛 remember who was who anymore and who they were related too. I enjoyed it as I have some back ground knowledge of the stories already, but I think for anyone just starting out in Greek Mythology it could be confusing and a bit over whelming.
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Jul 24, 2008 Luann rated it it was ok

Shelves: newbery-honor, 2008

I never would have finished this if it wasn't a Newbery Honor. I just didn't enjoy it all that much, and always put off reading it. I didn't plan to read it quickly, but I would let weeks lapse in-between reading any of it. Some of the stories were interesting, but then it would immediately move on to another story that I didn't find as engaging. Definitely not one of the better Newbery Honor books out there. ...more

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