Thank you to the publisher, Head of Zeus, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The kingdom of Iolkos is ruled by King Aeson. When they are attacked by the king’s half-brother, Pelias, Aeson’s wife sends away their newborn son, Jason, to keep him safe. Twenty years later, a grown Jason arrives in Iolkos to compete in the games and discovers his true identity. But Pelias sets an impossible challenge for him to complete in order to reclaim his throne: to travel to the distant kingdom of Colchis and steal the mythical Golden Fleece. A great ship called the Argo is built for the quest as Jason assembles a crew of great warriors from across Greece. But this will be a journey fraught with dangers and an inexperienced Jason must quickly find his footing amidst this crew to complete the monumental task in time.

While the tale of Jason and the Argonauts is not really my favorite Greek myth compared to some of the others, I was eager to read this book, because a retelling of this tale has so much potential. It started out pretty strong as the first few chapters really drew me in, but from the moment the quest actually began – which should have been the most exciting parts of the book – it just went downhill. The writing was decent enough, but I felt that the narrative lacked emotion. Greek myths are often tragic in nature, and Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece has its share. So it’s very telling when an important character died on page and I barely felt moved by it. Consequently, this also made it hard to connect to any of the characters, much less sympathize with them.

It more or less follows the familiar story, but I felt like the book was going through a list of adventures that the Argonauts get into, just checking them off one after the other until they finally get to Colchis, where the real point of the quest is. This made Argo a painfully long read, and it really should have been trimmed down by a lot.

But the real sticking point of this book for me was how nearly every mythological aspect has been stripped out. It’s a fascinating approach to be certain, but this story is such a classic that removing these elements leaves a void in the narrative that wasn’t quite filled in. It did not have the fantastical feel that I’ve found in most Greek mythology retellings, which was very disappointing. There was also a modern touch to the dialogue at times that I did not like – it was bad enough there were barely any mythological or magical aspects left, which made it hard enough to really immerse myself into the story, and jarringly out of place dialogue made it even worse.

Despite this review mostly being negative, I did enjoy reading this book and following Jason’s adventures. This is the first time I’ve seen this sort of approach to the genre, and it makes the events seem so much more realistic. But quite honestly, the drama of the gods and monsters and everything in between is the best part of Greek myths, and to have that completely removed, leaving a work with a feel closer to historical fiction just did not work for me. However, this is purely a personal preference and if this approach to retelling Greek myths sounds interesting to you, I would definitely recommend it.

Argo is a retelling of the Jason and the Argonauts myth. I was excited to read it because I have never seen a longer retelling of that myth and the cover design is super cool. Written by a Cambridge classicist, too? Amazing! Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book as much as I hoped.

I found this book really boring. I have spent a lot of time thinking about why I found it so boring because a lot happens, there are a lot of quest details, a lot of new characters, and a lot of new places. I think it's because I didn't care about the characters at all. I had a hard time remembering which Argonaut was which and had no idea how they were different. I understand that we probably don't get a lot of differentiating information about the Argonauts in the original story besides their epithets, but I would have liked that in a narrative retelling.

I also did not think that Jason was very compelling. At the end of the book, I still have no idea what he really liked, felt, hoped, hated, loved, and what made him a person people would follow. I understand that part of the story was Jason's growing pains in that area, but I didn't feel like there was a strong resolution. Jason ​and the rest of the characters felt like chess pieces moving the story along but without any depth. This book is over 500 pages and it really feels it. I really lost interest around 40% in and after that all I wanted was for them to hurry up and find the stupid fleece.

I really didn't like the way that women were portrayed in this book. Even worse than the Argonauts, they were mostly limited to physical descriptions and how attractive they were. That didn't exactly make me feel connected to or compelled by any of them. I was hoping to get more with Medea, but again I just felt like she was a chess piece inching the story along. I have no idea why Jason would feel connected to her or she to him. I really hope this is explored in future books.

The writing style of this book was a combination of formal and simple writing. I think I would have preferred it if the writing was consistently one or the other. It would also switch perspectives once in a while when it was convenient for the plot and it was honestly a little weird whenever that happened. We follow Jason for 95% of the book and then sometimes it was randomly someone else narrating. Again, I would have liked one perspective or more consistently other perspectives.

I am glad that I got to learn a little more about the Jason and the Argonauts story. Before, I really only knew the bare bones of the story, like the one sandal, the golden fleece, and that Medea was involved. Now I have a better idea of some of who was on the journey with Jason (Peleus, Hercules, Orpheus). I feel like those were the most fleshed out characters, along with the two sets of twins, but I still can't identify any of the other Argonauts.

Overall, I found this book hard to get through. If you are interested in a Greek mythology epic of a lesser known story, I'd recommend the King Must Die by Mary Renault about Theseus or Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. Or just read the Song of Achilles again instead, I won't judge. 2.35 stars rounded down to 2. Thank you to Aria & Aries and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book!

DNF @63%

I just couldn't get into this book. I found myself avoiding it. When I finally decided that I should probably get back to it, this feeling of dread came over me, and I was like nope. I can't.

It isn't a bad book. I'm sure it's a great book for the right reader, but that reader isn't me. It felt very much like reading a textbook but with a little more pizzazz, only still not enough pizzazz that you get to know any of the characters well enough to GAF about whether they die.

This is a good retelling of the story of the Argonauts, Jason and Golden Fleece. I think that the author did a good job in his version of the myth but this is also a very complex myth full of possible interpretations and somehow it missed part of its charm.
There's action, the characters are fleshed out but the storytelling was a bit dull.
I think it's an interesting take on this very ancient myth.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Argo and this reviewer are sadly not a match made in heaven.

I have been on a myth retelling kick this year, and I've had the pleasure of reading some amazing stories... And each time, I was absolutely swept away by beautiful writing and characters that stole my heart.

And unfortunately, I feel like the writing here didn't really get me there. I didn't feel like I connected to the story, to the people, it all felt sort of... flat and superficial. It wasn't bad, I just wasn't clicking with the writing, I didn't feel like it created an atmosphere that I like when I am trying to get immersed in a myth.

I think the characters were a bit lacking, the atmosphere really didn't capture my attention and hold it, but also, the language used sometimes felt out of place. Like the way some characters spoke didn't even belong to be in this book. You know when you read a sentence or a paragraph and you're like... Oof, yikes, this sounds weird, it makes me sort of itchy and uncomfortable to even be reading this in a story like this.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to my friends, because life is just too short, but I'm thankful to the publisher for giving me a chance to try it out and read it.

Thank you, NetGalley, Mark Knowles, and Aria and Aries Books for the opportunity to read this book! It releases on November 11th, 2021.

Argo by Mark Knowles had so much potential. While Jason and the Argonauts isn’t my favorite myth, a retelling could have really been exciting. In fact, the first chapter really caught my attention. Aeson is the King of Iolcus and his wife is getting ready to deliver a child. But they are attacked by his half-brother, Pelias. Aeson’s wife sends the boy away to save him. Twenty years later, the boy named Jason is all grown up and he comes to Iolcus to compete in the games, he discovers his real identity. Pelias tells him that if he can bring back the Golden Fleece, he can retake his throne. So a ship called the Argo is built and Jason and his crew go on a quest to find the fleece. Well, that was the first 10% of the book.

As I said, the potential is there. But it, unfortunately, went downhill from there. The book ends pretty much in the middle of a scene and it isn’t even close to the end of the myth. This book is 528 pages. So that means roughly 400 pages contain just filler. This book needs to be cleaned up. There is SO much unnecessary information. Yes, we know they are on a ship. We don’t need the repetitive descriptions of the oars or what food they ate. I’m not against details that help the story but unnecessary details just slow down the pace. But there is no characterization! With all the details, one would think the characters would be well-developed, nope.

But that’s not all. The dialogue is so stilted. The language is also so unrealistic. I am sorry, but when a character says, “I dunno,” in a Greek myth…it really takes the reader out of the story. Not to mention Jason talks with too many pauses. For example, “Then…this is all just…a lie.” He talks like that ALL the time. It is beyond frustrating. And don’t get me started on the female descriptions: “Shorter than most. Generous hips flaring from a slim waist. A flash of creamy thigh-not too skinny-beneath the slit of her skirts.” Just no.

I don’t say these things to rip apart this book. I am disappointed but if there are some edits, it really has potential. I rate it 2 out of 5 stars.

This is a well written story. It is packed full of adventure and follows the well known journey of Jason and the Argonauts as they set out to take the Golden Fleece. It follows the adventures well, and sticks to the known challenges. However, I just felt that there was a little something missing for me whilst reading this book, and I think it was that although the story was well told and written, I just didn’t feel connected. I think perhaps for me it was just missing some of the drama and magic of the Greek myths and gods.

In this time where Greek mythology retellings are super successful, it was time that a man wrote one. I wish that it wouldn't matter, but it feels like it has been written by a man, for men, meaning that it focuses on action, and other traditional 'masculine' tropes. It didn't give me a new feeling for the myth that it took on, and that's a shame.

Thank you Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really wanted to like this one. I LOVE mythology and mythological retellings, but Argo didn't hit the mark for me. Unfortunately it was a DNF.

The book veers from the classic myth by cleaving out any magical/godly intervention and meddling, which is where my love of mythology is rooted. I was looking forward to reading of mythical creatures and the demi-gods involved in the story of Jason. What we're left with is a retelling as if it were historical fiction, which isn't necessarily a bad thing - I think it's an interesting viewpoint; Pat Barker's Silence of The Girls and Women of Troy come to mind. But where we lose parts and characters from the classic myth, we do not have sufficient replacement.

I feel like Knowles should have capitalised on characterisation to drive this, but even Jason felt a little hollow. I just didn't root for him. And if we don't have characterisation, we need plot, but the book doesn't really get going for quite some time.

What I will say is the book is that it is mostly written well. Knowles knows how to set the scene and I could vividly picture everything as if it were painted before me. I really feel that if there had been more emotion behind the writing, I may have clung on for a little longer.

All in all I reached about 40% before I had to DNF.

This starts on the day of Jason's birth and is the journey of the Argo and its Argonauts. A real travelogue and had great fun following their voyage on a map. A bit of a trend at the moment for these retellings of classical myths. This is definitely one of the better ones but I still just wanted to watch the Ray Harryhausen film for the umpteenth time. I will be watching out for the next instalment as this doesn't quite wrap up the story in one book. Thanks to Netgalley.

Jason discovers his parents were overthrown by his uncle Pelias who now occupies the throne. To claim his rightful position as crown prince, he goes on a quest to steal the golden fleece from Aeetes, the king of Colchis. Together with a bunch of so called Argonauts, he travels by sea and faces some serious life threatening challenges before he will arrive at Colchis.

Jason and the golden fleece is one of these Greek myths not so familiar to me. I was expecting a nice retelling of this adventure and in some ways, this is exactly what you get. We follow Jason and his Argonauts on their sea voyage to Colchis. Stopping on beaches and in forgotten places where the local tribes are a threat. There is no focus on the Godly perspective, although there is a seer on board and Jason seems to hear voices.

There is a whole bunch of Argonauts, which means a lot of names. And I just couldn't get a hold on who was who. Except those names I knew from other myths such as Herakles, Castor and Pollux of Sparta and Peleus (the father of Achilles). Another thing that bothered me was that every stop formed a challenge. Some tribe that was friendly at first but then becomes hostile. Therefore the story felt repetitive.

I believe I missed a strong female character, as I'm used to in Greek feministic retellings. Such as in 'A thousand ships', 'Daughters of Sparta', 'The silence of the girls'... Of course, there is Medea. I do find her one of the most fascinating characters in Greek mythology. But she is just a side character in this book. Although I believe she will get more prominent role in the sequel. Yes, there will be a sequel. After more than 500 pages, the story stops abruptly and I am not sure if I want to read another whopper of a book like this. Maybe I do, if I know there will be a focus on Medea.

This doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy 'Argo' at all. There were a lot of likable scenes and it's a great adventure. I just didn't have any emotional connection with Jason and all the fights were too similar.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

This was a different way of telling the story of Jason and the fleece. I would have like a bit more mythology links in it but it was an interesting read.

𝐸𝑁/𝐹𝑅

| WARNING: This digital A.R.C was kindly sent to me by the publisher via NetGalley after I requested it in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. |

To be perfectly honest with the writer and publisher, I did not finish this A.R.C.
I read 30% of it and decided It wasn't for me. So don't take my review too seriously if you consider buying Argo by Mark Knowles.

I'm not a specialist in the Jason and the Argonauts myth but I'm well versed in Greek Mythology, I studied Latin which means I've read the Iliad and the Odysseus and a lot of work by Ovide, Seneque, Platon but also contemporary works in the trending popularity Greek Mythology has got lately.

I think the main issue with Mark Knowles work is that he wrote it as a classic while erasing every "magical" aspect of the myth, in a pale imitation of Homer. I would have advised finding a more creative take on the subject with maybe a better representation of women?


| WARNING : Cet A.R.C digital m’a été envoyé par l'éditeur via NetGalley suite à ma demande sur le site en échange d’une honnête revue. Toutes les opinions exprimées sont miennes. |

Pour être parfaite honnête avec l'auteur et l'éditeur, je n'ai pas terminé cet A.R.C.
J'en ai lu 30% avant de décider que ce n'était pas une lecture pour moi. Donc ne prenez pas mon avis top sérieusement si vous envisagez d'acheter Argo par Mark Knowles.

Je ne suis pas une spécialiste du mythe de Jason et les Argonautes mais je m'y connais un peu en mythologies grecque, j'ai étudié le latin ce qui signifier que j'ai lu l'Iliade et l'Odyssée et ma part d'écrits d'Ovide, Sénèque et Platon mais aussi des oeuvres plus récentes vu la vague de popularité que connait dernièrement la mythologie.

Je pense que le problème principal avec l'oeuvre de Mark Knowles est qu'il l'a écrit comme un classique, en enlevant tous les éléments "magiques" du mythe, dans une pâle comparaison d'Homère. J'aurai recommancé une approche plus créative du sujet avec une meilleure représentation des femmes ?

(I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review)

The moment I first saw the cover I was convinced it would be a promising book. I was wrong. I was sure I would find a retelling on par with Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint, but it was not.

Throughout the book you realize that something is missing, and that is that the author has chosen to remove any mythological essence by turning the story into the repetitive journey of a group of apparently heterosexual men, each one more brutish and useless than the last, and their incompetence for food management.

The mannerism used to tell the story is quite unsatisfactory, in that the text is a constant sequence of overlapping actions and imagery that cuts the flow of the reading.

The story itself is boring... and with a lack of mythology it is even more so. The author fails to flesh out the characters or seems to doesn't care about world development in most cases. The climax is disappointing and unclear, not to mention the "to be continued..." at the end....

I really wouldn't know who to recommend this book to. It's 500+ pages of text lacking in feeling and poetics. I didn't enjoy it and it makes me very, very angry and sorry that I didn't.

~Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.~

DNFd this at 65%.

I'd like to start my review saying that this is a well-written book and that I truly believe others will enjoy it. I was very excited when I got approved to read it. This is the first time I see a novelization of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, and though I'm no fan of Jason I'm a sucker for all things mythology so I really could pass on this one.

Argo is packed with adventure but doesn't neglect lyricism, including the right measure of poignant descriptions of the landscape. As I read, I was truly curious to see where the story was going, but every time I went to pick up the book I had to convince myself to do it. At first I wasn't sure where my hesitation was coming from, but when I reached the 60% mark I realised that this book simply holds no emotion. The events taking place are tragic, as a reader I would've expected to be in tears several times but instead I felt nothing towards what I was reading. Jason experiences traumatic situations that you forget about a few pages after they take place, until he recalls them later with, again, very little emotion.

Another issue I had was with the way the characters spoke. It felt anachronistic and it completely took me away from the story. At certain points the characters seemed to recall they were living in Ancient Greece and spoke accordingly, but otherwise the dialogues felt too present-day-like.

Finally, I did not appreciate how women were written in this story. They are treated poorly and most of them are mean or forgettable. Perhaps it's because lately I've mostly read books written by women, but I simply could tell that the story had been written by a man with every page.

These are my personal reasons for dropping Argo. Again, it is well-written and I'm certain others will enjoy it, I hope readers will give it a chance! With that gorgeous cover, I'm sure it will attract people's attention.

I was fascinated by the summary and was very excited to read this book.
The story of Jason has been taken on by films but I was intrigued to see a book devoted to it.
I must say it went a little slow. There is a lot of description and it is clear the author is extremely well versed in the myth itself and the history, archaeology and culture of Ancient Greece.
I enjoyed the book, as I enjoy much that deals with Greek mythology. But it did progress slowly with quite a bit of very descriptive writing. I thinkI would have liked a bit more introspection and involvement in the personalities of the characters themselves.
I think I was expecting a more emotional retelling.
It was very informative and engaging on the mythology itself.

Parts of this book are interesting, but something about the story is dull and listless. I don’t feel the spark of the characters living or the thrill of a new look at an old story. I don’t sympathize with Jason or really care about his development, much less any of the other characters.

Jason and the Golden Fleece is easily my least favorite Greek Hero myth—I’ve always found both the protagonist and the quest itself rather boring—but I tend to find new appreciation in well-done retellings, especially when they’re written by someone with a deep love for the source material. I’ve been on a Greek mythology kick for the better part of two years, and I really went into ARGO with the hope of emerging having come to, if not love, at least like this story… but the cover that drew my eyes in the first place is the only good thing about it.

Knowles, a Cambridge classicist, claims to deeply love this myth, but it doesn’t translate into the finished product; if it hadn’t been an advance reader’s copy, I wouldn’t have bothered finishing it. Given that 500+ pages later he doesn’t even finish writing down the story he set out to tell, but ends on a cliffhanger setting up for a sequel (that I’d be very surprised if it ever ended up happening, given the at best lukewarm reception this is garnering so far), I wish I had followed my gut and read something else instead; I hated this.

I’m not sure who the target audience is, but it’s too light for adult fiction, yet also lacks the driving emotion one expects in a YA novel. One gets the sense that he wrote or edited his first draft with a thesaurus at hand; the prose is awkward, stilted, gives birth to some awful similes (a sex-sequence describing Jason grabbing a woman’s buttocks with “talons” springs to mind), and simply doesn’t read well. There are prolonged and much-too-detailed action-sequences that unnecessarily weigh the story down; I dare any reader’s eyes not to glaze over at the minute description of weapons, shields, and fighting strategy. That care should’ve been invested in characterization instead, which possibly could’ve been the novel’s saving grace, but Knowles unfortunately didn’t really bother letting us get to know the Argonauts beyond some very superficial traits and motivations, and this includes the protagonist whose success we’re supposed to root for.

It takes almost half the book to get the quest going (the part that plays out in Thessaly is actually the strongest), but once the voyage is underway, there’s an ill-placed eagerness about it that made me feel as if Knowles simply tried to get through a checklist of points on a map to get to the anti-climatic and unsatisfying ending in Colchis as quickly as possible. The author also made the baffling decision of stripping the story of virtually all magic and supernatural elements—there are no monsters or demigods interacting with our band of heroes. I find the original myth pretty dull as it is, but the choice of turning it into a semblance of historical fiction by leaving out the few interesting elements truly had me bored to tears.

A new take on the classic Greek myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece. I am a huge fan of Greek mythology and was really drawn in by the fact that this was a action filled retelling, unfortunately this just didn’t work for me as much as I had hoped. It definitely goes along with the main points of the original myth but something about the writing just didn’t connect to me and I found myself having a hard time wanting to finish reading this. This is the first book in the series and ends up on a cliffhanger. There is a more political and realistic take on the original myth and a bit less of the mythological aspect.

*Thanks netgalley and Aria & Aries for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

The author gives new life to the myth of Jason, the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece. It makes them more human and closer; although I have noticed the lack of the mythological part I have enjoyed this story.