I really enjoyed this once I got into it, although it was a little slow to me in places, I still thought that it was a good read.

Hades by Mark Knowles, transports readers to Lemnos in Greece, with an action-packed story decades after Jason and the Argonauts sought the golden fleece.

This novel follows the quest of Xandros, grandson of the famous Jason, who is trying to find his place in the world and prove himself. The threat of the Sea People, a group of pirates roaming the Greek islands and pillaging as they go, looms large. Xandros decides to try to find the remaining Argonauts on Lemnos to help defend the island.

The novel, the third in the Blades of Bronze series, features a very large cast of characters but helpfully includes a Dramatis Personae list at the start, which provides a helpful reference. With Orpheus the poet the narrator, the tale cites characters from Greek mythology that everyone knows, like Jason, Medea, Castor and Pollux, but also some that are less well known.

Knowles, who read classics and management studies at the University of Cambridge, clearly knows what he’s writing about, and is happy to share his research prowess with his readers. Readers are transported to Ancient Greece, with wandering goats, swaying cypress trees and sparkling seas. It is a journey worth making.

I want to start this by saying the writing style was absolutely captivating and the sole reason I read this until the last page. However I didn't really enjoy the rest of it, I found the characters annoying and the plot confusing. I spent most of the book wondering what was happening and what everyone was doing. I do think that this book just wasn't for me and that if you are a lover of all things Greek mythology you will enjoy this book more than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good Greek myth retelling. The story was well researched and very interesting.

The writing style and pacing are fantastic. The characters and setting are really vivid, and I honestly don’t have much to say apart from that I’d like to read it again!

This was just too much, I wanted to love it but it was exhausting. I couldn't keep up. Beautiful, thoughtful, left me sleepy.

With a strong beginning, Mark Knowles sets the poetic tone of the book from the prologue narrated by Orpheus, a greek hero. Throughout the chapters, the narration follows Meleager, Jason, Hypsipyle, Huliat, Xandros and many others. The book is divided into several parts which connect various characters, all relating to bring back the age of heroes, taking inspiration from the myths of heroism by the Argonauts.

The author’s storytelling is remarkable, it does justice to the lyrical narrations of yore, the writing style is exquisite as a retelling. A long book that, in spite of its length, keeps the same writing style while narrating the demise of ancient heroes. However, if a reader is not well-versed into greek mythology then, this is not a good book to begin with, for the plot intertwines different points of view involving less-known stories.

Stunning cover for a unique type of book. As a greek retelling it’s tremendously well-researched, furthermore the characters have a deep background and a great range of personalities that makes them distinctive. Nevertheless, it’s due to the same vast amount of points of view that the enjoyment of the book fades away after not finishing entire legends, being confused with so many names and having extremely slow-paced chapters. Sometimes, a few parts even feel useless as they add nothing to the actual plot. As for the romantic subplot, it’s horrifying.

Furthermore, Hades isn't a central character in the book; rather, he serves as a means to an end, being his realm of death. Additionally, the book lacks a strong grip to keep the reader engaged, and the uneven flow makes it increasingly dull as the story unfolds. It's unfortunate that this retelling falls short in terms of both enjoyment and plot narration.

I’m grateful with NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity of letting me read this before its publication.

It's not often that I come across a book about Greek Mythology that is this well researched and also enjoyable - Mark Knowles's "Hades" is definitely one of the better mythological books I've read in a while, especially in the quality of the writing - every line, every page was an utter delight. And while I had no problem reading this third installment in the series without having read the first two, I would recommend reading the first two books before opening this one, especially if you're not familiar with the story of Jason and the Argonauts - I myself will definitely be reading "Argo" and "Jason" as soon as I can get my hands on them.

There were too many characters to keep track. It was really good in some parts but hard to follow in others .

Hades by Mark Knowles takes you into the world of the famous Greeks. This is set many years after the Argonauts embarked on their epic adventure. Some of the characters in this book you will be able to recognise if you have read other retellings of Greek Mythology. A lot of research has gone into this. But somewhere it gets tedious. There are moments of brilliance within the book that kept me hooked but I found myself getting lost at times with the sheet number of characters.

But still, if you love Greek Mythology like me, this is a good one time read.

I wasn't aware that this book was the third in the series when I requested it (I probably wouldn't have requested it if I had known) but that didn't stop me from at least starting the book. As an admirer of Greek Mythology and a particular lover of Hades, (I was a Percy Jackson kid what can I say) I was super eager to read this story. Overall I enjoyed it, although I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read the two books before this one. It is super obvious that Mark Knowles knows what he's talking about when it comes to the stories of greek mythology.

Now that I've read this one I can say for a fact that I will be going back to read the other two books in this series, if not just a little bit out of order...

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC

A tale of Ancient Greece after the Age of Heroes is dead.

I appreciate the author’s knowledge of this topic! However, the writing style was really just not for me.

Hades is the third in a series. This is important - I didn't realise this before I read it and maybe that would have deterred me. However, I don't know if reading the prior books would have changed my opinion an awful lot.

This novel is told in a way that emulates classic epic tales like Homer's Odyssey. It is centered around Xandros, grandson of the well-known hero Jason, who goes in search of his grandfather and the rest of the Argonauts to help protect his village from bandits.

Unfortunately, this style was simply not for me. It was written in a very convoluted way, with distant narration, multiple POVs, numerous characters (often with very similar names) and far too much information about the mundane, with too little about the deeper aspects. It's slow-paced despite having plenty of action scenes. I didn't connect with any of the characters and was interested in very few scenes. The only relationship that mildly piqued my interest was the central love story.

The Argonauts were lingered over laboriously. I understand now, given that the first couple of books likely centered around them, but it detracted from this story and plot. Often, the parts that were focused on were unimportant to the plot and the things that would normally draw me in were glossed over. I also wasn't a fan of Orpheus and his detached means of narrating.

The ancient saga elements that this novel will likely alienate a lot of readers, myself included. However, it is certainly one that would have a niche readership who are crazy about it. If classical retellings in epic style are your interest, please do pick it up. If it's not, I do not recommend you read it.

As someone who loves Hades and Persephone, the story, the retellings, and everything to do with them it was no brainer that I was going to jump on a chance to read this book.

And while I did enjoy Mark's story of Hades and how he crafted this book, I found that this was a book I had trouble connecting with a as a reader. This is a very thoroughly researched book and it shows (both a good thing and a bad thing). The content is often overwhelming to the reader because there's so much love and research attached to it.

This is definitely a book that was really interesting but just fell slightly flat for me! Overall, if you're interested in a very gripping and detailed retelling of Hades, this may be the book for you!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I appreciate the early copy to read but it sadly was not for me. Clearly, the novel is well researched, but I couldn’t keep the story straight. DNF’ed about 50% in.

Slightly disappointed as this was not what I was expecting.

It is years since the Argonauts arrived in Lemnos aboard the Argo. In that time, the Argonauts have been scattered to the four winds - many dead, some still leaving but most lost to the mists of legend. Xandros, grandson of Jason, is struggling to find his place in Lemnos. He feels mistreated and ignored by his father and bridals against the menial jobs he is given to punish him for his misdemeanours. He has, however, developed a relationship with the girl from the next town but is struggling with jealousy when he learns that she is engaged to the leaders son causing a rift between the two towns. Lemnos is also under threat of the Sea People - a group of pirates who travel the islands, raping and pillaging as they go. Poorly defended, Lemnos will surely fall if the Sea People arrive here. So, Xandros sets out on a mission to find the remaining Argonauts, rally people to his cause, and join a pact to defeat the Sea People once and for all.

Beware: Spoilers Follow!

I love Greek Mythology so I was initially excited to read this book - however, I was disappointed once I started reading. I found the story a bit confusing to be honest and the style of writing was tricky to follow in places. The title confused me too - I kept waiting for Hades to make his appearance....and he never does. The closest we get to it is a repeated vision that Xandros has of a skeletal figure in a boat rowing its way towards him (I took this to be the ferry man come to take Xandros down to Hades). The cast is big - I felt like I needed a cheat sheet of who was who so I could keep track of them all.

Xandros embarks on his mission but never actually finds any of the Argonauts except Jason - and he kind of bumps into him by accident - in fact the whole mission seemed a pointless waste of time as we spend ages traveling between a couple of islands where Xandros gets into assorted scraps before moving on again. It is unclear how long his travels last either as we don't have any timescale for his voyage. Ultimately, the remaining Argonauts turn up as Jason sends a man to get them from the place where they meet once a year to see who is still alive (how fortunate that they just happened to be meeting at the right time and that this time a few of them had turned up) - Jason himself does not get involved and chooses to stay on his island with the crumbling remains of the Argo.

Xandros does undergo some character development - he goes away as an angry young man and comes back, somehow, as a leader of men that everyone just defers to. On a side note here, I was very confused by the inclusion of a character called 'Red' who, at one point is revealed to be a stuttering, weak version of Xandros who only he can see - kind of like an invisible friend. Once we know that 'Red' isn't real, he is promptly never mentioned again...except once in a sentence I had to re-read several times in case I had missed something as his sudden re-arrival seemed a bit...odd.

As with much of Greek Mythology it all ends with defeat for the islanders of Lemnos. The Sea People come in two waves of attack and Xandros and his people are ultimately defeated. Only the bard Orpheus lives to tell the tale.

This book just didn't hit the spot for me at all and I was left feeling a bit....flat, if I am honest.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book! I did but I didn’t. I want to preface this by saying you can see how much time went into the research of this book and if you enjoy dense and extremely detailed info you might love it but for me I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. I couldn’t get past how hard it felt to read. It feels more like an academic book than a mythology retelling.

I DNF’d about 40% through.

Thank you so much to all for the arc!

Thank you to Net Galley and Head of Zeus for an ARC of this book!

DNF, 20% of the way finished. I really wanted to love this book as I tend to love Greek mythology retellings. However, the writing was extremely dense and I couldn’t get interested in any of the characters or story lines. I applaud the author for the amount of research done to write this book, but it just wasn’t for me.

Huge thanks to the author and publisher for the ARC, this was unfortunately, not for me. I found it too long and hard to get into. This is no reflection on the author.

Ah Orpheus. Probably one of my favourite characters in Greek mythology. He tells the story of the old argonauts and Iason's grandson Xandros. Decades after the Argonaut adventure the Greek world is being threatened by the Sea People and they just don't know what to do.

Xandros, a good-for-nothing according to his father Euneus, is trying to navigate his way through a highly complicated world and society and hopes to bring back together the Argonauts one last time.

The author possesses a huge knowledge of Greek mythology and weaves a lot of threads together in this story. Sometimes the pacing was abit too slow for me, but I did enjoy the story a lot.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!