Three-and-a-half stars. I found it to be clever and well-written; the twists and turns that Odysseus and other characters from the Iliad and Odyssey were interesting digressions on what might be an alternate truth. The style and narrative turns reminded me of [b:Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives|4948826|Sum Forty Tales from the Afterlives|David Eagleman|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320528453s/4948826.jpg|5014561] in some instances (particularly of "Odysseus in Hell"), a collection I enjoyed very much.

What kept me from pushing this to four stars? I'm not sure--I feel like I should've liked it much more than I did. Even though the alternative stories also gave you an opportunity to think back to the original narratives and see them in a new light, it's not like I ever reached for my copies of the Iliad or Odyssey to hunt out new meaning there. I found the footnotes distracting for the most part; half of the fun and challenge of alternative stories like this should be making your own connections back to the source materials, not being told their significance up front (and for many of them, I knew what the footnotes were going to say).

I will say that, as far as turning myths on their heads, The Lost Books of the Odyssey succeeds where many others, including last year's darling [b:The Song of Achilles|13623848|The Song of Achilles|Madeline Miller|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1357177533s/13623848.jpg|16176791], failed miserably for me. Mason manages to tear apart, put together and reinvent Odysseus and the characters surrounding him in ways that manage to stay true to the spirit of the Iliad and Odyssey, but shine a somewhat modern sensibility on the stories. There's no weak characterization here at the expense of telling the familiar stories in a new way.