Odysseus in the Serpent's Maze by Jane Yollen and Robert J. Harris ✮✮✮✮✮

A review by Reagan (6th grade)

So guess who’s back with another great book to review? Me! Reagan! This time I am reviewing an even better book than Mara. I am reviewing…ODYSSEUS!! Yes, I am reviewing Odysseus in the Serpent’s Maze by Jane Yollen and Robert J. Harris. This book is about Odysseus and his adventures. Odysseus and his friend Mentor are visiting Odysseus’s grandpa, and then they are on their way home when (plot twist) there is a major storm and they get thrown into the ocean. Some pirates find them, and that is where Penelope and Helen come into the story.  What will happen next? They die! Just kidding! They don’t die, but you will have to read the book to find out. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Overall, I loved the book. I never felt like it was just dragging on an on, and I would read it again. I also really loved Penelope and Helen, who are both clever in their own ways.

I liked Penelope more, because Helen is spoiled rotten, and Penelope puts up with it. She always puts the others’ needs first, and we have got to consider the fact that she volunteered to go inside the maze so that Helen wouldn’t have to.

I hated Helen in the beginning, but towards the end she shows that she is much more than just a pretty face. She uses her beauty to distract the guards multiple times, and when facing lack of food, water, and bathing facilities, she handles it decently. When they go to Crete and stay at the prince’s palace, she is treated like royalty (because she is), although Odysseus and Mentor are not. However, when Penelope is thrown into the maze, she gives up all the comforts that they have given her to help Odysseus and Mentor so Odysseus can go into the maze and save Penelope.

Mentor is a good friend, but when Helen comes along he is too mesmerized by her beauty to be of any use.

Odysseus is seriously heroic. He saves Mentor, Helen, and Penelope way too many times, he goes into the Labyrinth to save Penelope when she is thrown in, he slays Ladon, and he helps kill the bore. Sometimes, he does want to be a man a little too much, but in this book he was much more heroic than your average man. 

The scene and setting description is pretty good. It doesn’t mention any years really, but if you know when Odysseus lived that shouldn’t be a problem at all. Except for when they are lost at sea, you can always tell where they are.

I think that the book is very good, and I rate it 4.9/5 stars. Anyone who likes mythology would love this book.