The Murder of Heracles: An Amazon Odyssey by J. Edward Ritchie

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

The Murder of Heracles is a fun historical fantasy novel, which takes the familiar world of Greek myth and drives it in some surprising directions.

At the beginning of our story, four young Amazons are about to become full members of the community: Penthesilia (“Pen”), Bremusa (“Bremy”), Valasca (“Val”), and Antianara (“Anne”). They complete their final trial, defending their homeland of Themyscira against invading men. Victorious, they return home to claim their reward. Unfortunately, on that very night, a more effective army of Greeks invades Themyscira, massacring the Amazons and killing their queen Hippolyta. The leader of the Greeks is the “hero” Heracles, here portrayed as an intelligent but monstrous and barbaric figure.

Fifteen years later, the few surviving Amazons live in exile, scraping out an existence in the wilderness, having lost all their culture and pride. Only Hippolyta’s daughter, Derinoe (“Dee”), offers them any hope as she grows to womanhood as a potential queen. Then the survivors discover that Heracles is still alive, standing at the head of a vicious religious cult that demands tribute from across the world. Pen and her companions set out on a quest for revenge, hoping to find Heracles and kill him for what he has done.

What follows is a journey across the world, full of bloody battles, narrow escapes, triumphs, and tragedies. The astute reader will spot references to many stories of Greek myth, even some that are rather obscure; Mr. Ritchie has definitely done his research here. In most cases, there is some dramatic twist to render the familiar story strange.

In fact, this story gives us a very contemporary take on the Greek heroic age. Character dialogue and authorial voice are all in modern and highly colloquial language. The setting is full of anachronisms, elements of the historical Late Bronze Age mixed with much later eras and the fantastic world of myth. I detected some very distinctive influences here: a dash of Xena, scraps of George Pérez’s take on Wonder Woman, and even hints of a recent Assassin’s Creed game. At times, the classicist in me was having seizures . . . but the recipe honestly works well, and the result is a very engaging story.

After all, the core of this story isn’t the mythical or pseudo-historical premise. The core of this story is its leading characters: a band of tough, cynical, bloody-handed, foul-mouthed women who have already suffered all the pain and betrayal the world has to offer. Their personal development across this story is a delight to watch, and their resolution feels very well-earned.

The mechanics of the prose are strong. I caught a few typos and odd word choices, but it was never enough to break me out of the flow of the narrative for long. Viewpoint discipline is very good – the entire story is told from Pen’s perspective, and we hear only her internal dialogue.

This isn’t a novel I would have written, despite my interest in the setting, but I still found it thoroughly enjoyable. I’m very interested to see what Mr. Ritchie comes up with next. Very highly recommended.