Metamorphica by Zachary Mason
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a very pleasant surprise.

Now, I should admit I'm already a big fan of Ovid's Metamorphoses, so when I learned that there was a briefer, even distilled version of them, I got extremely enthusiastic.

The trend toward retellings of old myths has been an overall positive thing. I've read a few that weren't all that special, while some frankly blew me away. This particular one had no axe to grind except to illustrate humanity and the humanity of gods in a universal way.

Even better, this book gave us some expertly-turned evocative prose/poetry with an eye and ear toward the modern audience, neither forgiving or forgetting the faults of the past or ourselves.

In other words, it's a true rendition of the original, only distilled and sharpened.

It was truly effortless to read and what it lacks in depth for all these many personages of Greek mythology, it more than makes up for in crystal-clear windows into their souls.

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