When Prometheus breaks free from his endless torture, he is destined to be hunted for the rest of time by The Fury. But Zeus offers him a deal; find a true hero amongst the humans and he will go free. Meanwhile, in a smoky Victorian city, Jim and his Uncle Edward prepare to perform their travelling show, and perhaps pilfer a few things of value from their kind host...

One of my favourite fictional book series as a kid was Terry Deary's 'Tudor Terrors', and I love a good Greek myth retelling, so when I found out that the master of 'Horrible Histories' had written a trilogy of stories about Prometheus, I had to hunt them down! The writing style of this is very different; this is somewhere slap bang in the middle of the serious yet informative storytelling of those Tudor books and the complete irreverence of 'Horrible Histories'. The story is told as if Jim is writing it, with comedic  footnotes and chapter introductions that break the fourth wall and keep a reign on where you are in time and why. 

It felt aimed at a younger audience than the Tudor books; the story is quite simplistic and takes place over a very short space of time (or a million years, depending on your perspective!), and the depth of character and story wasn't quite there for me. It's a fun little read, but I think where I'm struggling is I was prepared for it to be more of a Greek myth retelling than it is. Although it introduces the Greek pantheon, that element comes across as more of a vehicle for the series than the main thrust of the story. Prometheus is going to be the main character if the series, but he's not the main character of the book.

The comedy is clever, while not being overly complex. There's plenty of eye rolls, sarcastic comments and other asides from the 'author', great banter between the young boy and girl (which is similar to the feel of the Tudor books, if slightly more juvenile in here) and an adult character who is all bluster. For the right age group, I can see this being laugh-out-loud funny in places, but even for the adults in the room it can raise a wry smile here and there!

It being a Terry Deary book, it doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of history; Prometheus' punishment is described, an execution takes place and the squalor and poverty of the Victorian slums are evident, but if course it's all dealt with in such a way that it sets the scene and invites/answers questions without being traumatising for the younger reader. It continues to amaze me how the author gets this balance absolutely spot on every time. 

I think what I struggled with most is that the depth of story and character just isn't there. Again, I can appreciate that this will work perfectly well for its intended audience; the plot skips along merrily and doesn't require too much concentration. However, I cannot help but compare it to the Tudor books, whose characters feel so much moren tangible. It seems a shame that the same level of craft isn't evident in this book, and I can't work out why. 

I'm still very pleased to have read this though!