IGN Ultimate Bookshelf Notable

Oh no! Interest in ancient Greece slipping, slipping, goooooone. I found this installment really, really boring. It's like... those few episodes in an otherwise excellent TV show that makes you go, OMG so bored! What are they doing with the characters? What's the conflict in this one? Where's the story? People are just wandering around, talking and crying and shouting. ( )

Eric Shanower's Trojan War saga starts the stories of Polyctetes and Troilus and Cressida. ( )

Another solid part, though I was distressed to see that this is only 3A, and wondered if that meant that when he says out of seven volumes, will 3B be the equivalent Volume 4 or not.

But, that's neither here nor there. It is amazing art, and pretty good storytelling as well. An author after my own heart, taking all these different sources and trying to put it together into one cognizant story. Go Eric Shanower! ( )

The tale of the Trojan war -- the *whole* tale -- continues. Once again, this is a pleasing collation of sources beyond the Iliad, straightforwardly presented in words and pictures. By the end of 'Betrayal' the war proper has begun. Shanower is technically impeccable. His characters are distinct and well-rendered in a classic style. I like that he is not afraid to show sounds, even sounds which permeate the whole novel, like the curses of the luckless Philoktetes or the ceaseless wind which plagued the Achaeans in 'Sacrifice'. I have not read the original sources of the Trojan War beyond Homer so it is great to have it all presented here. ( )