Iliad: The Reboot by Keith Tokash

History cares about kings, but the gods love a buffoon.

The hapless young soldier Gelios faces execution for offending his king. Desperate, he accidentally volunteers his cousin to chronicle the coming war.

Equipped with only a sword and a stunning lack of judgment, Gelios must keep his cousin alive amid the greatest war of an era. Worse, he must survive the egos of the two most powerful kings in their army.

But his deadliest struggle is with his mouth. Can he keep it shut long enough to make it home alive?

The Iliad has long been the definitive source of knowledge surrounding the kings, gods, and heroes of the Trojan War. Now, for the first time, readers can experience the clash of two ancient superpowers through the eyes of the biggest jackass in history. (taken from Amazon)

Thank you to the author for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This book is available for purchase now.

This is the book that launched a thousand laughs! Equally hilarious and smart, every moment of this well-crafted comedy was perfect. Perfection is hard to come by, especially when retelling a classic, but that’s what this book is.

It was impossible to put down. Not literally; I could put it down if I had to, but I really didn’t want to. Told from the point of view of Gelios, the cousin of Pelos (ahem- Homer), this satire of the epic poem happily took every part of the original and twisted it into the funniest possible telling. Gelios was hilariously unable to keep his mouth shut, even when it behooved him to do so. It got both himself and Pelos into no end of trouble (it’s amazing he kept his head long enough to tell the full story).

The language was quippy and updated; think snark instead of flowery. It flowed well and there were no slow or unnecessary bits or characters. Even the nicknames added to the fun of the book: I particularly liked “Aggy”.

Should you read this book? Abso-freaking-lutely! I’d advise that you get to it sooner rather than later. You’ll thank me.