Bull

David Elliott’s retelling of the Minotaur myth provides perspectives from various characters, which makes the story more engaging and insightful. Highly recommend!

I have to be honest, this book really suffered from what I wanted it to be, and my preconceived notions. One of my favorite myths, I had very high hopes, and expectations of tone and content.That said, once I got over the way the self-consciously modern language pricked my pretense, there is a lot of good here, and the author is commended for the risks they took. It is a fine book, and I liked some of the ways they tied together and developed loose ends of the myths.One criticism would be that the author’s note at the end would have served us better at the beginning. A discussion of the poetic forms used would have made this work much more accessible to the casual reader, as I was lost for much of the book, trying to make heads or tails of the patterns that, once I knew them, seemed obvious.

I found this book while searching for a young adult novel based on Greek myth and boy, am I happy that I did. I'll be writing a compare and contrast essay on the actual myth and this book for my college Mythology class and really can't wait to begin. Elliott stays so closely aligned with the facts of the original myth while giving the reader an insight into the relationships of the characters involved, creating a much more emotional and captivating retelling of the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. I flew through this novel, aided by the spectacular flow of the verse and form of each character. I am impressed that Elliott let his characters decide which forms or poetry he used according to their temperament and intent. This is a fantastic quick read and so much fun. I caught myself giggling out loud on more than one occasion.

This is a quick read retelling the story of the Minotaur from Greek myth. It is written in poetic form with each character's voice in a different poetic style.That aside this is a fun read. The main observer (aka the one who gets the ball rolling then leans back to watch) is Poseidon who is absolutely entertaining to read. His parts are hilarious.The other points of view are the main players in the story. Their voices are distinctive and well written. I already knew the story but as it unfolded, I still felt the tension of wanting to know what would happen next.If this sounds interesting I highly recommend giving it a read.

After borrowing this book from the library, I had to purchase my own copy. I absolutely loved this retelling! Wonderfully done, with so much thought put into everything, even the word spacing. I laughed so hard at some parts, and was shocked at the language in others (parents probably want to read this before purchasing for a juvenile or teen). Many times it felt appropriate given what the story is about, I just want parents to be aware of the adult topics and profanity if they are unfamiliar with the original story, as this lays it out in all it's scandalous (hilarious) detail.

As a huge fan of Greek Mythology & poetry, this book checked all my boxes for a five star read. This was a sarcastic and interesting telling of the myth of Theseus & the Minotaur.Fans of Greek Mythology will enjoy a comedic spin on a classic myth.

Witty, intelligent and poetic, Bull is a creative retelling of a classic myth. Elliott innovatively allows for the reader to have a newfound empathy for each of the characters, especially the popularly disliked character of the Minotaur. Using the poetic form, intermittent comic relief, and a delightful understanding of human nature, Elliott brings to life the story in ways that give you a view into each of the character’s personalities. I would recommend it as a teaching tool, or if you just want something smart and playful to read one evening.

Verse novel of the Minotaur story. It’s got all the characters and an interesting take on ancient Greek relationships with their Gods. I enjoyed the book, it was a super fast read, and I felt got the entire of “what in the world is going on” feel pretty right.

Why didn't anybody before think of telling the minotaur's story through Asterion's eyes? It's been done now, brilliantly.