ODYSSEY TALE

A man wants only to return to his wife and son, but the sea is full of dangerous people and untold mysteries in Schlegel’s retelling of Homer’s Odyssey.

The Trojan War is finally over, and Otis Seehus can, at long last, return home to his beloved wife, Penelope, and his son, Mac, whom he hasn’t seen since he was a newborn. He sets off on a ship with two other men, Curly and Mowgli, hoping to arrive back at his home in Ithaca soon, but the journey doesn’t go as planned. The small crew encounters the fearsome, brutal Capt. James of the ship Jolly Roger. From there, a series of other unfortunate and often strange obstacles keeps Otis from his family for 14 long years. He encounters many foes, including the evil queen of Calypso Island and the legendary and deadly Sea Witch; meanwhile, in Ithaca, the castle is overrun by violent suitors, and Penelope takes up drinking to cope with the stress. Fifteen-year-old Mac has grown up without knowing his father and now seeks to find him. He escapes the castle to find the ship of the Lost Boys, led by Peter Pan. There he also meets Jinni, a magical man who seemingly knows more about the sea than anyone. This reworking of the Odysseyutilizes a varied range of fairy-tale characters as well as figures from more recent classic literature to tell this ancient story about one man’s quest for home. The work provides a sharp change from Schlegel’s later crime thriller, Junction (2015), which lacks this book’s referential manner, but it in no way disappoints, and it will satisfy its intended audience of fantasy fans. It’s an engaging but also quite rich adventure, in part because it doesn’t shy away from serious character development. In particular, Schlegel does well to transform well-known characters, moving them away from their origins to meet the demands of the narrative—as he does, for instance, with his adult version of Peter Pan—while still respecting their original essence.

A fantasy tale full of lively characters and exciting twists.