THE ILIAD

An illustrated retelling of the events of Homer's tale, focusing primarily on the battles between the Greeks and the Trojans after Achilles stomps off in a huff over Agamemnon's arrogance and insults. In an extremely crowded field, this version from Strachan (The Flawed Glass, 1990, etc.) has several virtues. While explaining everything clearly, it does not condescend to its target audience. The flowing prose makes no attempt to mimic Homer, but is possessed of a rhythm of its own. Its main advantage, however, is found in the vigorous descriptions of the fighting, matched by Ambrus's atmospheric pictures--gory but not too realistic. Strachan, although a bit forward about Hector's private name for his son, Scamandrius (a.k.a. Astyanax), pitches the story toward those who are keen for the ""exciting parts,"" and readers will cheer and moan over the battles. Those who elect to read this aloud may succeed in converting members of the Mortal Kombat generation to fans of Homer's epic story.