Book released on Jan. 26/16

This is another solid entry in O’Connor’s Olympians series, this time covering the legends of Apollo who is best known as the sun god (but also holds healing and prophecy, among others, under his purview).
As usual, the artwork is very well-done, in the same unique style as O’Connor’s other books. And following previous formats, in this book readers can find extras such as Character profiles, as well as interesting facts and notes that O’Connor collected while research
Book released on Jan. 26/16

This is another solid entry in O’Connor’s Olympians series, this time covering the legends of Apollo who is best known as the sun god (but also holds healing and prophecy, among others, under his purview).
As usual, the artwork is very well-done, in the same unique style as O’Connor’s other books. And following previous formats, in this book readers can find extras such as Character profiles, as well as interesting facts and notes that O’Connor collected while researching the myths themselves. Personally I always find these notes really interesting, with all the little details he discovers and discussions on how the stories varied from place to place and time to time.

As usual, while O’Connor covers some of the better-known stories (such as Letos’ journey throughout her pregnancy, and the birth of the twins), he also breaks new ground for readers by telling some of the stories that aren’t as well-known. Here, these stories include a ‘morality tale’ of sorts, warning against hubris that is shown through a musical competition between Apollo and a prideful Satyr… which, as isn’t unusual for Greek mythology, ends quite badly for the satyr.

I was a little surprised, however, in how many stories were included in this volume that I wasn’t familiar with – The contest with the satyr, or Apollo fighting the python, and founding the temples, for example. It made for a nice change, as opposed to going over the same stories as many other books of mythology. It also opens readers’ eyes to another side of the mythology, as some of the darker myths often get bypassed in the focus on Apollo’s roles in music and medicine.

I received an ARC/pre-view of this graphic novel from First Second books through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
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