Title Athena: Goddess of Widsom and War Series Author Imogen Greenberg Illustrator Isabel Greenberg Publisher Abrams - 2021 First Printing Abrams - 2021 Category Graphic Novel Warnings --- Main Characters Athena Main Elements Gods

This is the story of the most fearless Greek goddess.

From the moment she sprang from Zeus' head, Athena was extraordinary. Although some doubted her as a young goddess, she never backed down from a fight. There's a nearby city that needs a patron god or goddess? Not for long! Athena's going to outsmart her competition and found Athens. Perseus doesn't know how to defeat Medusa? No problem! Athena can give him the knowledge (and shield) he needs to take her down. Odysseus is lost at sea, seemingly doomed forever? Not anymore! Athena can get him home. Follow the goddess of wisdom through her adventures with gods and mortals, discover the perils of crossing her, and watch as she becomes the goddess she was always meant to be!

Well, after reading a lot of greek myth directed towards adults, this book came off a little simplistic and the tales told were a little rushed and pieces left out. But it's a kids book and some of these myths do need a little sanitizing, they can get pretty gory.

As such, it was a pretty good intro into one of the few females in greek mythology who doesn't either end up in a terrible marriage or dead, a strong female too. I mean she was a goddess of war (strategy, Ares handled the blood and gore part) and of wisdom (she'd represent architects and engineers) which is kind of mind blowing considering she's female in a world where women are kind of relegated to things like love (Aphrodite), marriage (Hera), hearth (Hestia), growing stuff (Demeter). Along with Artemis, the other virginal goddess, they represent a lot of things that fell under the domain of men back then. So that definitely makes her interesting, and unfortunate the Greeks didn't allow women to participate in war, or be engineers, even though they prayed to a goddess for such things.

I'll admit I didn't personally love the art, but it did have a fairly ancient Greek feel to it, and somehow those little pointy feet, especially on the male gods, made me smile. And there is a little humour mixed in, like Athena going to talk to her father while he's sitting on the floor with a rag and a bottle of polish shining his thunderbolts, or the way one of Paris' sheep is closely watching the contest to see which goddess is most beautiful.