About this time last year I reviewed Catherine Mayo's Murder at Mykenai, the forerunner to The Bow.
I was critical of that first effort (although feeling she was worthy of persevering with) but I have no hesitation in recommending The Bow.
This time the young Odysseus has to go on a dangerous mission into enemy territory to recover his late grandfather's hidden stash of gold.
This is needed by Odysseus' father, King Laertes, to win the continuing war with the treacherous Thyestes, the uncle of Menelaos, Odysseus' best friend.
The various island kingdoms of ancient Greece were a hotbed of political manoeuvring and hostility, when even so-called friends could change allegiance overnight.
Odysseus and King Laertes' faithful squire, Eurybates, must travel in disguise to Mykenai, where the slightest slip could reveal them as interlopers. Ages 12+
- René Nol is a Dunedin reader.
