Courtesy of Teens Read Too
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I think kids between the ages of 4th to 8th grade would love this book. It is short and easy to read and the footnotes are hilarious.
It begins at the dawn of time with Prometheus, who is chained to a rock because he brought fire to humankind. Theus, for short, was a titan and Zeus, the king of the Gods, made sure that he never forgot what he did. Every morning while chained to the rock, a fury would come and tear out his liver. Of course by nightfall Theus would be alive again. Well, when we start the story, Hercules has arrived and helped Theus escape. Zeus discovers this and challenges Theus to find a hero among the humans. If he does he will be forgiven.
Theus sets out and crosses time to 1858 and lands in the murky city known as Eden City. Eden City is very Dickens-like. It is full of zany characters, poor people, rich fiends, and thrilling situations. There Theus meets Jim, an orphan, who has fallen in with a diabolical thief, Uncle Edward. He gets involved with their caper and within twenty-four hours all of the characters lives have changed for the better.
Terry Deary, while teaching about Greek mythology, has written a story that is exciting and funny -- which is a wonderful combination. This is the first of three books in THE FIRE THIEF series, and I need to go finish the second one. Go pick up a copy of THE FIRE THIEF. You won't be sorry.
Reviewed by: Marta Morrison
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spin on myth
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A great read it had me giggling from beginning to end. I love the charecters especially Zuse and his wife there conversations made me laugh out loud, the way the writer put modern speech in to an anchient greek gods mouth made this book fantastic.
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spin on myth
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A great read it had me giggling from beginning to end. I love the charecters especially Zuse and his wife there conversations made me laugh out loud, the way the writer put modern speech in to an anchient greek gods mouth made this book fantastic.
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amazing
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with it's witty footnotes, enticing plots and loveable characters it shows you, or at least showed me, how much a story and your opinions of the characters can change because for once prometheus the fire stealer is portrayed in his own mind and ideas. a must have for anybody who remotely likes the words greek and myths put together.
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