Troy
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Troy Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Adele Geras (Author), Miriam Margolyes (Narrator), Listening Library (Publisher)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 159 ratings
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The siege of Troy has lasted almost ten years. Inside the walled city, food is becoming scarce and the death toll is rising. From the heights of Mount Olympus, the gods keep watch.

But Aphrodite, goddess of love, is bored with the endless, dreary war, and so she turns her attention to two sisters: Marpessa, who is gifted with God-sight and serves as handmaiden to Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world; and Xanthe, who is kind and loving and tends the wounded soldiers in the Blood Room. When Eros fits an arrow to his silver-lit bow and lets it fly, neither sister will escape its power.

With vitality and grace, Adele Geras breathes personality, heartbreak and humor into this classic story. This is a truly inspired novel, told through the eyes of the women of Troy, in which Gods move among mortals and an ancient city is brought brilliantly to life.

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  1. Listening Length
    10 hours and 7 minutes
  2. Author
    Adele Geras
  3. Narrator
    Miriam Margolyes
  4. Audible release date
    November 14, 2003
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Listening Library
  7. ASIN
    B0001290JO
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 10 hours and 7 minutes
Author Adele Geras
Narrator Miriam Margolyes
Audible.com Release Date November 14, 2003
Publisher Listening Library
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B0001290JO
Best Sellers Rank #107,519 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#9 in Ancient Civilization Historical Fiction for Teens
#69 in Teen & Young Adult Ancient Historical Fiction
#128 in History & Culture for Teens

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
159 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Joshua Merriam
5.0 out of 5 stars I was always interested in the anctient Greek stuff and now I know the story of Troy.
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2014
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let me think for a moment. Troy was a wonderful story and O right, No one likes being in there fathers shadow, Ten years can be a long wait, and according to me book knew the code of seven. other than that, I found my self pondering how old Ptium may have been and Why would Arais show at a time such as that. Anyway I found myself pondering other such places such as Kerch. Seven can be mean at times although I might need to put some time into finding a simbol for the number six. Sornds much more difficult than one would immagine. Woman accepts the under-hand and And the Male of species shows love in return. Anyway I thought, it was an awsome awsome book, And I Loved Brave Alaster who didn't back down in one of the citys' most bleek moments. What are people for and about I wished.
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S. S. E.
4.0 out of 5 stars You won't be disappointed
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2023
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The story is good, unless you are expecting a story about Rome.
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Elizabeth A Hept
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2019
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I love this book! Very approachable for teenagers and it sparked my love for mythology as a high schooler!
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CT
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2013
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this was also part of my son's Summer reading assignment and as part of the assignment he had to create a storyboard of the theme or highlight of the book. I found the story so interesting that I ended up reading the book for myself
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R. S. Blain
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2013
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Fabulous historic fiction for a classics student.
For the boy in this case who is studying Greek and Latin and is looking for some fun reading.
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Paola Padilla
4.0 out of 5 stars War from a Woman's point of view
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2013
The life of men in war has been told throughout the years, but not the stories of life of women in the time of war. Xanthe and Marpessa were two sisters that lived in a time of war in Troy. It all began when Paris decided to sweep Helen away from her husband in Greece to take her to his birthplace in Troy. This caused Helen's husband to wage a war to reclaim what was his. Ten years had passed since the war had started. Xanthe at this time worked for Paris' brother, Hector, and his wife. She took care of her infant child and worked in the Blood Room in her leisure time.

The Blood Room was the place where the wounded soldiers were treated. Something extremely vital in the story happened one some of her time there, Aphrodite, bored and irritated with the long-lasting war, caused Xanthe to fall in love desperately with one of the wounded soldiers in the Blood Room. His name was Alastor. Xanthe experiences a love twist. A good female friend of Xanthe falls for a male friend that was in love with Xanthe. Unfortunately she was in love with Alastor. But as the story progresses Aphrodite's actions become duplicitous. She fools Alastor and makes him fall for Marpessa, and she for him. Soon after this Marpessa and Alastor start a secret love affair as the war becomes bloodier and bloodier. Marpessa was Helen's housemaid but they had a relationship as strong as a mother and a daughter. She witnesses the love of Paris and Helen, but also Paris' flirting ways. That wasn't the only thing she experienced. Marpessa was able to see the gods as they walked among us humans. The gods could speak to her and she could witness their deeds.

The events in war started to get intense as Paris' brother, Hector, was brutally killed by Achilles, and the city started to mourn. Until one day Paris avenged his brother's death, before he died. The city of Troy started to celebrate as they believe the Greeks have left their lands and a large horse statue has appeared as "an offer to the gods" it was truly a trap. Meanwhile orphan sisters Xanthe and Marpessa were staying in Priam's palace as maids and surrogate daughters to Andromache and Helen. Andromache was Hector's wife and mother of Astynax whom Xanthe takes care of as if it was her own child. The gods come to earth to visit the humans but only Marpessa and other selected people can see them. Marpessa decides to tell anybody about this because she knows that people will label her as neurotic as Hector's sister, Cassandra.

The story picks up steam when Eros hits Xanthe with a silver-blue arrow, when she was at the Blood Room working. She was nursing soldiers back to health. As mentioned before Xanthe falls for Alastor, which was in love with Marpessa and gets her pregnant all because of Aphrodite's desire for entertainment other than the war. Polyxena a really good friend of the sisters, was in love with Iason who was hell bent on being with Xanthe. All of these have one main factor in common, they were all about to be thrown into a twisted problem at the end of the war.

So now you know the story? Now the question is why should you read this recreated view of the trojan war? Adele Geras, the author of this book, shines as an outstanding storyteller. She carefully describes each twist to explain the inner feelings of the Trojan women that could not express before. If you know the story of the Trojan war you know how it ends but what keeps the reader desiring for more is the interest in the character's dreams and ultimate futures.
 "Going somewhere in the sun and where is blackie now that theres no bed and dont look at me like chatiomene it isnt my fault that marpessa doesnt listen".

I personally kept reading this book because I wanted to know many unanswered questions. I wanted to see how Aphrodite excused her ill-fated attempts at bringing passion to the servants lies. I kept reading because Adele Geras wrote an exceptional book. This book is told from the view point of view of Trojan citizens, but specifically from a woman's perspective, which is something that you don't see very often. A number of parts in the book are violent. There are no sexual events except obviously for Paris leering at all the servants, and Marpessa having intercourse with Alastor in the woods. Marpessa pondered having an abortion when she learned that she was pregnant. These events are issues that parents may have to decide if allowing their child read this or not. This book is scripted with a lot of emotions that it is really easy to get lost in the feelings of the Trojan women and not notice the time pass by while you are reading. One of the author's main strengths are her character creations and developments because you can notice surprising turns at the end of the book.

This story in particular gives a great insight into history. In past times only men had a voice. Historic women weren't given the opportunity of speaking or be known around the world. Personally, I believe that his book had an impact of how women were viewed in the past. Not many stories from a historic event were written from a woman's point of view. But this story is different, since it not only happens in a very important war but it is also told from the point of view of not one, but two women. Troy by Adele Geras had showed also the human development of women back then. Women were always oppressed and couldn't do much in their daily lives. Here women were portrayed as free human beings as they could do anything they wanted. They had affairs, and had strong relationships with their "bosses". In other times servants were only useful for cleaning cooking, or matters of the house or palace. They had no relationships with their superiors and were punished harshly if they did a very small mistake.
5 people found this helpful
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Victoria D
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2015
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Good product. Was on time.
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M. Mckibbon-Bell
3.0 out of 5 stars Forrest Gump Goes to Troy
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2012
Drawn to most any work of fiction that takes place in the final year of the Trojan War, I picked up this book and signed it out on its title alone. Within in a few chapters it was obvious that this story is lacking in the magic that makes the Trojan legend. Trying too hard to make the tale more plausible while still accounting for the Gods and Goddesses made for many an awkward moment. Every time a deity appeared, he or she would introduce themselves only to be forgotten in the fogs of memory moments later. These larger than life figures were a part of daily life for Trojans, to think that each time a god presented itself to a human that the human would dismiss its divine presence as a crazy human is silly to me.

But my greatest complaint comes from the weaving of the story itself, trying to put its characters at all the major events of this final year of war and making them pivotal players in the daily lives of the Trojan stars like Hector and Hecuba simply did not work. Instead, we end up with too many fractured storylines and too many Forrest Gump moments (if you've seen the film you know that he is implausibly, but charmingly at every major 20th century event). As a result, the character development suffers and I felt no affection for any of them. Too many character flaws, too many implausible situations, and to easy treatment of the gods for this mythology lover.

Sign this one out of the library, or borrow it from a friend, it's an okay read, but not something to treasure on the shelf forever.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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rueyclem
5.0 out of 5 stars Audio cassettes tapes,excellent quality
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2021
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I got this set of audio cassettes second hand, very pleased with the quality of the product. The tapes play fine and I look forward to listening again and again.
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monteverita
4.0 out of 5 stars 城壁の中で
Reviewed in Japan on May 23, 2005
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書名がそのものズバリ示すとおり、トロイア戦争末期から終結まで、トロイアの城壁の中で進行する物語です。同タイトルの映画の原作ではないので、ご注意。
物語の中心となるのは神話に登場するような王族や英雄ではなく、市民階級の若い男女５人。否応なく戦争に巻き込まれた普通の人々の生活と身の処し方が描き出され、包囲戦10年目の閉塞感と逼迫した生活状況、破滅へ向かう諦観の描写には胸が詰まります。
もちろんヘレン、パリス、ヘクトル、アンドロマケ、アキレス、オデュッセウスといったお馴染みのVIPたちとオリンポスの神々も登場し、主役たちに関りながら、美しくも残酷な物語が展開されていきます。
登場人物たちの感情をストレートに伝えるフレーズは簡潔で美しく、ヤングアダルト向けということで、難しい単語やヒネッた言い回しも滅多にありません。
ただ、主役５人の心の動きが中心となるためか、物語のスケール感に乏しいのが残念。ストーリーの大筋は小ぎれいにまとまった青春恋愛ドラマといった趣なので。
若年層の読者を意識した限界なのか、神話の雰囲気を維持するため敢えてドロドロな描写を避けたのか。世間の垢をそれなりに身に付けた大人としては、やはり少々物足りないのが正直なところ。
翻案小説入門編としてお勧めします。
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Kevin Sell
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read with some minor flaws
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2017
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This book is an enjoyable read and written in a plain and easy to follow style. The chapters are mostly short, so it's ideal for bedtime reading as one can comfortably digest two or three chapters before lying down to sleep. The approach of writing about the Trojan war from the point of view of several people (mostly servants) linked closely to the main Trojan characters works fairly well and gives an interesting perspective. The down side of this is that the major incidents such as the death of Patroclus at the hands of Hector become sidelines and are glossed over rather too rapidly. Like many authors writing in this genre, the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is largely ignored, though it was acknowledged that while women found Achilles attractive his heart belonged to Patroclus.
I had some difficulty with the author's treatment of the gods.They would appear frequently to mortals, give them some message about the conduct of the war. Then afterwards the mortal would completely forget everything that had happened including the content of the message. As the result of the visit was completely pointless, what was in it for the gods? What were they trying to achieve if anything at all? The only point of this was the enlightenment of the reader, in which case the gods would need to be aware that they were part of a larger story that was being related out of their time. I found this difficult to comprehend. I had difficulty too with some seemingly unnecessary errors of the mythology. The author credited Ares, God of War, with the idea of the Trojan Horse to bring the war to an end. To credit Ares with the idea that brought destruction to Troy fits with him being a god that thrives on destruction, but as he fought on the side of the Trojans he would be unlikely to aid the Greeks. A more plausible explanation would be to credit the idea of the horse to Athena, the Goddess of War, who wanted the Trojans destroyed.
I was going to give the book 3 stars, but I upped the rating to 4 because I found that it held my attention well and I wanted to find what was going to happen to the main characters as the book drew to a climax. The ending was largely well done and the killing of Astyanax, Hector's baby son, was particularly powerful and had impact.
I preferred this book to Helen of Troy by Margaret George, which I felt was far too long. At least this book didn't drag and I was drawn along by the characters and their relationships.
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Stoffel
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2016
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Great book, promptly delivered
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