This book is by no means a classic, but I did love it.
In a way this deals with a lot of the problems that I had with All my friends are superheroes. While superheroes was frustratingly short and so much more could have been done with the concept, Phillips here delivers a story that is packed full of incident, of glorious detail, while also maintaining the simplicity of the superheroes concept.
I remember a few years ago reading a book by Sue Townsend called the Queen and I which has the simple of premise of the Royal Family being forced to live in a council house and cope with the demands of no longer having their lofty lifestyle. In Gods behaving badly, Phillips does a similar thing but this time with the Greek gods. Living in a rundown house, the Greek gods are forced to live their lives no longer having the infamy or receiving the adulation that they once did.
What I enjoyed with this book is that so often these days books are written where religion plays such a fundamental role, yet you tend to see these books as following one of the six major religions. What Phillips develops here is the idea that why can't it be the Greek religion that is the one true religion?
When you then take it from there what you have is a very simple story line, with some absolutely fantastic characters pre-written for you! From the spoilt nature of Apollo and Aphrodite to the selfless ideals of Artemis you have readymade characters that need little work to develop, yet play their parts easily as the story unfolds. The jealousy of Aphrodite goes up against the vanity of Apollo, leaving the rather busy Artemis to clean up the mess aided by a couple of mortals!
Very simply this book is a quick easy read, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Highly recommended!
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