Review: Ancient tales twisted into present day adventures, told with a chuckle
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 23, 2013
The stories in this book are not only funny: they are clever and witty. The author, Oleg Medvedkov, lets his characters loose so they spring from a model in literature such as Attila the Hun or the Minotaur, only to change our perception of them.For example, Minotour Chronicles is a twist on the mythological tale of the Minotaur, the part man part bull monster born to the King of Crete, who devours human victims in the labyrinth. But in this retelling, the Minotaur is utterly astounded at the dread of his visitors: "My understanding is that I am a tourist guide. So when tourists come, I should greet them and talk about the labyrinth and its history and such. But they usually scream and run away." "Dude," he says to his attacker, in a endearingly naive way, "easy with the sword. You can hurt someone, you know."In Why I want to conquer Paris, Attila enumerates his nonsensically witty reasons. The nuggets of humor keep coming on phrase after another: "as all of my 450 wives would agree, I am an incurable romantic," followed by, "Although, being a hypochondriac, I am wary of things that are incurable," followed by, "Note to self: ask my dearests to come up with a better term of endearment for me."Oleg Medvedkov keeps mixing it up, changing the format of his stories, which keeps the reader on her toes. While the first two stories are in the first voice narrative, The Fall of Troy: How it really happened is a play set on the wall of Troy, starring three Trojan guards who check their manuals for any instructions that may be relevant to what they face: a giant horsey. Giant Squirrels is presented as a letter to Abigail, and Random Excerpt from the US army Field Manual on Dealing with Time Travelers from the So-Called "Roaring Twenties" is exactly as the name implies, with a touch of matter-of-fact, serious wackiness.It is not only the versatile format that keeps things fresh, but the creative ways in which the author, Oleg Medvedkov, brings together past and present. Ancient tales get dusted off to make them a starting point for present day adventures, told with a chuckle.Five stars.