Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons (Young Heroes) [Hardcover]

Yolen and Harris have, once again, produced a terrifically fun book in their Young Heroes series. The basic premise - of looking at characters from Greek myth when they were children - is intrinsically full of interest, and with writers like these two in charge, it works beautifully.

One of the (many) great strengths of the collaboration of Yolen and Harris is the singular depth of the characterization. Throughout the book, Hippolyta is - well, a teenager. By turns charming, despairing, arrogant, boastful, and deeply self-absorbed, with all the focused self-righteousness of one who has never questioned what she has been told. This beats the 'the heroine/ hero is always sympathetic' vein of writing children's books hollow. Even I know too many teenagers to buy that one!

This is a coming-of-age novel in a profound sense, as Hippolyta is forced by circumstances - of kinship with a babe and a younger brother, of dealing with the gods and with more immediately threatening human enemies, of dealing with her own history and heritage - to examine her beliefs and her actions for the first time. That she does so with occasional ill-grace and stubbornness, while still acting like a true hero - saving unfortunates in distress, fighting off gryphons in a ruined city, even facing up to the gods - is a lovely tang of reality in this journey towards self-realization.

The book also has large doses of wry humour, like its companion volume Odysseus in the Serpent Maze, which makes it a fun read for both children and adults. The fact that the authors have woven into the book so much historical/archaeological information that I, for one, didn't know about Amazons, is really just the icing on the rich and satisfying cake of this novel.

Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons is about 14 year old Hippolyta, who is a amazon princess. Amazons are women who never marry. One of their laws is that if the queen bears a second son, it is to be sacrificed to the goddess that they beleive in, Artemis.Hippolyta's Mother is the queen, and she gives birth to a second son, but she refuses to let him be sacrificed. She is sent to prison, leaving Hippolyta and her four sisters in greif. One night, Hippolyta is sent by a sorceress-like woman to see her mother. Her mother asks her to bring the baby to it's father in a city called Troy. Troy happens to be a long way away from Hippolyta's home, and at first she protests. Her Mother talks to her and finally persuades Hippolyta to do it, sending Hippolyta on the journey of a lifetime. On her way, Hippolyta battles men, sea monsters, gryphons, and even Artemis herself. On the way, Hippolyta learns that she has true courage, love, and loyalty that she wasn't even aware of. Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons is a must read for those who like books that are full of adventure, fantasy, and horror. Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons is a thriller and will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end!

I enjoyed this...not quite as much as Odysseus in the Serpent Maze, but still, it's a highly entertaining and action packed read! We Join Hippolyta, an Amazon Princess as she is out teaching her younger sister how to hunt. Rather quickly she is called home and discovers that the birth of her newest sibling...who happens to be a boy, the second one born to her mother, puts her entire family in dire straights, due to a prophesy which says that any second son born to an Amazon must be sacrificed to Artemis rather than be turned over to it's father as is normally the case. Hippolyta sees no problem with this, but her mother refuses and is forced to step down as queen. From her prison cell, she orchestrates the baby boy's rescue and asks Hippolyta to take the child to his farther in Troy...a task that she does out of love for her mother, not out of any love for the child, which she reluctantly takes on a journey that turns into a rather thrilling and dangerous journey to remove a curse from her tribe and ultimately tests her to her to the very core of her beliefs.

Yolen and Harris give is a truly wonderful look at the mythic figure Hippolyta as she might have been in her youth, complete with a bratty, superior and very arrogant young teenage attitude. We are shown a girl, on the verge of womanhood, who starts out the story very sure of her superiority as a woman and feeling put upon for having to take her unworthy infant brother to his father, clearly thinks all men are beneath her and is, at least at the start, something of a brat. This works for me, because you're taking a young woman thoroughly indoctrinated in the ways of the Amazon and thoroughly sure of their superiority over men (and hers by extension) and who learns some valuable lessons as the tale wears on, truly a well woven coming of age tale as there ever was. I think that her character will be appreciated by young readers and adults alike, who can recognize just a little bit of themselves in her.

As she travels, we are introduced to a selection of supporting characters that are deftly drawn and which tweak just the right nerve necessary to catapult the story along at a pace just fast enough to do the story justice, and not bore us with extended descriptions. We are lucky enough to meet her Amazon rival, Molpadia; the quite just Captain of the Guard, Dares; the beautiful but arrogant and selfish King Laomendon; the ever so talkative Tithonus; and so many more...in addition to the slew of human characters, Hippolyta must also face down a sea monster, gryphon's and ultimately Artemis herself. How will Hippolyta come out of all this and which God makes a special appearance, teaching her that men may not be all that bad? You'll have to read to find out... Truly, a wonderful tale, full of excitement, adventure and lessons that must be learned...simply wonderful!