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ipanzica's review
5.0
Herodotus was really talented at combining storytelling traits and history, especially since this was written in the early 400s BC. This book has great foreshadowing, framing, pacing, and suspense despite the book covering so many historical events and people. I also liked how Herodotus made the people in his book relatable and with personalities instead of larger-than-life figures. For example, when one of the Kings farted at the enemy's messenger and then told the messenger to bring that to his general it showcases the King's confidence, arrogance, and immaturity while being more interesting than Herodotus saying the King was immature. Also, it shows that people have been using fart humor for way longer and in more serious scenarios than I imagined.
The thing I didn't like about this book was that didn't mention the dates that these historic events happened. While I know this was written before our current calendar system and Herodotus couldn’t of done that, this could of been a cool thing for the publisher to include/add to the book. Also, way too many people in this book had a dream, interpreted it in a way that caused them to murder someone in order to prevent an event to happen, and then have the event happen anyway. I understand that multiple people can be stupid in the same way and this is a history book, but it gets boring to read basically the same story multiple times within the same book. Herodotus could have tried new framing methods, perspective, or something to make these events sound less similar.
Though overall the book was great and it was fun to read about historical events in a gossipy tone with great storytelling techniques.
The thing I didn't like about this book was that didn't mention the dates that these historic events happened. While I know this was written before our current calendar system and Herodotus couldn’t of done that, this could of been a cool thing for the publisher to include/add to the book. Also, way too many people in this book had a dream, interpreted it in a way that caused them to murder someone in order to prevent an event to happen, and then have the event happen anyway. I understand that multiple people can be stupid in the same way and this is a history book, but it gets boring to read basically the same story multiple times within the same book. Herodotus could have tried new framing methods, perspective, or something to make these events sound less similar.
Though overall the book was great and it was fun to read about historical events in a gossipy tone with great storytelling techniques.
crystallyn's review
5.0
One of the most fascinating history books I've ever read. Herodotus tries his best at being unbiased and doesn't always succeed, which makes this history even more intriguing. That's forgivable, however, because this is really one of the world's earliest attempts at creating a book of history. Herodotus had no rules by which to write. So when he includes heresay and myth it makes the book all the more exciting.
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