So ... earlier today I finished reading Medea: Queen of Witches (An Unauthorized Biography by Phil Matyszak. 
Dr Matyszak (or Maty to his readers) studied Roman history at Oxford and has a DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy) from St John's College, Oxford, so he knows his stuff. I also have many of his previous books, and I know that he has a clear, concise writing style, and manages to hone in on the points he wishes to make, without confusing or overwhelming the reader. So, I was looking forward to reading this book.
I was especially looking forward to it because I read Maty's previous "Unathorized Biography", called Hercules: the First Superhero, in which Dr Matyszak -- using archaeological, literary and other sources -- draws together the life story of the mythical Hercules and how he affected other classical Greek heroes and kingdoms. I enjoyed it very much, and recommend it highly.
The Medea book, however, is a mixed bag. The story that Maty draws together is highly lucid and entertaining; 5 stars. Unfortunately, Dr Matyszak is let down by poor editing -- i.e. poor punctuation and superfluous words (e.g. one sentence repeats the word "be", as in "be be"). If this was an isolated example I'd be prepared to overlook it, but this sort of thing repeats through the book.
There's another spelling mistake that caught my eye; Dr Matyszak refers to the ancient Greek kingdom of Troezen, now a small town in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece -- but in antiquity, it was the birthplace of the Greek hero Theseus, who killed the Minotaur of Crete. The first mention of this place is spelled correctly, but the rest of the book spells it "Trozen" (rhyming with "Frozen"), which was surprising and then irritating.
So, clearly Maty's editors let him down this time (which is strange, because I have never seen this in his books). But again, the overall story is excellent and very well-written, as usual. I recommend it and give it 4.5/5 stars, with half-a-star taken off because of the poor editing. (Sorry, Maty!)
Dr Matyszak (or Maty to his readers) studied Roman history at Oxford and has a DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy) from St John's College, Oxford, so he knows his stuff. I also have many of his previous books, and I know that he has a clear, concise writing style, and manages to hone in on the points he wishes to make, without confusing or overwhelming the reader. So, I was looking forward to reading this book.
I was especially looking forward to it because I read Maty's previous "Unathorized Biography", called Hercules: the First Superhero, in which Dr Matyszak -- using archaeological, literary and other sources -- draws together the life story of the mythical Hercules and how he affected other classical Greek heroes and kingdoms. I enjoyed it very much, and recommend it highly.
The Medea book, however, is a mixed bag. The story that Maty draws together is highly lucid and entertaining; 5 stars. Unfortunately, Dr Matyszak is let down by poor editing -- i.e. poor punctuation and superfluous words (e.g. one sentence repeats the word "be", as in "be be"). If this was an isolated example I'd be prepared to overlook it, but this sort of thing repeats through the book.
There's another spelling mistake that caught my eye; Dr Matyszak refers to the ancient Greek kingdom of Troezen, now a small town in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece -- but in antiquity, it was the birthplace of the Greek hero Theseus, who killed the Minotaur of Crete. The first mention of this place is spelled correctly, but the rest of the book spells it "Trozen" (rhyming with "Frozen"), which was surprising and then irritating.
So, clearly Maty's editors let him down this time (which is strange, because I have never seen this in his books). But again, the overall story is excellent and very well-written, as usual. I recommend it and give it 4.5/5 stars, with half-a-star taken off because of the poor editing. (Sorry, Maty!)
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