YA Review: Bull

Bull by David Elliott, March 28, 2017. 200 pages. Published by HMH Books for Young Readers. Source: Borrowed from Library.

Minos thought he could
Pull a fast one
On me,
Poseidon!
God of the Sea!
But I’m the last one
On whom you
Should try such a thing.
The nerve of that guy.
The balls. The audacity.
I AM THE OCEAN!
I got capacity!
Depths! Darkness! Delphic power!
So his sweet little plan
Went big-time sour
And his wife had a son
Born with horns and a muzzle
Who ended up
In an underground puzzle.
What is it with you mortals?
You just can’t seem to learn:
If you play with fire, babies,
You’re gonna get burned.

Much like Lin-Manuel Miranda did in Hamilton, the New York Times best-selling author David Elliott turns a classic on its head in form and approach, updating the timeless story of Theseus and the Minotaur for a new generation. A rough, rowdy, and darkly comedic young adult retelling in verse, Bull will have readers reevaluating one of mythology's most infamous monsters.

First Sentence:

There beneath the palace walls
the monster rages, foams, bawls,
calling out again and again,
Mother!
Mother!

Well, at least this was only a random selection from a recent library visit. Because this book only had one redeeming quality; yeah, it was rather disappointing.

• I had two reasons for checking Bull out from the library. The first being that the cover caught my attention. It was simple, and yet just interesting enough to catch my attention as I was passing by the new release shelf at the library, so, I decided to give it a chance. My second reason for picking it up was that I'm always interested in retellings of old myths; and I was curious as to how the author would re-spin the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur.

• Since this was a rather disappointing book, I'll start off with what I did like about it. The only highlight of Bull was seeing Asterion's, you know, the Minotaur, story was was given more depth. I really rather enjoyed seeing his character before he was locked away in the maze where he descended into madness. It definitely gave the story a different turn to see how he was not quite the monster, before the maze, that the myth makes him out to be. But as much  as I enjoyed seeing a different side to his story, that added depth made it all the more sad when he faced his cruel fate.   

• I don't even know where to begin when it comes to why I did not like this book. But let's start with the language. I really wish the author would have used language that was less crude. The language employed throughout the entire book left me disgusted. To be honest, the foul language made totally took away from the book; it also brought the writing down.

• Another point a found irritating, Poseidon. Yeah, I don't like him as a character on the best of days, yet this version of him, well, it made me want to knock him up side the head. Why, because he came off as a petulant brat. It was not just Poseidon that annoyed me either as most of the cast made me roll my eyes with the way they were characterized. What really bothered me about the characters was that the majority of them had no redeeming qualities. 

Final Verdict: Bull- Start to finish, I was highly disappointed with this one. SO MUCH WASTED POTENTIAL.

Bull earns

A copy of this book was borrowed from the library. All thoughts are my own.