With June pretty much here, we’ve arrived at summer and that means just one thing: summer movie season. While the warmer weather season always means major releases, this summer is particularly stacked with everything from nostalgic sequels like Scary Movie and Toy Story 5 to the next installment of the DCU with Supergirl. But one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the summer might just be its most ambitious: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
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Homer’s ancient Greek epic has been captivating and inspiring audiences for nearly 3000 years with the classic hero’s journey telling the tale of King Odysseus as he makes his way home across a harrowing, decade-long journey. It’s a story that has everything—action, adventure, angry gods, and family—making its eternal appeal obvious. But if you’re excited for Nolan’s adaptation of this essential story (and you have already read The Odyssey for yourself), we have a few suggestions of more modern books you should check out. Some of these selections are inspired by the same era as Homer’s epic while others are more modern takes on the heroic journey but there is one thing they all have in common: they’re great reads.
5) Celestial Lights by Cecile Pin
The newest book on this list, Cecile Pin’s Celestial Lights just came out in March 2026 and while it isn’t a mythology-based tale, the journey of its main character Oliver is a moving and heartbreaking contemporary take on the hero’s journey. It’s also a fairly fast read and a solid sci-fi novel which gives it a little bit of a different layer than the more fantastical world of myth.
Born the day of the Challenger disaster, Oliver grows up to lead a historic space mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. However, it a journey not without great personal cost and the further Oliver and the other astronauts get from home, the more of their past and relationships and choices they have to confront. Reading the novel, you find yourself asking what you would be willing to do for humanity and the answer might end up sitting with you long after you close the book.
4) Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati
It would be really difficult not to include some books on this list that serve as differing perspectives on the entire The Odyssey story and one of two must-reads that fall in that category is Costanza Casati’s Clytemnestra. The book offers readers the story of Helen of Troy’s twin sister Clytemnestra—who just so happens to also be King Agamemnon’s murderess wife. Telling her story, Clytemnestra reveals her and Helen’s childhood in Sparta, their marriage to the brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus, Helen’s elopement with King Paris of Troy (you know, the thing that started the whole war), and more. We also get Clytemnestra’s perspective on who Odysseus was before the events of The Odyssey, as well as just exactly who Penelope really is as well.
The book does a great job of following the core elements of the well-known myths while also putting Clytemnestra, a figure that history has largely written off as a villain, in a more balanced and dimensional light. Where Homer’s work doesn’t give the women a chance to tell their side of the story, Casati’s novel does—and it’s brilliant.
3) The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Another retelling of myth and legend through the eyes of the women, The Silence of the Girls retells Homer’s The Iliad through the eyes of Briseis, a woman barely mentioned as a footnote by Homer as a Trojan queen taken captive by Achilles. Here, through her eyes, we see the story of the women captured as spoils of war, giving a completely new perspective on the story’s events—particularly the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon.
When reading Homer’s epics, it’s easy to forget that these are not just the stories of the heroes but that there were captives and victims who suffered because of war. The Silence of the Girls sheds light on these figures in a way that de-romanticizes the myths of old. It’s also the first book in a trilogy so there is much more to cover once you finish the book.
2) Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
Stepping away from retellings of Homer’s epics, we have another recent can’t-miss release: R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis. The dark academia fantasy novel follows a pair of rival Cambridge graduate students who find themselves traveling to literal hell in order to rescue the soul of their dead professor. Why? Well, they need a very important recommendation letter that only said dead professor can give.
A complex story that is, in a sense, its own warped take on the heroic journey, the book is sort of commentary on toxic academia, the pressures of the academic world, as well as an explo9ration of trauma and a journey of self-discovery. If you’ve read Kuang’s Babel, you’ll love this book.
1) Fit for the Gods edited by Jenn Northington and S. Zainab Williams
Did you think we’d let this list slide without actual mythology? Absolutely not, but if you’re looking for something a little more fresh with your ancient tales, look no further than Fit for the Gods. The book offers up modern, reimagined retellings of classic Greek mythology. If you’ve looked at the various castings for Nolan’s The Odyssey and been fascinated by some of the more unexpected casting choices, this book will completely enthrall you as it offers up some unique retellings that not only make these timeless stories more approachable but remind the reader that some themes truly are universal.
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