fter millennia of enduring Zeus' philandering, the goddess Hera is finally about to turn the tables: She's expecting a baby, and it isn't his! Having only just found Zeus again after a long separation, Hera sweetly talks him into coming back to her. Unfortunately, Zeus is no more prepared than usual for the responsibilities of fatherhood. They get an apartment in New York and he stays for most of the pregnancy, but just before the baby is born he runs off once again.
All but forgotten by the humans who used to worship them, both gods have found their once-awesome powers are weakened by their lack of regard. A single spell—to improve their looks or inspire devotion in a nearby human—is something they find exhausting. But now Zeus flees to New England, unaware that his wife and newborn are in hot pursuit, and decides to found a Neo-Olympian cult. Wrapping himself in the mantle of a self-help guru for men, he begins to draw in a respectable crowd of followers. As these men begin to sincerely worship Zeus, his powers grow for the first time in centuries, and soon he's feeling revived and mighty once more.
Unfortunately, success goes to his head. Randy as always, Zeus decides it's time to find himself a new bride, one more compliant than Hera ever was. He knows exactly who he wants, too—a young naiad he tried to seduce back in the old days, one who has recently escaped from a spell laid on her by Zeus when Hera caught them together.
Tragically for both self-centered gods, the naiad Penelope has no interest in rekindling old affairs—and she has come into destructive magical powers that make even Zeus' recently strengthened abilities look puny!
A humorous and tragic debut
Olympic Games is Nebula Award-winner Leslie What's first novel, and like many of her stories it is laced with both biting humor and surprising tragedy. This modern tale of an ancient marriage is hilarious and tear-jerking by turns: It is a romance wrapped in an epic power struggle, all seasoned by the long history that Zeus and Hera share.
What has been faithful to the original myths in creating her gods: Zeus and Hera display all the legendary callousness of the old tales. Humans were ever their playthings, and surviving into the modern era has not changed either of them in the slightest. Neither takes the people around them seriously; they are both largely incapable of empathizing with the humans who are their pawns.
Even as she alienates readers from her two flashiest characters, though, What quietly builds a varied cast of sympathetic human men for readers to cling to. The most intriguing of these is Eddie, the mentally disabled son of a New England grocer. Innocent and good-natured, Eddie is naive but no saint. He chafes against the restrictions placed on him by a father who wants to protect his son from physical dangers while neglecting his emotional needs.
Eddie's story is intertwined with that of Igor, Hera's newest son, in ways that are ultimately heart-wrenching. A master of comedy, What well understands that funny tales need to be grounded with serious threads, and the fate of Igor winds a dark strand of suspense and high stakes into Olympic Games that makes it impossible to put down.
Despite its moments of sadness, Olympic Games is a quintessential romp, an examination of love both in long-term relationships and casual affairs, and one that will keep readers laughing as they follow the antics of naiads, goddesses and Neo-Olympian worshippers to a showstopping conclusion.
