The Odyssey-But Make It Musical: EPIC! Vibes in the Library Stacks
If you’re anything like me and so deep in BookTok you’ve started sorting your life by tropes — we’re not just reading books anymore, we’re feeling them. And nothing hits harder right now than EPIC! The Musical written and composed by Jorge Rivera-Herrans, the viral reimagining of The Odyssey that’s turned ancient trauma into toe-tapping drama.
So, if your heart smashes into a thousand pieces every time you hear the phrase “open arms” this one’s for you. Join us on a mythical tour through the Western Downs Libraries collection, where our books are just as dramatic as the gods — but with less shipwreck risk.
Odysseus – Strategist. Adventurer. Chronically Late.
Book match: The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles
It’s the original road trip from hell — complete with shipwrecks, sorcery, sea monsters, and a seriously bad relationship with Poseidon. Fagles’ translation brings Odysseus’s epic journey to life with lyrical flair and heroic drama. If you’ve loved EPIC: The Musical, this is the myth that started it all — and yes, it’s still a banger 3,000 years later.
Circe — Island Queen of Boundaries
Book match: Circe by Madeline Miller
If EPIC made you feel things about this powerful enchantress, you’re not alone. Miller’s lyrical novel puts Circe center stage, where she reclaims her story, turns jerks into pigs (literally), and practices self-care with potions and peace. Also, shoutout to every woman who’s ever been ghosted and thought, I could absolutely turn that man into livestock.
Poseidon — God of Sea, Storms, and Holding a Grudge
Book match: Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
You can’t spell “petty” without “P.” Poseidon isn’t just a sea god — he’s the ultimate chaotic neutral uncle. In EPIC, he’s got bars and beef. For a more modern take (and less wrath), dive into Riordan’s beloved Percy Jackson series — especially The Lightning Thief, where Poseidon gets to be more of a complicated father figure and less of a boat-smashing rage machine.
Penelope – The Wife Who Waited (and Waited)
Book match: House of Odysseus by Claire North
While Odysseus is gallivanting around the Aegean, Penelope’s holding Ithaca together with sheer willpower and strategic weaving. In House of Odysseus, Penelope isn’t just waiting — she’s outmanoeuvring, outsmarting, and occasionally out-sassing everyone in the palace. Queen behaviour only.
Telemachus – In My Heroic Era
Book match: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Young Telemachus is figuring out how to live up to a legend while dad is… probably being cursed somewhere. If you’re craving more youthful angst, mythological backstories, and beautifully written heartbreak, Miller’s Song of Achilles delivers.
Athena – Divine Bestie Energy
Book match: Lore by Alexandra Bracken
Athena is a total force in EPIC, and she’s just as fierce in Lore, where gods are forced to walk the earth — and be hunted. This urban fantasy gives mythology a fresh, high-stakes twist, with Athena right in the heart of the action. Think Greek myth meets Hunger Games, but with more divine attitude.
Western Downs Libraries is Basically Mount Olympus
Caught in your EPIC feels? We’ve got retellings, revenge, reluctant heroes, and rogue gods — no sea voyage required. Grab a book, belt out a ballad, and relive the journey of Odysseus and co., one page at a time.
Come check out our collection of Greek Mythology and see which mood fits your reading quest here.
Because let’s face it — Western Downs Libraries is its own kind of odyssey.
– Sam