"Achilles Kallis vowed that he'd do whatever it took to claw his way into Olympus's inner circle. Now that the former Ares is gone and the coveted role has opened to anyone with the strength to claim it, he and his partner, Patroclus Fotos, plan to both compete and double their odds of winning. Neither expect the infamous beauty Helen Kasios to be part of the prize...or for the sparks that fly when the three of them meet. Zeus may have decided Helen...

"The gods wanted blood. She fought for love. Achilles has fled her home and her vicious Myrmidon clan to live as a woman with the kallai, the transgender priestesses of Great Mother Aphrodite. When Odysseus comes to recruit the "prince" Achilles for a war against the Hittites, she prepares to die rather than fight as a man. However, her divine mother, Athena, intervenes, transforming her body into the woman's body she always longed for, and promises...

"Gillian Cross's fine retelling of Homer's epic story captures all the heroism and savagery of war and shows why the 'Iliad' has been called the first tragedy and the greatest literary achievement of Greek civilization"--Front jacket flap.