In an Afterword the co-authors [of The God Beneath the Sea] explain that their aim in re-telling the Greek myths to the young is to avoid 'A haphazard sequence of tall tales' often related in a manner arising from certain conventions of translation from Greek poetry, but rather, to relate, 'as a continuous narrative' using a 'literary voice of our own time'. The manner in which many of the better known myths are put within a dramatic framework and given a coherence, both chronological and psychological, is indeed probably the greatest achievement of the book.

The narrative is strung between the two falls of the god, Hephaestus, hurled from Olympus first by Hera, his mother, and later by Zeus. After his first fall, 'the god beneath the sea' is told by his guardians, Thetis and Eurynome, of the great Creation myth…. Hephaestus' birth and fall is also recounted and then by a clever narrative twist, typical of the book, the maker of a marvellous brooch is summoned to Olympus, and found, of course, to be the formerly rejected, misshapen artist—God. The making of men, and finally some of the Greek myths concerning the inter-relations of the two, are retold in the latter half of the book. There is, perhaps inevitably, after so fine a reworking of the earlier myths, a slight loss in narrative cohesiveness in the last section of the book. Nevertheless, this detracts little from the effectiveness of thematic and narrative motifs, such as the coral brooch, which help tie together the disparate myths so well.

The authors felt it was the intention of the myths, 'if not to explain life then to provide a pattern that would act as a vast imaginative alternative to an explanation'. In attempting to convey this significance they have been especially successful in dealing with Prometheus's creatures; in the cause for the frail hold on life, the blind hand of fate, and the warring human passions where 'all aspirations would be lamed, all achievement warped as man eternally fought within himself a battle that could neither be lost nor won'. The characterisation in broad, sweeping strokes and incisive details of the high passions of the gods adds to the essentially dramatic presentation of the myths…. Two things only mar this admirable book. The first of these is somewhat similar to Milton's mistake in Paradise Lost, where God is made to speak. Although dealing with pagan gods who are human on a vast scale, the dialogue cannot always match the action. Secondly, in a number of places the elevated prose tends to overreach itself, 'His head was bent, his eyes were deep, and his fathomless mind reached regions even out of Hermes scope'. These flaws notwithstanding, I can thoroughly recommend this book for older child and adult alike. (pp. 332-33)