Reviews for Troy High

The average rating for Troy High based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-11-07 00:00:00 Robert Peter Jacobson 2.5 I feel like I would have given this a much higher rating had I read it 5 years ago. I did enjoy looking for the similarities between the original and this retelling though!

Review # 2 was written on 2011-03-02 00:00:00 Terrie Mclachlan First of all -- this story of a "war" between rival high schools is a fine book for middle schoolers and younger high schoolers, though I'll be interested to see if they actually like it. There is no questionable content, it's super easy to read (I'd guess 3rd grade reading level? 4th?), and lessons and morals abound. So, as a teacher, I would say this book is just fine for students to pick up for a summer novel. As a human, though, a literate human being English major, this is the kind of book that gives YA fiction a bad name. It is poorly written, dull, predictable, straightforward in the worst sense of the word (i.e. NO nuance, NO complexity, NO surprise). The dialogue is laughable...literally, I found myself reading bits of it out loud to my sister and we could barely control ourselves. One football player actually says to another: "Need help rearranging your face?" Really? It's purportedly based on the Trojan War, and for the first time in my life I wished I weren't such a classics geek (okay, maybe it wasn't the first time I wished that...being secretary of the Classical Club three years running doesn't exactly get you elected prom queen) so that I wouldn't recognize all the superficial allusions to Homer's epic poem. Pretty girl Elena transferred to TROY High = Helen. "Greg Mennon," brother of the football player spurned by Elena after she transfers = Agamemnon. It goes on. Don't worry, there's a Trojan Horse scene at the homecoming dance. This author definitely read the Wikipedia page on the Iliad. I don't mean to sound so harsh; however, I do wish more authors saw YA as an opportunity to excite, inspire, and enrich teenagers' brains and lives (see: JOHN GREEN), rather than pander to them, or worse, condescend to or dumb down for them.