In the hip-hop spirit of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical, Hamilton, David Elliot has crafted a reimagining of the myth of the Minotaur voiced in poetic forms by those that influenced the tragic life of Asterion, a gentle intelligent boy born with the head of a bull and the body of a man, whom his mother calls Ruler of the Stars.

He is destroyed by Poseidon, King of the Sea, whose fury at Minos, King of Crete leads him to manipulate Daedalus, The Royal Engineer; Pasiphae, Asterion’s mother the Queen of Crete; and Ariadne, Asterion’s half-sister, into the cruelty and abandonment that drives Asterion into final madness as he becomes the beast of myth, ultimately destroyed by Theseus.

This format makes Bull a fast but deeply memorable read, forever casting new light upon the making of a monster and the culpability of gods and humans in so doing.  Elliot gives an elucidating description of the poetic forms chosen for each character and delves into the origins of Asterion’s birth, something previous tellings of the myth do not include.  It’s also noteworthy to say that there is strong language and imagery at times, thus the target audience is probably the upper grades in high school and into college.  Recommended.