Wearing the Lion
Jun 2025 · Astra Publishing House
star
2 reviews
Ebook
320
Pages
Tools
info
About this ebook
*Nebula Award Nominee*
"This novel effortlessly ascends to the heights of Mount Olympus. Tough and tender and bittersweet. Wearing the Lion establishes Wiswell firmly on the new fantasy landscape." —T. Kingfisher, Hugo Award-winning author of Nettle & Bone
"Wiswell makes something new and thrilling—and funny and wrenching and tender—out of a very old myth." —Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Book of Love
Nebula Award-winning author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In John Wiswell brings a humanizing and humorous touch to the Hercules story, forever changing the way we understand the man behind the myth—and the goddess reluctantly bound to him
Sometimes a goddess's worst enemy is her biggest fan.
Heracles, hero of Greece, dedicates all his feats to the goddess Hera. If only he knew that his very face is an insult to her...as he is yet another child that Hera’s dipshit husband, Zeus, had out of wedlock.
“Auntie Hera” loathes every minute of Heracles’ devotion, until she snaps and causes an unspeakably tragic accident: the death of Heracles' children. Plunged into grief and desperate for revenge, Heracles is determined to find the god that did this.
Wracked with guilt and desperate to save face, Hera distracts Heracles with monster-slaying quests, only to find that he is too traumatized to enact more violence. Instead, Heracles cares for the Nemean lion, bonds with the Lernaean hydra, and heeds the Ceryneian hind.
Each challenge adds a new monster to Heracles' newfound family. A family that just might lay siege to Mount Olympos.
"This novel effortlessly ascends to the heights of Mount Olympus. Tough and tender and bittersweet. Wearing the Lion establishes Wiswell firmly on the new fantasy landscape." —T. Kingfisher, Hugo Award-winning author of Nettle & Bone
"Wiswell makes something new and thrilling—and funny and wrenching and tender—out of a very old myth." —Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Book of Love
Nebula Award-winning author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In John Wiswell brings a humanizing and humorous touch to the Hercules story, forever changing the way we understand the man behind the myth—and the goddess reluctantly bound to him
Sometimes a goddess's worst enemy is her biggest fan.
Heracles, hero of Greece, dedicates all his feats to the goddess Hera. If only he knew that his very face is an insult to her...as he is yet another child that Hera’s dipshit husband, Zeus, had out of wedlock.
“Auntie Hera” loathes every minute of Heracles’ devotion, until she snaps and causes an unspeakably tragic accident: the death of Heracles' children. Plunged into grief and desperate for revenge, Heracles is determined to find the god that did this.
Wracked with guilt and desperate to save face, Hera distracts Heracles with monster-slaying quests, only to find that he is too traumatized to enact more violence. Instead, Heracles cares for the Nemean lion, bonds with the Lernaean hydra, and heeds the Ceryneian hind.
Each challenge adds a new monster to Heracles' newfound family. A family that just might lay siege to Mount Olympos.
*Nebula Award Nominee*
"This novel effortlessly ascends to the heights of Mount Olympus. Tough and tender and bittersweet. Wearing the Lion establishes Wiswell firmly on the new fantasy landscape." —T. Kingfisher, Hugo Award-winning author of Nettle & Bone
"Wiswell makes something new and thril...
Discover more
Ratings and reviews
2 reviews
Linda Brown
- Flag inappropriate
June 17, 2025
Interesting take on a legendary hero🏛 I really liked the author's take on Heracles the demigod son of Zeus famous for his incredible strength. Here, he's a devoted father & husband, a gentle soul totally traumatized by the death of his sons. His grief is palpable. His quest to uncover the orchestrator of their horrifying deaths ends up sending Heracles out to conquer some of the age's most terrifying monsters. Heracles befriends them & eases their pain instead! Just not an easy or fast read.
Patrick Brown
- Flag inappropriate
April 2, 2026
A great story of pain and healing.
About the author
John Wiswell is a disabled writer who lives where New York keeps its trees. His novel Someone You Can Build a Nest In won the Nebula Award and Locus Award and was nominated for the Hugo Award. He has also won a Nebula and a Locus for his short fiction, and has been a finalist for the British Fantasy Award and World Fantasy Award. He is also the author of the Nebula Award-nominated Wearing the Lion and the forthcoming The Dragon Has Some Complaints.
John Wiswell is a disabled writer who lives where New York keeps its trees. His novel Someone You Can Build a Nest In won the Nebula Award and Locus Award and was nominated for the Hugo Award. He has also won a Nebula and a Locus for his short fiction, and has been a finalist for the British Fant...
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
