Best Myths & legends

The 20 highest-rated Myths & legends, scored from 19K reader ratings.

Top 3: The Song of Achilles (8.5), The Battle of the Labyrinth (8.5), The Tower of Nero (8.4)

Sort byDecadeMinimum ratingsAdaptation20 results

By year of first publication, 1949–2026. The busiest stretch is 2010–2019, with 13. Select a bar to narrow the list.

1
8.58.5 / 10
The Song of AchillesMadeline Miller3K ratings“The Song of Achilles” tells the Trojan War from the side, through Patroclus, and turns a familiar epic into an intimate love story between him and Achilles.Our view
2
8.58.5 / 10
The Battle of the LabyrinthRick Riordan2K ratingsThe fourth Percy Jackson book is where the series widens.Our view
3
8.48.4 / 10
The Tower of NeroRick Riordan204 ratings“The Tower of Nero” brings Apollo’s five-book trial to a rousing, warm-hearted close.Our view

Why The Song of Achilles is #1

The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller) scores 8.5/10 from 3K ratings — level with The Battle of the Labyrinth at one decimal, and ahead on the exact score.

The score is a weighted average across 3 independent rating sources. A title with few ratings is pulled toward the category average, so a handful of enthusiastic reviews cannot outrank a book that thousands of readers have judged. To keep the list varied, the top 20 holds at most two books from one series and three by one author; the rest follow further down. Method →