Let me prephrase this by saying that I am not judging these books on pure literary merit. Good writing and accuracy are two different things.

Having said that, it is frankly VEXING to see how our history and stories get treated these days, mostly through a USAmerican lens. Zeus did not walk the earth, and this is a fact; however the people that worshiped him and their ancestors (us) are very much real.

More often than not, these works read like an AU fanfiction, where the names and places remain the same but everything else is repackaged. More often that not, these stories are the first and only engagement most people have with our myths. This creates a false impression! These stories are not a part of some MCUesque multiverse, these were the religious texts of people. I agree that it was a long time ago. However, most retellings have no sensitivity in regards to the people they try to tell the stories of, the architecture, the climate, the habits.

We still exist!!! Our present is shaped by our past, just like every culture on Earth, but for some reason we are treated as a mild annoyance when we try to advocate for our own agency in this. We are given no seat on the table when voicing our concerns, and we certainly don't get any part of the payroll; with non Greek authors and filmmakers continuously profiting off our stories and myths.

Retellings that try to expand their reach into modern times more often than not treat Greece as non-existent, or wildly mischaracterise its modern history. From the top of my head I can think of Percy Jackson making Greek demigods responsible for WWII when Greece was one of the countries that suffered the most from it.

Especially romance stories come off as incredibly tone deaf, trying to apply modern standards in ancient times with no prior research done. Hades and Persephone retellings are notoriously guilty of this (why is Demeter the villain?) as well as Patroclus and Achilles stories (why is Patroclus not fighting?).

There are brilliant books writren by Greek authors that are retellings, and it's honestly a shame to see people gravitate again and again towards the same three books that are written by anglosaxon authors.

(Our removal from our stories is also deeeeeply tied to colonialism but this is frankly another post)