-Overall it was fine. It didn't really feel special but it wasn't bad by any means. I actually prefer this to the über popular Circe, but it just didn't hit me the way that A Thousand Ships did. And that's saying a lot because I have always been and will always be a Clytemnestra apologist and supporter. My love for her is unwavering, but this book made me feel tepid at best. (For clarification, I bring up these books also because this book is advertised as "for fans of Circe and Natalie Haynes". If they're going to bring up comp titles, I will compare them too.)
-The pacing was off IMO. It was a very slow start with a lot of detail and exposition on characters other than Clytemnestra, which is fine, but then there would be huge time skips where we missed a huge chunk of Clytemnestra's story and development (like we missed the birth of all her kids with Agamemnon? We see her leave to marry him and then see her again when her kids are like 10?! Who pressed fast forward cause I need to understand that choice). It just feels so strange to have such detailed day to day with unimportant details, and at the same time skipping over some pretty life-changing things.
-Interesting choice to end the story where it did (I'm trying to be purposely vague but let's just say before the Elektra bit). I feel like we lost out on a pretty important part of the story and to see how this Clytemnestra would react and feel.
-Speaking of interesting choices, I did not enjoy the random switches in POV. Again, it made the story feel unbalanced. ~90% of the book is in Clytemnestra's POV but once in a while, we would get someone else's POV and it was king of jarring and did not feel natural. I don't mind the book being in multiple POVs (my favorite Trojan war retelling is), but then the different POVs need to be given some care and attention. Otherwise it feels unnecessary and takes me out of the story.
-To end on a positive note, the author being a classics scholar shines through. It feels well researched and the setting feels grounded in reality. I'd also recommend this to people who haven't read a lot about ancient Greece or aren't as familiar with the story because it does a good job explaining the context and many different characters. I especially enjoyed learning about Tantalus because I haven't heard that version of her story before, and it's yet another reason to be a Clytemnestra stan.
-The pacing was off IMO. It was a very slow start with a lot of detail and exposition on characters other than Clytemnestra, which is fine, but then there would be huge time skips where we missed a huge chunk of Clytemnestra's story and development (like we missed the birth of all her kids with Agamemnon? We see her leave to marry him and then see her again when her kids are like 10?! Who pressed fast forward cause I need to understand that choice). It just feels so strange to have such detailed day to day with unimportant details, and at the same time skipping over some pretty life-changing things.
-Interesting choice to end the story where it did (I'm trying to be purposely vague but let's just say before the Elektra bit). I feel like we lost out on a pretty important part of the story and to see how this Clytemnestra would react and feel.
-Speaking of interesting choices, I did not enjoy the random switches in POV. Again, it made the story feel unbalanced. ~90% of the book is in Clytemnestra's POV but once in a while, we would get someone else's POV and it was king of jarring and did not feel natural. I don't mind the book being in multiple POVs (my favorite Trojan war retelling is), but then the different POVs need to be given some care and attention. Otherwise it feels unnecessary and takes me out of the story.
-To end on a positive note, the author being a classics scholar shines through. It feels well researched and the setting feels grounded in reality. I'd also recommend this to people who haven't read a lot about ancient Greece or aren't as familiar with the story because it does a good job explaining the context and many different characters. I especially enjoyed learning about Tantalus because I haven't heard that version of her story before, and it's yet another reason to be a Clytemnestra stan.