5/5 stars
In the past few months, I've read a lot of Greek myth retellings, especially focusing on women. Out of all of them, I think Clytemnestra is my favorite. I don't know too much about the original story beyond the basics, but it's always bothered me that she's treated like a villain because I simply cannot help but root for her! There's something about a woman being allowed to enact her revenge that she deserves after going through so much hardship that I just love reading about and I think the author does a really nice job of setting that up and enacting it over the course of the story.
I also really loved how the beginning of the novel included bits of Helen and Clytemnestra's relationship and the bonds of sisterly love. I think it goes outside of the confines of the original Trojan War story but I would have loved to have seen them meet again at the end of the story. Same with Clytemnestra's relationship with Timandra (a figure I'd never encountered before this novel). We didn't see as much of it but I really enjoyed the snippets we got at the beginning of the novel. (And the small amount of f/f romance? Absolutely, we love to see it!)
There were a few things that sort of took me out of the immersion of the novel –– such as the writing occasionally being in passive voice instead of active voice, Clytemnestra's "progressiveness" (that's not the right word but I don't know how to describe it) being too overt/awkward–– but it didn't really bother me enough for it to knock down my rating. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more by this author!
In the past few months, I've read a lot of Greek myth retellings, especially focusing on women. Out of all of them, I think Clytemnestra is my favorite. I don't know too much about the original story beyond the basics, but it's always bothered me that she's treated like a villain because I simply cannot help but root for her! There's something about a woman being allowed to enact her revenge that she deserves after going through so much hardship that I just love reading about and I think the author does a really nice job of setting that up and enacting it over the course of the story.
I also really loved how the beginning of the novel included bits of Helen and Clytemnestra's relationship and the bonds of sisterly love. I think it goes outside of the confines of the original Trojan War story but I would have loved to have seen them meet again at the end of the story. Same with Clytemnestra's relationship with Timandra (a figure I'd never encountered before this novel). We didn't see as much of it but I really enjoyed the snippets we got at the beginning of the novel. (And the small amount of f/f romance? Absolutely, we love to see it!)
There were a few things that sort of took me out of the immersion of the novel –– such as the writing occasionally being in passive voice instead of active voice, Clytemnestra's "progressiveness" (that's not the right word but I don't know how to describe it) being too overt/awkward–– but it didn't really bother me enough for it to knock down my rating. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more by this author!