Reviews

i think it might be time for me to give up on these modern retellings - they always seem to strip the original tragedies of their raw momentum. there is less space for ambiguity, no matter what the author does. i always have to grit my teeth to get through them. but the writing was beautiful.

becxaa's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

comfsp's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i just finished this book and i'm too mad to properly edit a structurally sound review so this is a *bit* rant-y, but here i go
This is such a difficult book to rate.
First of all, i'm a huge greek mythology nerd, so i always tend to gravitate towards books centering the myths i know from my childhood. Seeing the trojan war and the story of helen from another viewpoint was a great premise.
this book however is

fucked

up
i have so much beef with all of the characters and i really appreciate jennifer saint for painting an image of these mythological figures almost as complex as of the gods themselves.
the title is such a bad choice, i swear she chose the least substantial of the three women as the titular character. just why.

even cassandra had a better story and character arc, and she died halfway through

i hate elektra with all my heart, she's an agent of chaos in the worst possible way.

she's like those whining rich people on tiktok crying about how hard their lives are because they couldn't order the newest fancy couture item while the world is burning and millions are dying. her just making everyone around her to sacrafice themselves for her and then throwing a self-pity-party bc of her 'sorrows' is crazy. like yes, your douchebag dad kinda-sorta brainwashed you then left for 10 years and died and your mom just neglected you for your most formative years but like. that's a pretty common experience, believe it or not. after a while however you gotta let go of the delusions your parents planted into your head and start thinking for yourself and taking responsibility for your own actions.
and the AUDACITY this woman has to say georgios isn't a husband her dad would've wanted for her AND LEAVE HIM. he literally spent the last circa 20 years listening to her whine about how horrible her life is when he lives IN POVERTY and both his parents are dead, and i'm not even joking. all of their conversations looked something like this:
her: yeah so i have really bad daddy issues and i can't cope with my mom having a new boytoy. i wanna kill them both but i'm a coward so i'll cry until my baby brother comes and does it for me. oh and also bears the responsibility of it instead of me. oh how bad my life is. sorrows.
him*JUST CAME BACK FROM SPENDING 20 HOURS WORKING ON THE FIELDS TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES*: yeah crazy. do you want to eat smth? you're too useless to cook anything so i'll do it for you.

anyways, other than elektra, i really liked the other characters.
the gods being a**holes added another, deeper layer to the whole story, which i absolutely loved.

i found it kinda ironic how people celebrated agamemnon for being able to sacrafice his daugter for pleasing a goddes, but when apollo threatens to punish the kids if they don't kill their mother (who freed a woman -who dared reject him- from his torture) and so they do it they're frowned upon and turned away everywhere.
also athena turning her eyes away to not have to look at a woman being graped at her feet is insane. i was so scared for cassandra after what the goddess did to medusa. "thankfully" it wasn't a god this time...

cassandra is just a victim throughout the whole story
clythemnestra was the only one with any semblence of a character arc but at least i feel like it was intentional. really frustrating to read, but i feel like saint wasn't making excuses for elektra, or any of the characters, she was just telling a horrible story. i think a genuine mother-daughter conversation coul've solved most fo their problems though.

overall a strong story and the writing style is beautifully ornate as ever

hallowsun's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

evvaarose's review against another edition

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4.0

i will never be tired of women regaining their place in mythology

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