Reviews with content warning for War - Elektra

Reviews tagging 'War'

nexusgoblin's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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tortoasa's review against another edition

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dark informative medium-paced

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

2.0

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microbemom's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

The story of three women that are little control over there lives is both moving and sad. We see the story from three different perspectives each as interesting as the others. One sees visions, one obsess with her father, and one that lets revenge rule her life.

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thelibraryofalexandra's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

byrdtrude's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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marielaabrown's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A really good take upon the main sagas of the Trojan war. I think it lacked the focus of Ariadne.

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maaikereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Many thanks to Headline Audio and Jennifer Saint for the advanced audio copy of Elektra via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel.

Disclaimer: the negative slant on the audio perspective is largely due to my misophonia. I have an intense dislike for ‘mouth noises’. Audible swallowing, smacking noises, general un-edited auditory mouth *stuff* really gets to me and put me off this audiobook.

Elektra follows an interesting retelling of the Trojan war, from some of the key women’s point of view. Jennifer Saint has woven in figures of myth and legend along with those of flesh and blood with a matter-of-fact-ness, which isn’t seen as often in this type of retellings. Often in this type of story there is a veil of supernatural syrup, a ‘playing with the gods’ tale. But this story felt much more solid. This is told in a more ‘this is real life’ sort of way. And real life just happened to have the occasional god, or demi god, walking around in it. As you do.

I suspect that ‘Elektra’ was not Saint’s original title of choice, as she was not the protagonist of the book. But as Clytemnestra was already taken this season, it would have to do. Perhaps a different title may have suited the story better, however.

The narrators suited the individual characters well. However, I found it extremely difficult to get into the story as, after the first three chapters, they did not announce the character at the beginning of the chapter, instead expecting the listener to have already memorised the narrator’s voice. Unfortunately I’m not that good and I was confused, and annoyed. And as my misophonia had me well and truly distracter, I almost stopped listening at this point. Eventually I got the hang of who was who, and got into the story. It definitely took me a while, though.

Overall, the story was interesting. It was perhaps a bit over-long for my taste. I hope there is a final edit to smooth out the ‘mouth noises’ for future listeners’ enjoyment!

Spice: 1/5

Trigger warnings: Animal death, Blood/Gore, Cheating, Death, Death of a family member, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical or mental abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self Harm, Sexism, Sexual abuse/assault/harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War

Rating

Story: 3.5/5

Audio: 3/5

Content Warnings

anapthine's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Thank you Net Galley and Headline Audio for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Elektra, the daughter of Agamemnon, who greatly looks up to her father. When he leaves for Troy she is heartbroken and for years longs to be near him. Along with her mother Clytemnestra and the sister of Paris (the Trojan Prince who fell in love with Helen) called Princess Cassandra, this incredibly clever novel tells the story of Troy from many different points of view.

Because I love Song of Achilles with all my heart, I was worried this book would just be another tale about Troy, not really adding anything - but how wrong I was. Elektra adds so much to the story of the Trojan War, with how Princess Cassandra feels watching the war unfold beneath her.

Princess Casandra got the gift of prophecy from Apollo, but no one believes her when she speaks of the dangers.

My favourite point of view was Clytemnestra’s, as it was full of humility, grief, revenge, anger and sorrow.

The audiobook itself was incredibly well done, showcasing the emotions of the characters beautifully.

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withlivjones's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

The character work in this novel is insane, one can really feel for the women as the relationship between Clytemnestra and Elektra drift further and further apart with no way to rectify it. Saint has a way of writing characters who are both very sympathetic and entirely unreasonable - Clytemnestra and Elektra have very opposing views and they are portrayed in a way that the reader can understand why they believe what they do. I am definitely inspired by Saint’s depiction of these multifaceted and flawed characters.

I did enjoy Cassandra as a character and I appreciate that her story got to be told; however, her narration feels somewhat out of place in a novel that is otherwise about a daughter who is destined to become her mother no matter how much she hates her. Cassandra spends half of the novel isolated from the other two narrators in Troy and dies very soon after she arrives in Mycenae.

Content Warnings