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asourceoffiction's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I've recently been loving Greek novels led by women, and I've already read two others about the Siege of Troy. But I still enjoyed reading about it again. Clytemnestra and Cassandra have both come up in other novels but Elektra's perspective was new, and also adds a level of moral complexity to Clytemnestra's story.
There were definitely some sections that felt repetitive after A Thousand Ships and The Silence of the Girls. But that was entirely down to my experience and no reflection on the writing, which is fantastic.
As Agamemnon returns to Mycenae we entered newer territory, particularly in Elektra and Orestes' stories, and I found myself much more engaged. But like with Ariadne, there is no happy ending or redemption in these stories. There is a sense of futility to the vengeance Clytemnestra and Elektra crave, and an inevitability to their stories.
I'm excited to read Atalanta, which is a completely new story to me.
There were definitely some sections that felt repetitive after A Thousand Ships and The Silence of the Girls. But that was entirely down to my experience and no reflection on the writing, which is fantastic.
As Agamemnon returns to Mycenae we entered newer territory, particularly in Elektra and Orestes' stories, and I found myself much more engaged. But like with Ariadne, there is no happy ending or redemption in these stories. There is a sense of futility to the vengeance Clytemnestra and Elektra crave, and an inevitability to their stories.
I'm excited to read Atalanta, which is a completely new story to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Rape
faythfarrar's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Child death, and War
Minor: Abandonment, Classism, Infidelity, and Kidnapping
sirenricobooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Sexism, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, Trafficking, War, Classism, Gore, Violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, and Slavery
Moderate: Cannibalism
Minor: Incest, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, Rape, Confinement, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
lavendermoons's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, War, Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder and Blood
Minor: Rape and Emotional abuse
chacheitor's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
After reading Ariadne, also by Jennifer Saint, I had high expectations about this book, but I was disappointed. I did enjoy reading this more narrative Greek mythology, but I did not like the characters; I felt very disconnected from them and I couldn't bring myself to empathize with them except for iphigenias death and her mothers reaction , I think that was the best part of the book, writing wise (emotionally it destroyed me).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Murder
Moderate: War
no_this_is_patrick's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Personally I believe that what went wrong with this book is its title and the blurb . Reading the blurb I was led to believe that Elektra would sort of be the main character/savior of the book . But that was not the case in-fact Elektra was one of my least favorite characters in the book.
I absolutely adore the writing style of the book but the story in itself was not a personal fav.I wish the ending was extended a bit more so that we could have a “happy ending” preferably something like Elektra trying to better herself and be a good mother for her daughter
I absolutely adore the writing style of the book but the story in itself was not a personal fav.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, War, and Child death
Moderate: Gore and Rape
ohyeah_karyn's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, War, and Child abuse
samburkhouse's review against another edition
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Violence, War, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, and Slavery
Minor: Abandonment
oceanebooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I don't know why but this was an emotionally very draining read for me. Language-wise, Jennifer Saint was stunning, as always. Her narrating style is just such a wonderful flow of words and really, really enjoyable.
But - it was very hard for me to like any of the characters.
In fact, I think the only one I could really sympathize with was Georgios and how Elektra treated him and that she left him in the end - it made me so FURIOUS. He was the only sincerely kind and good person in the whole book, HE DID NOT DESERVE THIS.
Then again, I have to give the author credit for this, because it's not easy to create round characters and make them all unlikeable at the same time. And with that I don't mean there were only round characters, because there weren't. For example Agamemnon, or Aegisthus. The main characters though, they were pretty well rounded. Especially Clytemnestra, she was so full of emotions (mainly grief and anger, but I'll let that count, too), and it was almost painful to see her realize all her misbehaviour and actions that led to the events happening as they did when it was already way too late. Cassandra was okay, too. It hurt me, too, how nobody believed her, it hurt to think of how things could have ended if people had just listened to her. But I know that's how the tale is told, so Jennifer Saint would only have made a mistake in changing that.
Now, to Elektra. I don't think it's too much to say that I really despised her at the end of the book. Which was so surprising to me, because from reading the cover of the book I had thought she would be this heroic woman, brave and kind and sincere. And maybe she was brave, but she surely wasn't kind and she wasn't sincere, too. I think she was just furious, just angry, and completly filled with grief and the longing for revenge. I don't know how to feel about that because on one side it's pretty dissapointing, on the other side it's pretty genius by Jennifer Saint to create her like that as I'm sure many other readers were surprised, too.
The events themselves weren't too thrilling, because I'd read about the core plot already in "The women of Troy", "The silence of the girls" and "The song of Achilles". So I wasn't surprised when like 90% of the characters died or got slaughtered or died again. So yeah, that sadly took out a big chunk of tension for me, but I won't credit that negatively, because it's no one's fault but mine to be interersted in Greek mythology.
So yeah, judging by the fact that I'm again unable to keep my review short and could say so many more things about this book, you know it's defenitely worth a read, even though it was not my favourite favourite one. (And this is all because of you, Madeleine Miller...)
Still an impressive and somewhat kind of women-empowering piece of literature that's worth giving a try.
But - it was very hard for me to like any of the characters.
Then again, I have to give the author credit for this, because it's not easy to create round characters and make them all unlikeable at the same time. And with that I don't mean there were only round characters, because there weren't. For example Agamemnon, or Aegisthus. The main characters though, they were pretty well rounded. Especially Clytemnestra, she was so full of emotions (mainly grief and anger, but I'll let that count, too), and it was almost painful to see her realize all her misbehaviour and actions that led to the events happening as they did when it was already way too late. Cassandra was okay, too. It hurt me, too, how nobody believed her, it hurt to think of how things could have ended if people had just listened to her. But I know that's how the tale is told, so Jennifer Saint would only have made a mistake in changing that.
Now, to Elektra. I don't think it's too much to say that I really despised her at the end of the book. Which was so surprising to me, because from reading the cover of the book I had thought she would be this heroic woman, brave and kind and sincere. And maybe she was brave, but she surely wasn't kind and she wasn't sincere, too. I think she was just furious, just angry, and completly filled with grief and the longing for revenge. I don't know how to feel about that because on one side it's pretty dissapointing, on the other side it's pretty genius by Jennifer Saint to create her like that as I'm sure many other readers were surprised, too.
The events themselves weren't too thrilling, because I'd read about the core plot already in "The women of Troy", "The silence of the girls" and "The song of Achilles". So I wasn't surprised when like 90% of the characters died or got slaughtered or died again. So yeah, that sadly took out a big chunk of tension for me, but I won't credit that negatively, because it's no one's fault but mine to be interersted in Greek mythology.
So yeah, judging by the fact that I'm again unable to keep my review short and could say so many more things about this book, you know it's defenitely worth a read, even though it was not my favourite favourite one. (And this is all because of you, Madeleine Miller...)
Still an impressive and somewhat kind of women-empowering piece of literature that's worth giving a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Rape
garnethalo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Blood
Moderate: Violence, War, and Toxic relationship
It's a Greek tragedy, of family curses and blood spilled.