Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

85 reviews

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Violence, War, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, and Slavery

Minor: Abandonment

alibrarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

If we were supposed to dislike Elektra, Saint did an amazing job. The titular character, and I absolutely could not stand her and her inability to think beyond herself until it was too late. She was selfish, bitter, and mean. 

However, the rest of this book is SO GOOD. I adored Cassandra’s perspective and appreciated the look into what her life was and how she was affected by the war before

begging for an end, and an end she chose for herself.

I absolutely cried for her and Clytemnestra. The ending was almost fitting, but I do wish there was more justice for Clytemnestra after everything—though Orestes didn’t deserve to face the consequences alone and it felt as though he did. So, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Gore, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

raichou's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

Ich habe mich nie viel mit griechischer Mythologie beschäftigt, aber aktuell zieht es mich immer wieder dazu. 

Nach Song of Achilles war es spannend den Trojanischen Krieg aus einer ganz anderen Perspektive zu sehen. 
Anfangs war ich etwas verwirrt, da wir das meiste aus Klytemnästras und Kassandras Perspektive gesehen haben, obwohl das Buch nach Elektra benannt ist.
Aber es hat sich alles zusammen gefunden und die äußeren Einflüsse für das Handeln der einzelnen erklärt. 

Alles in allem ein gutes Buch, doch, außer Kassandra, war mir keiner der Hauptcharaktere besonders sympathisch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, War, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Death of parent, and Infidelity

Minor: Slavery

adrienneb18's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Violence, War, Murder, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Pregnancy, Incest, Cannibalism, and Suicidal thoughts

hodgeonlucy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death, Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Murder, War, and Grief

melbelle2025's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and War

mermaidjesi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I love the feminist lense added to classic greek mythology. Seeing the womens side of the retellings of traditionally male centric stories where women are soley objects. 

This story really impacted me thinking about my own generational curses. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault

madelinequinne's review against another edition

sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Since my obsession with Ancient Greece has come back full force, I knew I needed to read this book as soon as I saw it in Waterstones, and it was… fine? I think reading Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati before reading Electra made me not enjoy this so much since the former painter Clytemnestra’s character in such a strong way, with so much depth that then reading the latter’s depiction of her was disappointing. She was written as if she was weak minded and always in her sister’s shadow, and she was rather two dimensional in certain points of the book. 

For a book called Electra, there wasn’t all that much about her until the last third of the book. It was much more focused on Clytemnestra and Cassandra right up until Agamemnon’s murder, so at times I didn’t really feel like I was reading her story at all. 

This book was a fine read, but I can’t say it was my favourite. The writing was very beautiful and descriptive, and I didn’t feel like it was a drag to read or anything, so I’d still recommend this to anyone wanting to read about Ancient Greece, but it’s certainly not at the top of my recommendation list. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, Infertility, Murder, Sexism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Slavery, and War

Minor: Incest, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Sexual assault

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, War, Gore, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

sarabookshelf's review against another edition

dark tense

3.75

A retelling of the Trojan war and its aftermath focusing on the tragedy of the women in house of Atreus. The main character was in my opinion the least interesting of the three narrators, and I wish the focus was more on Cassandra as her fate I found the most fascinating. The later parts of the book dragged on a bit and made me lose interest to what happens to the characters. But overall, it was a solid greek mythology retelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault