Reviews

Gods, I felt like I would never finish this book, yet by some miracle I finally made it. And I must say that, despite everything, it did not leave a deep impression on me, not really. This was my first buddy read with one of my dear friends, Jason, and I truly enjoyed every minutes of it.

Clytemnestra is still one of my favourite female characters in mythology, everything in her (that endless pain and rage) makes her stand out. Somehow, this time, I was comforted by the ending that she got

even though she was killed, she had gone to the afterlife in peace.

Elektra, they say like father like daughter, and somehow it was, I can't imagine how deeply she loved him and what she really had to feel when she was separated from him, but I know things for sure; she was too blind and terribly naïve, who didn't know the real world. Elektra loved her siblings (Orestes for sure), but never as much as she did love, and never as faithfully as she did her father. For me, Orestes was a lovable and very brave little boy who did what he had to do (but at what cost?). Cassandra, my dear Cassandra, I will never stop talkinh about you. I'll tell your story to everyone, I will listen to you and understand you, even if no one else does.

The plot wasn't new — maybe I just read it for the third or fourth time — so it was predictable, perhaps a bit boring, but that's just my fault. I've always loved when mythology is told from a women's perspective, and it was no different here. The pace was maybe very slow at the beginning and very fast at the end, but I'm not complaining. The wording, apart from a few nice sentences, was not so special. Time jumps were not distracting, I liked that the author divided important plot points into parts. The ending felt a bit clashed and perhaps that's why it didn't leave a deep impression on me.

nicolettae's review against another edition

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2.0

I am usually a sucker for Greek Mythology. It is quite literally one of the only realms of fantasy I can get into. But as soon as I started reading “Elektra,” I felt my attention start to wane and could not, for the life of me, focus or enjoy myself.

After mulling it over, I think it’s time for me to admit that I just really hate the Trojan War.

What truly interests me about Greek Mythology are the gods, the magic, and the battles against mystical and terrifying monsters… but the Battle of Troy is, for all intents and purposes, about mortal men entering a really long war. The closest thing we get to magic are a few gods showing up to fight, and Achilles… who, let’s be honest, is basically just a really well-coordinated dude.

So, all this said, not only did I find myself extremely bored because this was about the Trojan War, but I was even more bored because you don’t even experience a majority of the battles firsthand in this book. You just get updates halfheartedly thrown around in fluttering “by the ways” by Clytemnestra, Elektra, and Cassandra.

90% of “Elektra” consists of 3 very surface-level, unlikeable women brooding and holding grudges against everybody in their path. While I understand the origin of some of the grudges were very valid, the lack of character depth, dimension, and relationship building with the reader made it hard for me to feel anything but annoyance as they lamented about the same exact obsessions over and over and over.

I really love Jennifer Saint. I gave “Atalanta” 5 stars! But unfortunately, between a topic that I am personally coming to terms with not interesting me, and a cast of deeply unlikeable, surface-level characters, “Elektra” is my least favorite Saint book.

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