Reviews with content warning for Murder - Elektra

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

188 reviews

lilybarna's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

You feel for every woman even when their plights and dreams directly go against what another needs. You feel mostly for Cassandra and Clytemnestra, whereas Elektra elicits less sympathy. Seems in line with the other depictions of her I’ve encountered.

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porridgegobbler's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

3.75 stars

An easily digestible read of a well-known story from a perspective we don't normally hear from.

Definitely a book to get you out of a reading slump and bolster your knowledge and understanding of Greek Mythology, particularly the Trojan War. I really enjoyed the three perspectives and how their stories intertwined with one another.

Definitely better than Jennifer Saint's third book Atalanta, however that may just be my personal bias due to my interest in the Trojan War. But also it read better and the characters were more distinct. However at times it does suffer the same issue of heavy handed exposition of mythology, which is impressive in terms of Saint's knowledge, But not always fitting for prose in my opinion.

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val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

2.0

Listening to this audiobook was a little confusing because I could not recognize who was speaking from who’s pov, it would’ve helped if they said the name of the character at the beginning. Other than that, I liked the three narrators!

I always like to read greek mythology book to remember the stories and see them from different povs. Here we got the pov of Clytemnestra, Elektra and Cassandra.

I have to admit that I do not understand why the book is called Elektra when it had 3 women describing their experiences before, during and after the the Trojan War, besides she is the one I liked the least from the 3 women…

Helen can go to the deepest hell by the way 😭 (at least the one in this book) next to her brother in law Agamemnon!

This book was basically telling the story we already know but from the pov of these 3 characters, but sadly there was nothing new, fantastic, original, or really entertaining.

I almost DNF this after Part 1 to be honest, but I kept going just because it’s Greek Mythology. And I mean, it was okay?? So 2 ⭐ in my opinion.

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celtictales's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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bookaholic_in_wonderland's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

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emilie_anine's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-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

1.0

Even months after reading it, I still don’t understand what purpose any of the characters served.

The most interesting character, in my opinion, died somewhat pointlessly and it just felt like it didn’t make sense for her to have been in the book at all

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tourmaline1703's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

I have been reading many mythological or historical retellings recently because I adoe these influences on literature, and this was another great mythological retelling. Blending the stories of the Trojan War and Orestes whilst recentering the story onto Clytemnestra, Cassandraand Elektra, Jennifer Saint creates an emotional exploration of grief, family and revenge in 'Elektra.' The worldbuilding is great, and accessible to anyone, whether or not you have previous knowledge of Greek myth.

The writing is descriptive and engaging, allowing you to truly feel the characters' emotions as their lives are turned upside down. The story is told from the three women's point of view, and each character's personality and feelings are distinguishable from the way Saint writes in each of their chapters. The contrast between mourning in sadness, in Cassandra's case, tothe vengeful grieving of Elektra and Clytemnestra is beautifully shown.

I found the plot to be well paced and intriguing, urging you to turn the page and see how everything unfolded. I thought the multiple perspectives were very effective and allowed the timeline to be clear, whilst building suspense for when the stories finally intertwined. I liked the characters as they were well developed and their relationships to each other were interesting.

Whilst this was a great book, I couldn't fully invest myself in it and I felt like I wasn't completely hooked. It is undoubtedly an emotional story, but perhaps due to my prior knowledge, the tension wasn't as tense for me and I didn't feel as upset or shocked at certain actions.

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