Reviews

Ithaca by Claire North

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tine200's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative 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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ariel_bloomer's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

swampbooks's review against another edition

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2.0

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Let me preface this review by stating that I have not read [b:The Iliad|1371|The Iliad|Homer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1625333695l/1371._SX50_.jpg|3293141] nor [b:The Odyssey|1381|The Odyssey|Homer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390173285l/1381._SY75_.jpg|3356006], though I have read books about what happened in them and about the characters. In particular, I referenced [b:Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes|33784345|Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes|Edith Hamilton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552064770l/33784345._SX50_.jpg|2625557] and [b:Bulfinch's Mythology|20763862|Bulfinch's Mythology|Thomas Bulfinch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1393959380l/20763862._SY75_.jpg|1266222] a lot while reading this.

As a book, it's great. The writing is beautiful and the story is interesting. My problem lies in the fact that it is much more of a retelling than I anticipated. I thought this would be a story about Penelope, wife of Odysseus, queen of Ithaca, that serves as an extension of the original text. A story woven into a story - a new perspective of a classic tale.

It was not that.

We see Penelope from the point-of-view of Hera, who narrates this story. I thought this was an interesting move that both worked and didn't work. It allowed us to jump from character to character and see a bit into what they were thinking or feeling, but because she is an observer of the events taking place, you feel like everything is happening at a distance. This makes it harder to connect to the characters.

What threw me off the most was how much the author warped the classic story to fit this new narrative. She made Odysseus seem like he never wanted to leave Calypso, when he directly told her that he wanted to go back to Ithaca. Penelope seemed to not even really care about him when they were originally described as being very much in love. When Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon she immediately fled to Ithaca to hide from her children, but in the original text she and Aegisthus ruled for seven years before being killed by her kids. Andraemon was made to be a major antagonist who was

Spoiler

eventually killed by Penelope's maid

when he was actually killed by Odysseus along with the other suitors in the Odyssey.

Why make these changes? Why not stay true to the text and create something from that?

I also think it's goofy how often poets were brought up. I searched for the term "poe" to see how often "poem" or "poetry" or "poets" were mentioned and got 67 results. That's far too many for one book. She consistently mentioned how "the poet's changed the real story to something more interesting" as if she wasn't doing the exact same thing when writing about Penelope's experiences during Odysseus' absence.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth that such drastic changes were made. I would have loved to see what Penelope went through that actually goes in line with the classic mythology. It felt like the author heard about Penelope, wanted to #girlbossify her, and made every other character excluding her maids a villian in the process. It was honestly disappointing as someone who loves learning about Greek mythology and reading it from a fresh, new perspective.

gabbyyyyy's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

laelyn's review against another edition

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3.0

Mythological retellings always intrigue me - which is a nice way of saying I am obsessed with them - so of course I was more than just a little interested in a new take on Penelope's story. Especially one that doesn't make her out to be a meek woman whose only worth is her love and loyalty and fidelity towards her mostly absent husband. "Ithaca", the first in, what I think will be a duology about the women of the titular kingdom definitely succeeds in that. It is clever, honest and allows Penelope to be her own complex character.

In most ways, the retelling stays true to the story we already know, but takes some liberties, for example when it comes to the inclusion of characters like Elektra, Clytemnestra and Orestes and their story. It also adds the unique perspective of Hera, who is our narrator and offers insight into the dealings of the gods in the background of Penelope's story. She's an all-knowing narrator which allows us to know what all the characters involved are thinking at any point in the story, though at the same time, it does form a sort of detachment when it comes to those characters. I never really grew to love all these women, though I appreciate the time North spends on exploring their characters. There are a lot of minor characters, too, but honestly I won't be able to give you their names because they mostly are little else than, well, their names.
The pacing is rather slow, but this is not an action- or plot-focused story. It very much is a character-driven one, and considering the myths it's based on that's the perfect choice. The writing is beautiful, too.

All in all, this is a well-written take on Penelope that I enjoyed, and I definitely want to read the second book. It doesn't quite manage to keep me emotionally involved and it could have been a little shorter, but if you're interested in Ithaca's women then this is absolutely a book I can recommend.

Many thanks to Orbit and Netgalley for the arc!