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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
I enjoyed it. I don't think I'd quite give it 5 stars, but I'd feel okay giving it 4.5 out of 5.
This book is the story of a young girl growing up in the times of the ancient Greeks, most notably just before and during the beginning of the Trojan War. Anaxandra, the daughter of a pirate, is taken hostage until her father returns his stolen gold. Due to her being six at the time and not understanding what was happening, she shows them where the gold is and, after that, is taken to live with the king who has taken her hostage. After six years and an attack by another group of pirates, the king who took her in and his city are either enslaved or killed. To avoid being enslaved, she accidentally takes on the name of the Princess Callisto and is taken home to Sparta by King Menelaus as his guest, where she meets Helen of Troy and their children.
The first thing that I found to be particularly unusual about this book was that Anaxandra worships Medusa as their patron goddess. I have never seen her worshipped before in any way, shape, or form - but hey, there's always a first.
The second thing, which I loved, was that this book doesn't show Helen as a helpless damsel in love. In this book, she's a cold goddess who falls in love with a young prince and revels in the idea of a war being fought over her. I thought her portrayal was magnificent. Her consistently cold treatment of others is definitely a take I haven't seen people examine in literature.
This book is the story of a young girl growing up in the times of the ancient Greeks, most notably just before and during the beginning of the Trojan War. Anaxandra, the daughter of a pirate, is taken hostage until her father returns his stolen gold. Due to her being six at the time and not understanding what was happening, she shows them where the gold is and, after that, is taken to live with the king who has taken her hostage. After six years and an attack by another group of pirates, the king who took her in and his city are either enslaved or killed. To avoid being enslaved, she accidentally takes on the name of the Princess Callisto and is taken home to Sparta by King Menelaus as his guest, where she meets Helen of Troy and their children.
The first thing that I found to be particularly unusual about this book was that Anaxandra worships Medusa as their patron goddess. I have never seen her worshipped before in any way, shape, or form - but hey, there's always a first.
The second thing, which I loved, was that this book doesn't show Helen as a helpless damsel in love. In this book, she's a cold goddess who falls in love with a young prince and revels in the idea of a war being fought over her. I thought her portrayal was magnificent. Her consistently cold treatment of others is definitely a take I haven't seen people examine in literature.
This is a really interesting read. It delves into the history of Helen of Troy and all that surrounded her.. in a fictional way.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I love this book so much!! It’s a great story about the journey of a little girl. Refreshing story for mythology nerds!!
Soooooo good! Sort of about Helen of Troy. LOVED IT!
Granted I read this years ago in high school so my standards were lower and it might not warrant the rating after a reread, however I do remember really enjoying this book.
The plot was good. The writing was okay, though kind of choppy and harder to follow at times, and the second half of the book was okay, but far too much in the first half was unbelievable. For instance why did everyone love Helen? I get that she's beautiful. Okay...and? She's not just spoiled and shallow, she's also excessively cruel. I could see the peasants and foreigners admiring her, but her own servants would not love her unless they were under some sort of magical spell. Magic is never mentioned regarding Helen, so their nauseating devotion to her makes no sense whatsoever. Also, I'm not buying that Menelaus, Paris, and basically everyone else in the first half of the book (other than the one general or whoever he was) could be so incredibly stupid. The author's portrayal of Menelaus was pretty pathetic anyway. Not because he was a good father and not because he treated Anexandra well or any of the other reasons that Helen and the others believed him to be weak. No, he has basically no spine when it concerns his wife. She blatantly disrespects him - the king - and practically mates with someone else right in front of him, and he acts like it's all totally cool. Which doesn't fit with basically anything else about his character - that he was a fairly powerful king who actually does take offense at insults and has the power to make substantial threats and carry them out. And then there were the enormously stupid and unbelievable guards who simply stood aside and let themselves be killed and the enormously stupid and unbelievable servants who thought it'd be a good idea to bring the kids to Helen when they know she doesn't care about them and has just proven herself to be a traitor, and knowing that the prince who has just ransacked the kingdom would love to kill those kids. And then specifically call attention to them? I'm also not buying Helen's role or even her character very much. She's a little too icy. She acts like she couldn't care less about her kids one minute and the next she gets protective or shows genuine affection for them? And we're supposed to believe that someone as vapid and self centered as Helen in this version would willingly give up being a queen to take her place at the bottom of a very long line of princesses, with very little hope of ever being a queen again? Sure...Okay. Honestly, it all seemed like the author's way of forcing the story to go as she saw in her head, regardless of how it got that way. Which does not make for a good story. I can suspend belief to get into fiction, but things have to make sense and be relatively realistic.
The book was also unnecessarily graphic and crude in some places. I'm sorry, but I do not need to hear details like dogs eating someone's intestines.
The ending wasn't great either. For a good portion of the book, I was waiting for Troy to be destroyed and for Anexandra to at least see Euneus again but no. We're just left to kind of guess that those things happen.
Oh, and the constant definition of words was irritating. Add a glossary to the back of the book if you need to, but don't use words that no one knows just so you can tell us what they mean. It was particularly stupid when she says the Greek word and another character follows up with what it means in English.
The book was also unnecessarily graphic and crude in some places. I'm sorry, but I do not need to hear details like dogs eating someone's intestines.
The ending wasn't great either. For a good portion of the book, I was waiting for
Oh, and the constant definition of words was irritating. Add a glossary to the back of the book if you need to, but don't use words that no one knows just so you can tell us what they mean. It was particularly stupid when she says the Greek word and another character follows up with what it means in English.
I found the main character of Goddess of Yesterday to be quite annoying and inconsistent. Unfortunately this was due in large part to the writing, which was stilted, choppy at times and just bland overall. The book begins with Anaxander being six, however, neither her voice nor the writing improve when she doubles in age. Overall Anaxander was too naive and intolerable for this reader. I especially found her Medusa impression to be beyond belief, even in this fantastical telling. Anaxander comes across somewhat fearful in temperament and is supposedly fearful of octopuses. But suddenly she puts a live octopus on her head and scares off murdering/pillaging pirates with almost no thought. That was a bit too much in my opinion and it was not believable for the character. (Not to mention all of the men believing it and running in fear was over the top as well, even in a time of belief in crazy gods.)
An example of the bland writing:
Steps would make it too easy for pirates. Father knew because he was one. He loved to tell about the towns he had sacked and burned. We had many slave women he had brought back. The men he couldn't keep, because they knew hoe to use weapons and were too dangerous. p2
One of may passages that were dull and stilted. Also, I love the casual sexist remark as well in this one. Women are incapable of using a rock or knife etc. now? Seriously? I don't think I would have liked this one even when I myself was six.
An example of the bland writing:
Steps would make it too easy for pirates. Father knew because he was one. He loved to tell about the towns he had sacked and burned. We had many slave women he had brought back. The men he couldn't keep, because they knew hoe to use weapons and were too dangerous. p2
One of may passages that were dull and stilted. Also, I love the casual sexist remark as well in this one. Women are incapable of using a rock or knife etc. now? Seriously? I don't think I would have liked this one even when I myself was six.