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A review by lorees_reading_nook
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Initially I was not really enjoying this book. I thought that the writing was rather mundane and the characters somewhat flat. But gradually, it felt as if Haynes found her voice and I started to feel an emotional connection with some of the women telling their story. My favourites were Cassandra and Andromache and I was sorry when their chapters finished as I really wanted to get to know them better.
I thought that Haynes' decision to recount the stories of all the women (be they mortals, nymphs or goddesses) affected by the Trojan war may have been over-ambitious. With nearly every chapter dedicated to a different character there were many women who seemed to flit across the pages like shadows without leaving a lasting impression. Perhaps purposefully, Helen does not get to tell her story and we only see her through the eyes of the other women. I would have liked to have heard her perspective too.
The men were not totally absent from this story but the stereptypical depiction of the Greeks as shallow ruthless killers down to the last man is probably justified from the perspective of an enslaved Trojan woman. However I hated the portrayal of Achilles as a killing-machine. I think there was more depth to the man than that.
A Thousand Ships is not as compelling a read as some other retellings of the Greek myths and it does give a voice to the women that we generally do not hear much about but I was expecting to be more moved by it than I was.
I thought that Haynes' decision to recount the stories of all the women (be they mortals, nymphs or goddesses) affected by the Trojan war may have been over-ambitious. With nearly every chapter dedicated to a different character there were many women who seemed to flit across the pages like shadows without leaving a lasting impression. Perhaps purposefully, Helen does not get to tell her story and we only see her through the eyes of the other women. I would have liked to have heard her perspective too.
The men were not totally absent from this story but the stereptypical depiction of the Greeks as shallow ruthless killers down to the last man is probably justified from the perspective of an enslaved Trojan woman. However I hated the portrayal of Achilles as a killing-machine. I think there was more depth to the man than that.
A Thousand Ships is not as compelling a read as some other retellings of the Greek myths and it does give a voice to the women that we generally do not hear much about but I was expecting to be more moved by it than I was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, War, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Murder and Grief
Minor: Slavery