A review by gladiolus17
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
You’ve got to know the legends in order to enjoy this book. There’s just a bunch of name-dropping without explanation and no world-building, since the book expects you to already know the world.

As well, I didn’t vibe with the amount of em dashes used in the piece. 

There were many clunky sentences and telling instead of showing. Here’s an example: “Realizing the danger she was in, she leapt from her bed, trying to undo her previous slowness.”
There’s a fire all around her! As well, the narrative brings the reader to the realization, so there’s no need to restate it with “realizing the danger.”

Finally, I did not understand the character’s motivations. Not sure if this is because I never read the legends, but I could not grasp why Aeneas would leave his wife and child in a burning town to go find his father. As well, the entire lack of concern Creusa had for her son as she leaves her house without looking for him in a literal besieged city baffles me.

There is some fantastic imagery aside from this, and I’m sure that fans of Greek legends will enjoy this, but I’m not enjoying this story.
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