Elektra: No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller from the Author of ARIADNE

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But my absolute fave had a POV. Cassandra is my favourite character from Greek myth so I loved reading her view. I rolled my eyes. Odysseus was here as one of Helen’s suitors just like the rest of them, but of course nothing that man did was as it seemed. We could rather do with his famous wits in this situation, I thought, frustrated that he instead preferred to lose himself in some romantic daydream. Sadly, this book was … kinda disappointing. I don't want to say boring because I love the story of Troy and all these people involved in it, but here we are. Why? Because the author didn't just use women's perspectives but the POVs of women LEFT BEHIND. All we get to know is hearsay, rumor and reports. The women learn of events but never partake (except for Cassandra's POV).

What a great read, I hardly can express my feeling, the story goes on magical, beautiful and fascinating. Here we have women who carry the scars of war, seek retribution and in some cases become slaves to the victors, but what features heavily in the book is the relationship within families as sisters turn on sisters, mothers and daughters turn on each other but the more bitter hatred was saved for Agamemnon, by his wife Princess of Troy, and cursed by Apollo to see the future but never to be believed when she speaks of it. She is powerless in her knowledge that the city will fall. So, I propose that we all swear that, no matter whom she chooses, we will all join him in protecting her. We will all make a most solemn vow that we shall defend his right to have her—and keep her—with our own lives.” And once we get to the "action", it's over in two sentences and then the book keeps droning on and on and on for far too long yet again.

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Cassandra was one of my favourites to read about. We read her terrible curse from Apollo as she refuses him to rape her (literally whenever Apollo appears on the scene in any myth you know someone will be sexually assaulted). How she’s tormented by visions and people choosing not to believe her- how she’s an outcast. Her inability be believed and stop Troy from destruction. Reading about Cassandra was probably my favourite. The House of Atreus carried a curse. A particularly gruesome one, even by the standards of divine torment. Though the title would have you thinking this story is centered on one woman, it actually follows three separate women during the time of the Trojan War. Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon and mother of Elektra, was by far my favorite of the storylines. I was instantly swept up in her narrative and felt sympathy and heartbreak for her plight. We also follow Cassandra, a princess of Troy with the gift of foresight but the curse that none would believe her. While she isn't a big character in mythology, her story is definitely interesting. My huge thanks to Headline Audio via NetGalley for giving me a chance to listen to Elektra by Jennifer Saint, I have given my honest review. Each main character of this book is very well narrated by Beth Eyre, Jane Collingwood and Julie Teal. Clytemnestra, Cassandra and Elektra are the women bearing the brunt of a war created by men and gods, seemingly over Helen of Troy but also because they thrive on it. Summed up in a conversation with Elektra

Despite these minor issues, being a lover of Greek mythology I truly enjoyed this novel and can confidently recommend it. Helen noticed my silence, perhaps read some reproval in it, for she straightened her shoulders and fixed me directly in her gaze. “You know that our mother was singled out by Zeus,” she said. “A mortal woman beautiful enough to catch his eye from the peak of Mount Olympus. If our father were not of a quiet and uncomplaining disposition … who knows how he may have felt? If he were more like Agamemnon than Menelaus, for example.” I’m Not going to summarize the book any further since it’s a well known story. Suffice it to say it is a twisted tale of vile acts committed and the subsequent feeliings of hurt and betrayal. But mostly it is the tale of revenges planned and executed that makes this a true Greek tragedy. Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.

I shook my head. “I’ve heard stories about the family. The same ones as you. The curse of their ancestors, fathers killing their sons and brothers turning on each other. It’s all in the past, though, isn’t it?” I found Elektra really hard to sympathise with at times- she is a selfish character and her empathy for others is hardly there. She chooses not to see things from Clytemnestra’s POV where her father, Agamemnon (Clytemnestra’s husband) purposely murders and sacrifices Iphigenia for a wind to take the army to Troy. Instead as Elektra takes the view of the sacrifice being god ordained- she cannot understand why Clytemnestra is grieving and hating her father. She then spends her time on out thinking about revenge. She also doesn’t seem to care about others around her- especially how she treats her friend Georgios and has a weird Oedipus complex about Agamemnon. An extremely compelling novel, particularly if you haven’t read much Greek mythology. However, I wanted a bit more drama and atmosphere to come through in the writing. Other than that, the positives do outweigh the less good parts and at 3.5 stars I am rounding up.

Daughter of Zeus, that’s what the stories said of Helen. While I was born red-faced and squalling from the commonplace indignity of childbirth, my sister supposedly tapped her way delicately through a pure white eggshell and hatched whole and beautiful. The legend was adorned with fanciful details—it was well known that Zeus could adopt many forms, and on this particular occasion he had appeared to our mother feathered and snowy white, gliding down the river toward her with unmistakable purpose.I mean I’m putting a spoiler up but does it count as a spoiler when these poems and plays have been around for over 2000 years?? A brilliant read’ Women & Home | ‘A spirited retelling’ Times | ‘ Beautiful and absorbing’ Fabulous | ‘A vivid reimagining of Greek mythology’Harper’s Bazaar | ‘Jennifer Saint has done an incredible job’ Red We have all come here today for the same purpose,” he continued. “We all wish to wed the beautiful Helen, and we all have good reason to think that we are a worthy husband to such a woman. She is a prize beyond any that we can imagine, and the man who can call her his own will have to go to great lengths to protect her from those who would seek to seize her away from him.”