I received an audiobook from the publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Historical Retelling Age Range: Adult Star Rating: 4 stars Series: standalone
Blurb:
The House of Atreus is cursed. A bloodline tainted by a generational cycle of violence and vengeance. This is the story of three women, their fates inextricably tied to this curse, and the fickle nature of men and gods.
Clytemnestra, the sister of Helen, wife of Agamemnon – her hopes of averting the curse are dashed when her sister is taken to Troy by the feckless Paris. Her husband raises a great army against them, and determines to win, whatever the cost.
Cassandra, 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.
The youngest daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, Elektra is horrified by the bloodletting of her kin. But, can she escape the curse, or is her own destiny also bound by violence?
Review taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
I was not expecting ELEKTRA to be my final book of 2022! I was expecting it to be a paperback, but then I started a puzzle and my brain decided to be OK with an audiobook while doing that, and thus this was the last book I read in the year (I finished at about 5 to midnight!)
Like with ARIADNE, this book might be called after one woman, but it’s a misnomer of a title as it’s really about three women and, in some respects, Elektra is the secondary narrator. Really this is Clytemnestra’s book (as implied by her being the first one mentioned in the blurb), her story of grief and how her need for revenge clouds her remembrance that she has other children.
Elektra is then, probably, the secondary narrator. She has a very different view on it to her mother as she idolises him and, in his absence, makes him into someone perfect. It was interesting seeing the difference in their views, how it drives them against one another because neither can let go of what they think is the right way to live.
Cassandra is also in the book, to give some view of the Trojan War. I was glad that there wasn’t much of that war (as it’s been retold so many times now.) Instead, the book focuses on Cassandra not being believed and how that makes her feel, her attempts to save the city. There are mentions of the major events in the Trojan War, but they are not the focus, and that was a very refreshing change.
There are three narrators, one for each woman, which is useful as it’s in first person and only the first chapter from each of them has a name informing you which narrator you are dealing with. I would have liked it if they said the name each time as I usually had to wait for a few sentences before I could work out which character we were with (I don’t find it easy to distinguish unfamiliar voices.)
However, I did very much enjoy it, and it’s made me more interested to read the next book by her, ATALANTA.
Read my reviews of other books by Jennifer Saint:
Standalones:
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 