I received an eARC from the publishers through NetGalley as part of the blog tour in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: General/mythology retelling
Age Range: Adult
Star Rating: 4 stars
Series: first book
Blurb:
The House of Atreus is spiralling into self-destruction – a woman must find a way to break the family curse.
Queen Clytemnestra’s world shatters when Agamemnon, a rival to the throne of Mycenae, storms her palace, destroys her family and claims not only the throne but Clytemnestra herself. Tormented by her loss, she vows to do all she can to protect the children born from her unhappy marriage to Agamemnon. But when her husband casts his ruthless gaze towards the wealthy citadel of Troy, his ambitions threaten to once more destroy the family Clytemnestra loves.
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
CLYTEMNESTRA’S BIND is the first in a series about the women whose lives are disrupted by the trojan war – and are vilified by the men writing it for defying their cruelty. This entry focuses on Clytemnestra, wife to Agamemnon after he murders her first husband and takes the throne from him.
There are many Greek mythology retellings out there, including ELEKTRA which also retells this story (though this stops earlier than that as I assume later books will continue the story.) I’m starting to get to the point of being pretty retelling’d-out, so I was looking for what made this entry different to the others – and I did find things.
I liked that Clytemnestra was angry and vengeful but then buried that for her children’s sake. She tries to make a life in these new circumstances and protect them, to end the cycle of bloodshed. Knowing how the story must end, this makes it a tragedy (where continual vengeance wouldn’t, because her attempt creates the possibility of it going alright, until her husband ruins everything.)
I liked seeing a woman in this current mythology wave try, to cling to the promise of security if she did as expected once the initial impulse for vengeance was gone from tiredness and failure. She does what is asked of her, all the unreasonable demands, to fit herself into this box, but it’s never enough for her husband. But she keeps trying and trying, until his action break the last of her restraint. It’s a way of breaking apart the lie of “conform and it will be ok” by showing what happens when you – the strain and the impossibility of it.
Electra (as she’s known here) is a very irritating, stubborn, horrible child. I’ve never much liked her in the myths even when others are trying to tell me she’s ok, so I did like seeing that reflected here.
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 