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

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But as much as I appreciate how they took more initiative, it is difficult, if not impossible, to ignore how some of those choices are just simply flawed and come with terrible consequences. The history of the family was full of brutal murder, adultery, monstrous ambition, and rather more cannibalism than one would expect.

The book evokes so many thoughts and emotions that I never could pin one thought down in regards to the characters. reads like a student trying to reach the word-count on an essay: 300 pages of exposition and filler. I can’t quite tell if the intended audience is people who are just getting into mythology or people who already know it well. There is no satisfaction here in this story, and I started getting so bored that I was sure I would DNF it. The house of Atreus is cursed- through generations of murder, usurping’s of the throne of Mycenae, and cannabalism.

The story of Troy is fascinating and for those that want to know more of it, this books packs a lot into one novel, although it focuses on the women rather than the main characters like Achilles. The namesake of this book, Elektra, is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra who kills her mother for murdering her father, she is of course helped by her brother. So when you put the two things together, a good chunk of the latter part of this book felt like a trudge, without the spark of something new and exciting to engage the reader. When I read Ariadne, the previous book by the author, I would grow frustrated with the main character for not taking more control over her own life. I feel like Saint's retellings just follow the original texts too closely, but that's on me, not her.

Clytemnestra and Cassandra's narratives were undeniably fascinating, and for that, this was a worthwhile read for me. The relationship between mother and daughter is very fraught and obviously does not end well for either of them.Despite these minor issues, being a lover of Greek mythology I truly enjoyed this novel and can confidently recommend it. interest was also mainly in the second half of the book, and completely absorbed me at the end with a more than satisfying ending as the characters wrestle with their moral dilemma and thirst for revenge because that was what tradition dictated. Unlike Ariadne who I wished took more control, the women in Elektra took decisive actions that forever changed the course of their story.

In Elektra, the author weaves the stories of Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Elektra together, allowing us to witness events during the Trojan War from their perspective. Due to a lifelong fascination with Ancient Greek mythology, Jennifer Saint read Classical Studies at King's College, London. Her drowning, never-ending grief was portrayed so well, her fierce love for her children felt so tangible that it felt like *I* lost people beloved to me as well. There is a certain amount of repetition but given that each of the narrators tells the story from different vantage points, nowhere did I lose interest. In the light of the rising sun, I prayed that my husband would survive this war and come home safe to me.

Yep, the Agamemnon who led the war against Troy after his younger brother's wife had been "kidnapped" (we don't really know if Helen went there voluntarily or not) by Paris. They plan and seethe and clash emotionally, but for most of the novel they just sit around because no action can take place with the menfolk absent. Her chapters, while the events themselves are highly compelling, the way she tells them is just dull. After the battle of Troy, Agamemnon (who let’s face it, we all dislike very much) claims her as his war prize and takes her back to Mycenae like the absolute dick he is. The story telling flows and the author did really well to breathe life into centuries old myths and legends that makes the reader really connected with the story.

It was competent enough, and as I was reading it, at least through the halfway point, I kept thinking it was OKAY, assiduously so, but something was bothering me. This wonderful book is told from the POVs of all three women and each chapter is clearly labelled so you know who’s POV you’re reading at any time.Despite the title this is actually the story of three women whose fates are inextricably tied to the cursed bloodline of the House of Atreus and the fickle nature of men and gods. Life is rarely kind to the women in Greek tragedies as they live in fear of either the whims of the gods or of men. However, instead of focusing on the male heroes who usually helm such tales, Saint instead tells the story through the lens of three women: Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra, their daughter Elektra, and Apollo’s cursed prophetess Cassandra. criticism I do have however, is that I missed the Greek tragedy and there was plenty of incidents, events, deaths, and curses to create the prefect atmosphere and build new drama, but the author did not quite get it right with the atmosphere, drama and sense of theatre we get from the writing.