real rating 3.75
I love Barker's writing style; it's unique, poetic, and captivating. Nonetheless, it lacked that captivating quality in this book. I think it has more to do with the plot than with her writing. Also, it was a bit confusing in the beginning to follow the timeline and what character's POV we were reading. After a while, it got easier. I also liked the new perspective in this greek myth where women had no voice. It was fantastic to read from their view. However, I found Brises a bit hard to like at times. She was too harsh and judgmental with other women.
I'm looking forward to reading more books by Pat Braker. And I do recommend this book to anyone who likes Greek mythology or wants to learn more about it.
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the

I read this as research for my current role in History non-fiction publishing. I would be interested to commission a similar title from a non-fiction point of view, and on a personal note I enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed reading 'Silence of the Girls,' that is to say, very much!
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to view this digital download edition.

This sequel to The Silence of the Girls is beautifully written and has an interesting subject matter. However, like it's predecessor it starts very well, is gripping and engaging but loses some momentum in the third quarter. Thankfully it picks up again towards the end. While this is historical fiction / myth retelling it is, sadly, as relevant today as it has ever been.

‘The Women of Troy’ is the second of the Trojan War novels by Pat Barker, telling the post-war story of Trojan woman Briseis, a trophy of war owned by Achilles. I loved the first, ‘The Silence of the Girls’, but wanted to hear the stories of more of the women. That’s what we get in this second book.
Briseis, now pregnant with Achilles’ child, is again narrator along with a new male voice, that of Pyrrhus, eldest son of Achilles and Briseis’ stepson. Now Achilles is dead Briseis belongs to Alcimus, charged by Achilles before his death with caring for his unborn child.
The story starts with Pyrrhus inside the wooden horse, constructed by the Greeks, to trick the Trojans. ‘Inside the horse’s gut: heat, darkness, sweat, fear. They’re crammed in, packed as tight as olives in a jar.’ It is Pyrrhus who kills Priam, king of the Trojans, and that murder echoes throughout ‘The Women of Troy’. As storms rage – punishment of the victorious Greeks by the Gods for their impious behaviour – the army and its captives are now trapped on the beach waiting for a chance to sail home. This enclosure at close quarters raises emotions, tensions, jealousies and pride. As Alcimus arranges games – chariot racing, archery, spear throwing, wrestling – Briseis acts as a mother-figure for the other women, all now slaves.
Barker explores the after-effects of war on the Trojan women during these empty days – Hecuba, widow of Priam, and Cassandra, her daughter; Andromache, wife of Hector now concubine to Pyrrhus – high-born Trojan women now slaves in the households of their Greek victors, as concubines, whores, cooks and housemaids.
The story is about survival on the edge of despair when women are secondary creatures deemed without opinions or rights, exploring how women individually and collectively find ways to live. There is bravery, despair, foolishness, obsession and madness. When the actions of Pyrrhus are questioned, Briseis must remember the events of one night when Achilles was alive. ‘Both of us [Briseis and Cassandra, another witness] were women – and a woman’s testimony is not considered equal to a man’s. In a court of law, if a man and woman disagree it’s almost invariably his version of events that’s accepted. And that’s in a courtroom – how much more so in this camp where all the women were Trojan slaves and the only real law was force.’
But this is also the story of Pyrrhus, a young man who struggles to match the reputation of a father he never felt close to, a father lauded as a God. These were brutal times when small mistakes were punished by death and Pyrrhus, who has few friends, takes risks and makes bad decisions.
This book works as a standalone story as well as companion to ‘The Silence of the Girls’. Both are magnificent examples of storytelling by an author at the peak of her writing. Faithful to the myths, Barker is an inventive writer who adds her own interpretations and twists.
Excellent, I whizzed through this in no time. Will there be a third novel? I hope so.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

(Please see trigger warnings before reading. This review will also contain spoilers for the first book.

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Ad: Pr Product - kindly sent from Penguin Books via Netgalley for an honest review. 




“We’re going to survive–our songs, our stories. They’ll never be able to forget us. Decades after the last man who fought at Troy is dead, their sons will remember the songs their Trojan mothers sang to them. We’ll be in their dreams–and in their worst nightmares too.” ― Pat Barker, The Silence of the Girls




The sequel to ‘The Silence of The Girls’, Barker continues the story of the Trojan women who were stolen, enslaved and separated from their families, and are currently awaiting for their fate in the camps. With unrest growing stronger, old and new hatred are flaring and the gods do not seem pleased with the events unfolding, causing further danger and risk for the women and the life they unwillingly find themselves in.



It begins inside the Wooden Horse with a flashback to the time when the Greeks were hidden inside, waiting to see if Odysseus’ trick will work. The story then unfolds as the Greeks wait to return home victorious. However with the delays affecting their journey home and the tensions raising, anger and bitterness are ensuring constant fights.



Barker cleverly continues to give voice to the unsung heroes of the Trojan war - the women. Briseis remains the narrator and continues to navigate the harsh reality the women find themselves in. Having been the prize trophy of Achilles in the first book, Briseis is now married to Alcimus, whilst carrying Achielles’ unborn child. Finding herself a woman of status now, she continues to still feel a connection with the enslaved women, and seeks to do all she can to bring them together and keep them from as much as harm as possible. Her practicality and heart shows her resilience and the women’s ability to survive the most desperate, harrowing and precarious of situations. The trauma, despair, and grief these women are feeling pours out from the pages and you feel as if you are there beside them. Their emotional story is sensitively, yet starkly woven with the story of Troy and I absolutely loved reading the experiences of these unsung voices. 
 


Though the focus is on the female characters, the male secondary characters are also cleverly written. Though I would have loved more of a view point from some of the other women personally, it also adds further context to which the women find themselves in. Especially as the male characters find themselves wilting under the unrest and the macho honour codes, especially the young Pyrrhus who is consistently over overshadowed by his father, Achilles, who is now five months dead and yet who’s memory and fame still shines throughout.



Whilst I can see why some would find the pace and writing quite slow and admittedly I found this in places, I also found it captivating and written with passion and finesse. The atmosphere of doom, and lack of victory hangs in the air, even more so from the first book. The maltreatment of the conquered and their long-suffering patience is paired with the perceived inadequacies of the the men, as well as the desire for revenge and also peace. It’s a story of life and survival and it's captivating.



A chilling and powerful retelling, I can’t wait to read the next book. I would highly recommend for fans of greek mythology and those looking for a feminist retelling from the unsung heroes.

Anything that Pat Barker writes makes it onto my To Be Read list. The same goes for the retelling of Greek Myths. The Women of Troy by Pat Barker picks up the story of Siege of Troy just as the Trojan horse is inching its way into the city. As with The Silence of the Girls we see events through Briseis eyes. Kings and soldiers roar around the perimeter of the story whilst the women take centre stage. In much the same way as I binge watched Ghosts, I binge read The Women of Troy in a day and now feel slightly sad that it is finished. Now I’m eagerly awaiting Pat Barker’s next novel.

I enjoyed the women of Troy. It was a well paced book with lots of references to what we think we know about that period in time.

The switches between the characters at times were very sudden and it took a few pages before you catch up with whom you are reading but overall very enjoyable and easy to read.

Having thoroughly enjoyed The Silence of the Girls by the same author, I think I expected too much. However, it is an interesting and informative novel. My thanks to Netgalley for the arc.

Troy has fallen. Feuds are bubbling up and soldiers are at breaking point.

The women who have been left to fend for themselves must come together to survive. The novel continues the story for the women of Troy, who have previously gone unheard.

I preferred THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS to this - the former felt like it had more to give and was more of a developed plot. It's still well written but the story didn't work for me as well this time.

Having read and enjoyed The Silence of the Girls, I was delighted to read this sequel, The Women of Troy. The story is still mostly told from Briseis' perspective (as in the first book) and includes many of the same characters.
Pat Barker writes beautifully and the story is wonderfully imagined and vividly portrayed. However there were so many characters, some with similar sounding names (Helle, Helenus, Hecuba and Hecamede, for example) that I found I really had to concentrate hard and occasionally got confused about who was who, which was frustrating. Overall though it's an excellent read.
With grateful thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

I really enjoyed this one! Ive been listening to a Greek Mythology podcast recently and it really put me in the mood :)

I wasn’t a huge fan of the first book (the Silence of the Girls) but I wanted to give the author another shot.

I really liked how atmospheric the book was, even though the plot wasn’t particularly advanced.

I also appreciated how the chapters weren’t as long as I remember from the first book which made for a much more exciting read!

4 stars

Thank you so much to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.

CWs: Ableist Slurs, Murder, Rape, Sexual Assault, Slavery, War, Pregnancy & Violence

I requested this book because I love Greek Mythology and I enjoyed Par Barker’s previous book ‘Silence of the Girls’, and I was not disappointed!

I especially love that the author focuses on Briseis who is an interesting character often overlooked in stories.

This is another great Greek Mythology book I will be recommending.

I love this author so reading this book was amazing. i recently read silence of the girls and liked how she used the womens narrative to retell the stories similarly to how she did in this book

Classic Greek retelling with the spin you want if you're already a fan of the mythology. I enjoyed, although not as moving as Madeline Miller.

Excellent - as engaging and well written as the ‘The Silence of the Girls’, the little-considered experience of the women in the stories of the Trojan War

What an incredible story!

Pat Barker's The Women of Troy follows the experiences of the women captured at the Fall of Troy and how their lives had changed so completely in the days immediately following. The story is told primarily through the eyes of Briseis, a Trojan woman who had been in the Greek camp for some time, as the slave and concubine of the great Achilles.

Briseis tries to help the Trojan women, many of them from the royal family, adjust to their new reality, as slaves to the various Greek kings who had besieged their city for the last 10 years.

The story is an interesting concept, with the other leading witnesses being Phyrrus (Achilles' son) and Calchas (a Trojan seer working for the Greek king of kings, Agamemnon).

The events take place in the Greek camp in the days following Troy's destruction, with a strong wind blowing off the sea that has trapped the Greeks on the beach with no chance to return home until it drops or turns.

The author has a wonderful way with words and draws you into the story from the very beginning. It is impossible not to become embroiled in the lives of these women, and in the total shift in reality caused by the destruction of their city, and their fathers, husbands and sons following the Greek decree that no Trajan male should be left alive.

The Women of Troy offers a new and completely absorbing perspective of the Trojan Wars and their aftermath.

It is, quite simply, impossible to put down.

A superb continuation of a feminist retelling of the Trojan War. Well developed characters and overall an engrossing read.

What an absolutely fantastic and engaging read. Pat Barker does it again! She expertly weaves mythology and emotion, allowing the forgotten and silenced voices a voice. She will always be a pick up author for me when it comes to Greek Mythology retellings. Highly recommend!

Wanted to love it because I adore Greek Myth retellings but sadly I just didn't connect with this story. Would happily read another Briseis tale now that she's leaving the Trojan shores but found this to be a slow simmer rather than a burn.