I read Adriane and absolutely loved it. As such, I expected to be equally in love with this book. I was sadly left unimpressed and disappointed. I really really tried and wanted to love this one but it just did not work for me. I don't necessarily think it was bad because the authors writing was subpar I just did not like the main character. If her previous book is any indication this is solely my dislike for the myth, not the author's character (this will probably only make sense to people who read myth retellings). Honestly, I was very interested in Cassandra's storyline and would have probably enjoyed the book more if that was the sole plotline being followed. I really really really did not like Elektra she consistently struck me as immature, naive, and easily manipulated. The blind loyalty and idolization of her father just compounded all these and made her story uncompelling and honestly annoying to read. My inability to find logical reasoning in her thoughts and decisions made it impossible for me to enjoy her plotlines. I'm giving it 3 stars because I really enjoyed Cassandra's and Clytemnestra's plotlines.

🌟B O O K R E V I E W🌟

Elektra- Jennifer Saint

I loved Ariadne when it came out earlier this year. This novel concentrates on the story of 3 other women of Greek myth. Clytemnestra, Cassandra and Elektra

We all think we know the story of these women but it is often told through the prism of the siege of Troy, mens eyes and their perception. This is a retelling from the women’s POV, through their eyes we see their stories told and woven with the wars of Troy as a backdrop. It is immersive, enthralling and written with a real elegance.

‘𝐖𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐲, 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰.’

Clytemnestra has essentially been vilified as a husband killer, we learn about her early years in Helens shadow and perhaps why she was driven to make the decisions she did. She is taken as a wife by Agamemnon to Mycenae, alone and away from her family. She channels Helen, to feign control, cool and imperious.
Aegisthus is saved by her, her grief at the loss of Iphegenia and her hatred that burns for Agamemnon and the revenge that she will take. The horror of the death of Iphegenia had my heart was hammering, I knew the story, but I just felt so sad that they did not know this was coming, a poor innocent girl. It is no wonder this hardened Clytemnestra to Agamemnon. The utterly heartbreaking scenes when she is a mother, alone, with her dead daughter are some of the best in the whole book.

‘𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲…𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭.’ 𝐂𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚

Cassandra is the daughter of the King and Queen of Troy but kind of forgotten.
She wants to dedicate herself to Apollo, and above all be able to have the gift of prophecy. When she finally gets her wish it is altered, and although she speaks the truth, no one will ever believe a word she says. I really felt most sympathy for Cassandra in this book - unable to make anyone see the fate that awaits them in Troy and tormented by visions. She is taken as a prize by Agamemnon and she, I feel, is the bravest of all these women as she first sees and then accepts her fate. She is the unsung heroine for me and my favourite of the three women.

‘𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬…𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞; 𝐦𝐲 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞, 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞.’ 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚

Elektra idolises her father Agamemnon, he leaves and is away to war in Troy for 10 years. She does not understand what has happened and does not believe that he had killed her older sister.
Aegisthus arrives and puts himself between her mother and her, she is suspicious and loyal to Agamemnon. Her own mother is starving her of affection and slowly hatred grows. and shapes her. You can feel the power building in her and when her father returns and meets his fate, she is unleashed.

‘𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧.’

These women’s stories all twine together to reach their climax, twisting with an inevitability towards the end.
I really liked the focus on the women and that the men are footnotes. These women are all shaped by the decisions and behaviours of others, by men. But, written in this way, they are front and centre and this is wonderful.
It is fabulous how the author draws you to love each woman portrayed, I rooted for each one in turn as their stories turn around each other, it is beautifully done and just seems effortless.

I thought Ariadne was wonderful but this is just more - beautiful, powerful, remarkable.

✩✩✩✩✩

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Thanks to #netgalley for my copy of this book and the brilliant Jennifer Saint for writing it!

Great to read an original take on such a well known period of Greek history. This is the story of the curse of the House of Atreus and particularly of Agamemnon and the siege of Troy - all voiced by his daughter, Elektra. About how deeply she missed him in the decade he was away besieging the city, how she came to hate her mother, Clytemnestra, for taking Aegisthus to her bed. How she was left isolated when her brother, Orestes, had to be spirited away to prevent Aegisthus having him killed. How she accepted, but her mother could not, the fact Agamemnon sacrificed her sister, Iphigenia, to the Gods in order that they would provide a fair wind for him and his 1000 ships to sail to war.
As a result we see the Trojan Wars and the numerous tragedies that surrounded all the characters from a fresh perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was totally absorbed by the way Saint brought real human dimension to the names we all recognise. Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, Menelaus, Agamemnon, Cassandra, Odysseus and Elektra to name but a few.
A great book to instil fresh interest in Greek mythology into every reader. Highly recommend it not just as a riveting read but also as an exemplar of how to re-package a fabulous tale for the 21st century.

Absolutely devoured this one. Everything I found lacking in Saint's other book was widely prominent in this one. Literally the Song of Achilles but from the POVs of lesser-known women in Greek mythology. I have always loved that about Jennifer Saint's works.

The writing was phenomenal and the characters were exquisitely crafted. I had never heard of these women's existence (only a bit of Cassandra occasionally) and was eager to dive into their stories and I'm proud to say I loved it. Their voices were distinct and I could easily identify and psychoanalyse their personalities as much as I wanted to. My favourite POV was definitely Elektra's. I had never heard of her until I read this book and now, she's one of my favourite women in Greek mythology.

I loved the little cameo Achilles made and already knowing his story made it so much easier to understand the timeline this story was set in. It also helped with understanding the pace of the story and connecting the events with the better-known ones. I recommend reading this after The Song of Achilles (even though it's by a different author) because it definitely helps to know how the battle of Troy played out and what was the outcome in the battlefield itself to connect it to events happening in this story.

I loved Elektra by Jennifer Saint. It was the first book of hers I’ve read but it was in a genre which I loved, that of historic fiction drawing largely on ancient mythological figures. I loved Circe by Madeleine Miller and while this falls a little short if that I have still given it 5 stars and consider it one of the best books I’ve read this. Elektra is not an obviously immensely sympathetic character but nor are many of the others like. Clytemnestra or Cassandra, but the book conveys them in an eminently engaging fashion. I also learned a lot about the families involved and interacting together in the Trojan Wars. A great read which I recommend unreservedly.

Netgalley Kindle freebie in return for an honest opinion.

Again Jennifer's style of writing is absorbing and exciting. I loved reading about the women behind the stories of the sacking of Troy and the Trojan horse. They felt like fully fleshed individuals with hopes and dreams.

Would highly recommend to anyone interested in Greek mythology from a different point of view.

Firstly, I absolutely adored this book, even more than Ariadne, but then I’m not surprised as in this novel Saint tackles some of my favourite mythological women and one of my favourite cycles. In this book, Jennifer Saint retells the story of Clytemnestra, Elektra and Cassandra. Initially, I was surprised to see Cassandra’s POV as otherwise the POV is exclusively from the perspective of a mother and daughter but quickly it became clear not only why Cassandra was included but also why her involvement was sorely needed.

Clytemnestra is best known as the murderer of her husband, the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, as depicted in Aeschylus’s play Agamemnon, which is admittedly where I first encountered and fell in love with her. Elektra is her daughter by Agamemnon who, along with her brother Orestes, works to avenge their father by killing their mother. Cassandra is the infamous princess of Troy who was given a cursed gift from Apollo wherein no one believes her prophecies, so where does she fit into this family drama? Well after the battle of Troy, Agamemnon claims her as his ‘prize’ and bring her home to Mycenae. The story has been tackled by many tragedians such as Aeschylus and Euripides and I was so delighted with Saint’s handlings of the complex themes of the story. She didn’t hide away from the more graphic or morally difficult parts of the stories and instead contextualises them and creates what is overall, a beautifully told, gripping and devastating novel, perfect for both readers familiar with the story and those who are not.

Each of the three POC characters are deliciously complex, and the relationship between Elektra and Clytemnestra is brilliant. How does one get to the point where the murder of your own mother seems not only reasonable but morally necessary? Why would Elektra take her father’s ‘side’ after what he did to her sister? Why did Clytemnestra ‘let’ it all happen? The answers to these questions have no easy answer and are explored in all their grounded and tragic glory, adding human emotion and compassion to these women’s stories. While naturally, the women are not on the same side, never in the story is one the ‘bad guy’, each of them knows why they do what they do and narratively it makes sense. Inter-character relationships are at the heart of this story regardless of whether the characters are geographically together and Saint depicts them as difficult, conflicting, illogical, inspiring, desperate and rejuvenating all at once, whether it is the relationship between Clytemnestra and Elektra, Elektra and Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and her sister Helen (a character who is dealt with superbly), Cassandra and Helen or even Clytemnestra and Cassandra.

The depiction of the impact of the war was also sensitively told, highlighting both the emotional toil along with the impact of ‘glorious’ propaganda in a way that comments not only on Troy but resonates with a modern audience. Choosing to include Cassandra meant that although the book isn’t centred on depicting the Trojan war like novels such as The Silence of the Girls, she was still able to give it time to impactfully create a context and background for the psyche of her characters, adding to the nuance of their choices.

I have to give a special mention to one chapter. The chapter depicting Iphigenia’s wedding was a masterpiece. Honestly, it would work as a short story in itself. Saint creates a sense of complete and utter dread that builds and builds until the truth is revealed. I knew what was going to happen but my heart was in my mouth regardless. The writing was beautiful and sensitive and just an absolute masterpiece of retelling classic stories. I would recommend this novel just for that chapter alone.

This novel surpassed all of my expectations and has easily become one of my absolute favourites I have read this year. Jennifer Saint has become one of my favourite writers and I cannot wait to see what she does next with her book on Atalanta.

A well written fictionalised account of the different women impacted by the Trojan War. Elektra teaches us about the danger of being consumed by revenge and bitterness, and how unfair the gods can be in this mythological story.
I didn’t connect to this one as much as Ariadne, perhaps because the story of Troy and the wooden horse is so well known, and partially because whilst the book is called Elektra, the storytelling viewpoint is shared with quite a few other women.
I definitely will read more from this author, I just would have liked a story that was more about the title character.

Wow! Another 5 star book from Jennifer Saint! I loved her first book Ariadne and was so happy when I received her latest creation ahead of publication through Netgalley.
This is another Greek mythology retelling which focuses on three female characters whose stories interact.
The characters were all so believable and the development of the story was perfectly paced.
I really enjoy Jennifer Saint's writing style and the way she brings lesser known characters to life. I can't wait for the next one!
Thank you to Netgalley uk and Headline Publishing for sending me the ebook.

How I love these searing, absorbing retellings of Greek myths focusing on the women within them. Elektra's play is the only one to survive in three forms: Sophocles, Euripedes and Aeschylus in his Oresteia trilogy, each telling the tale of how she pushes her younger brother Orestes to assassinate their mother, Clytemnestra, in revenge for their mother's murder of their father Agamemnon, condemning Orestes to punishment by the Furies and social ostracism. But of course Clytemnestra's own crime was in retaliation for the sacrifice of her eldest daughter by Agamemnon in order to get the winds he needed to sail to Troy to start the ten year siege. Why does Elektra excuse that first cruel betrayal and fixate on the second?

Like many of the retellings, we see the plot unfold through several voices: Elektra, Cassandra, doomed priestess and Clytemnestra. In some ways the book should have been called Clytemnestra because it's her life and death that fuel it, from her coming of age in Sparta watching men compete for her twin sister, Helen's, hand to the moment her son returns from exile, dagger in hand. We see her become a mother, delighting in her children, only to unwittingly lead Iphigenia to her death thinking she was leading her to her wedding. As the war progresses so does Agamemnon's hubris, his family hearing tales of squabbles over enslaved women, until the day he returns, another enslaved woman by his side. It's hard to feel any sadness for his fate, one he has brought on himself, one that feels deserved.

Agamemnon has been gone for most of Elektra's life and all of Orestes and so Elektra builds him up into a fantasy father figure to make up for the mother driven almost mad with grief. Clytemnestra has frozen in order to survive and her youngest children resent her for it. Far better to glorify the cause of her grief, especially once Clytaemnestra allows another man into her home and bed. Far better to judge and condemn the parent who stayed than the one who left.

Elektra brings these ancient stories and the women who populate them to vivid life. Highly recommended.

I really wanted to like this book and for the most part it was enjoyable but the entire plot seemed very rushed. There was no sense of time passing. Clytemnestra, for example, sounds like an older woman throughout the series she does not come across as a naïve sixteen year old girl going through motherhood and adulthood.

The POV constantly shifted between Cassandra, Elektra, and Cassandra which would have been great if they did not sound identical. If it weren't for each chapter having their character titled, it would not make a difference. Unless you know the myths, the POV's are indistinguishable. Out of the three, Cassandra's voice was the most distinct.

I like pain and suffering in books when it serves a purpose, but the entire time the whole theme seemed to be "women suffer a lot and there's nothing the characters can do about it."

Elektra: bought up in the shadow of the Trojan War, a war which is destined to leave her parentless and alone and filled with a simmering vengeance. Clytemnestra: a sister, a wife, a mother, but in the end she will lose them all and her grief will destroy her. Cassandra: she only ever wanted to serve Apollo, but when he asks for more than she can give it will destroy her and render her powerless as the world goes up in flames. The lives of these tragic woman give us a damning insight into the less explored impacts of the Trojan war and shows us just how far reaching its consequences were.

The three narrative viewpoints of this novel took me a while to adjust to, but when I did it was obvious how powerful this split perspective was. Three very different women, whose lives Agamemnon has touched and influenced with varying degrees of tragedy. The contrast between Clytemnestra and her daughter Elektra is particularly striking as they view the same events through very different lenses. Yet you can understand both their points of view and how their experiences have led them there. It is impossible to play favourites and to know who is right; perhaps they both are, in their own ways, or perhaps neither of them are and the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I liked that the timeline of this narrative began before the Trojan War and ended long after. This makes it stand out from the other Trojan War retellings by putting the war itself into the background rather than making it into the main event. In fact Cassandra is the only one of the women who sees anything of the war and even her interactions with it are limited. The one war scene which stays with me from this book is Cassandra’s dealings with the legendary Trojan horse. However, it is not the soldiers and the tragedy which stand out in this scene, but rather the sense of powerlessness that Cassandra feels. Despite her special circumstance, to me this still reads as a reflection of the powerlessness of all women. This theme is repeated throughout the novel; even when Clytemnestra seizes power she is still left powerless in the end.

This feminist Greek mythology retelling was simply beautiful to read.

Don’t get me wrong, there were moments that left me aghast, and some that were slightly hard to read (I will add trigger warnings closer to release date), but Saint wrote these in such a way that I couldn’t help but have to read on. I was gripped. She had me hook, line and sinker.

We had a few different POV’s, and sometimes this doesn’t work for me, but I can happily say that I loved all of the different characters we met in this book. I loved seeing from their views. I loved understanding what drove them, why they chose their paths, why they made their choices. It was simply brilliant to read about Clytemnestra, Cassandra and Elektra. All three such different characters in themselves, but so intrinsically linked in the story.

The plot line with the woman, and the themes of revenge and misery was absolutely phenomenal. I couldn’t put the book down until I’d finished it, I needed to know what happened next.

I literally could not choose a favourite character in this book. They were all so well detailed, flawed but relatable.

All of the respect to Saint for writing this bewitching feminist retelling of the Greek/Trojan war. It wasn’t something that I’d realised I needed in my life until it snuck up and ripped my heart out.

I love any novel that is based upon Greek mythology so I was bound to love this from the start. However, the characters were well drawn and very real, so this was an added bonus. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book. I really enjoyed it, and it is highly recommended.

I adore anything to do with legend myth and folklore and so I knew that I had to read this book and indeed anything by Jennifer Saint. This book was so well written and the characters were so well developed. I loved this retelling and it made the characters relatable and understandable. I also love the front cover, I cannot wait for more.

As an avid reader of Greek Mythology told from the female perspective, I could not wait to read the follow up to Jennifer Saint’s excellent Ariadne, and was not disappointed. This intertwined story of the under-represented Greek/Trojan women, Elektra, Clytemnestra and Cassandra, is not afraid to unapologetically confront the morally reprehensible aspects of the characters’ behaviour and their motivations. The three women, so often a mere side note in stories of the Trojan War, are fleshed out and the author breathes life into them, with all their flaws. The theme of revenge runs throughout the book and the relentless cycle of misery this causes makes the reader want to shout at the protagonists to stop, to no avail. Even though I knew how the story would end, I literally couldn’t put the book down.

A worthy and well-researched follow-up to Saint's fantastic take on the myth of Ariadne, Elektra fashions sympathetic figures out of its proud, filially pious titular antiheroine and the two women with whom her fate is so firmly and tragically threaded together: her abhorred mother Clytemnestra, who seeks to settle the score of the murder of her firstborn, and the foreboding path that awaits the accursed Trojan princess-slash-prophetess Cassandra. As faithful to its source material as Elektra stays steadfast to her monster of a father, Elektra switches between the perspectives of this trio of misfortune-dogged women at the mercy of the malediction that haunts House Atreides; Saint's pointed prose doesn't shy away from the story's more appalling moments and atrocious acts, pinning down its sorry subjects' miserable and scathing sentiments as they are subjected to one horrifying wrongdoing after another with solemn, purgative precision to sum to a harshly and heartbreakingly human spiel that's hard to forget.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline/Wildfire for kindly passing on this ARC! 💫