Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

113 reviews

achay91's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual assault

pixelited's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall I enjoyed this book and thought it offered some interesting perspectives and insights into characters I only knew through mythology. I wasn’t entirely familiar with the story, so hearing it told this way was fascinating to me and without knowing the extent of everyone’s fates, I was interested to see what happened to the characters.

However, I did sometimes find myself lost in whose perspective we were seeing through. I listened to the audiobook and while I eventually got accustomed to the different narrator’s voices, they sounded similar at some points which confused me. It also took me a while to get invested into the story, as I felt that the beginning started off slow and perhaps not as interesting as it could have been. Furthermore,

I thought that it was strange that Cassandra’s perspective was written, especially after she was killed. It just seemed a bit inconsequential, and while her perspective gave us insight into Troy—I wonder if the same couldn’t have been accomplished by perhaps using Helene’s perspective instead?

I also felt a deep frustration with Elektra as a character, finding that her stubbornness was somewhat unfounded and that in turn how she treats others,

specifically by essentially using and throwing away Georgios and pressuring her brother to murder their mother despite his hesitations

, made her very unlikeable.

I did, however, enjoy the ending of the novel with the quick perspective shifts between Elektra and Clytemnestra. I thought that was a good way to keep the energy of the moment, while making sure the reader understood how both were experiencing the moment.

Overall, a reasonably good and easy read. It was interesting but simply had some aspects that I didn’t enjoy or didn’t make sense to me. I would still recommend it as a read if you enjoy Greek mythology!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Rape

biobeetle's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

littlewishling's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A brutal book in the best way. Saint brings Greek myth to live in a way that shows it’s cruelty whilst keeping you enthralled each step of the way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Sexual violence

bellsdixon's review against another edition

adventurous informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

wytherwytch's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I found this book a bit of a trudge. It was good in parts -

the chapter where Iphigeneia is sacrificed is absolutely brilliant

but otherwise it feels like a trudge to these parts. It's written from the point of view of three women so it jumps around quite a bit and I didnt love that but I stuck it out. I didn't really like any of the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Alcohol

hevlav's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book does a great job of presenting the same facts to different characters, and showing the different reactions/feelings on each of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment

clauglezzz_'s review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Heads up to anyone who still hasn't read it, it has three points of view, Cassandra, Clytemnestra and Elektra.
I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I found it really repetitive at times and to me it felt like the book was telling me how to feel. I also had a hard time empathising with the characters throughout the majority of the book, I just didn't manage to connect with them. My favourite was probably Cassandra, Helen or Clytemnestra.

I think Iphgenia's death was really well narrated but to me the book just went downhill from there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: War

Minor: Pregnancy

clazbog's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Minor: Incest and Sexual violence

bookaholic_in_wonderland's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Slavery