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livcashmere's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed reading this but I think it’s my least favourite in the ‘mythology from a female perspective’ genre. It started off really slow, but began to pick up its pacing about a third of the way in. I loved the way Clytemnstra and Helen’s relationship was depicted. I think the relationships between the female characters throughout this novel is it’s most redeeming quality.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Grief, Murder, and War
inkdrinker6259's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
catie_cat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I love the stories of the Ancient Greeks. The mythology the inspired heroes and tragedies alike. This creative adaptation of Clytemnestra pulled at my heart from beginning to end. I knew her story was tragic, but this took her to a whole new level. One of my favorite reads for 2024!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
This story did contain more serious topics. It was tragic and showed how a world of violence had a cycle in many of the people’s lives. Women were not necessarily sheltered from these things either.claireisagrisha's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
5.0
5/5 stars
Everyone thank one of my bookstagram besties for convincing me to move it up and read it sooner rather than later teehee
If there’s one thing I love, it’s Greek Mythology retellings. Percy Jackson, The Song of Achilles, and Circe are all amazing ones that I love so much. This makes me want to read more of them so leave your recommendations in the comments …
I went into this only knowing a little about Clytemnestra, however there was a family tree included and a list of characters in the beginning so that helped! I loved seeing new sides to different prominent people in Greek Mythology like Helen of Troy and Odysseus.
Clytemnestra’s life may have been riddled with grief and other trials that were testing her character, however, she persevered and ultimately she was a Queen… of Mycenae and just a Queen.
Costanza Casati, I love your writing and your book, I truly enjoyed your imagery and how you made the characters come to life. I truly loved Clytemnestra and her story.
Everyone thank one of my bookstagram besties for convincing me to move it up and read it sooner rather than later teehee
If there’s one thing I love, it’s Greek Mythology retellings. Percy Jackson, The Song of Achilles, and Circe are all amazing ones that I love so much. This makes me want to read more of them so leave your recommendations in the comments …
I went into this only knowing a little about Clytemnestra, however there was a family tree included and a list of characters in the beginning so that helped! I loved seeing new sides to different prominent people in Greek Mythology like Helen of Troy and Odysseus.
Clytemnestra’s life may have been riddled with grief and other trials that were testing her character, however, she persevered and ultimately she was a Queen… of Mycenae and just a Queen.
Costanza Casati, I love your writing and your book, I truly enjoyed your imagery and how you made the characters come to life. I truly loved Clytemnestra and her story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Incest, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery, Death of parent, and War
cathy_alice's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Rape
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent
julialk's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, and War
audreading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
4.25
All my homies hate Agamemnon!
Book is beautifully written. It’s a challenge to write this time period in a way that’s still easy to consume but this book definitely accomplishes that. It’s also super difficult for me to keep up with a lot of characters, but the descriptions and callbacks were so good that I rarely had to look back at the character list (which is also helpful)! I do feel like some scenes and details could be cut. While the book wasn’t especially long, it took me longer to get through than I expected. Overall I would recommend this to anyone interested in Greek mythology and/or female rage, with the caveat that you should definitely read the content warnings first.
Book is beautifully written. It’s a challenge to write this time period in a way that’s still easy to consume but this book definitely accomplishes that. It’s also super difficult for me to keep up with a lot of characters, but the descriptions and callbacks were so good that I rarely had to look back at the character list (which is also helpful)! I do feel like some scenes and details could be cut. While the book wasn’t especially long, it took me longer to get through than I expected. Overall I would recommend this to anyone interested in Greek mythology and/or female rage, with the caveat that you should definitely read the content warnings first.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, and War
Minor: Bullying, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Classism
I listed a ton of content warnings, yes, but most of them overlap for the same scenes and passages. The book is pretty honest about the treatment of people in this time, particularly women, so there are a lot of traumatic topics. I struggled with the amount of SA occurrences, but not so much that the book wasn’t worth it. Much of the book is dark, but moves on quickly and the end leaves you with some spark of retribution.bookdragonkatie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Incest
likhatera's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨.
𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘺𝘦𝘴.
𝘉𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦; 𝘠𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘦𝘴.”
— 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘳
In this epic retelling of the Greek myth, rage becomes the fascinatingly complex woman that is Clytemnestra, sister of the beguiling Helen, daughter of Leda, wife of Agamemnon. In an ocean of female rage and ambition, the fierce princess of Sparta grows up to become the powerful, feared queen of Mycenae. Her story is not an easy one to digest, as it takes us through utterly dark tragedies full of betrayal and violence that make her the queen she eventually becomes. I think what’s unforgettable about her is exactly what drew the author to her story in the first place: she is a woman who refuses to know her place and, because of this, is hated and vilified by the men around her. It is inevitable that the book raises important questions on our perceptions and judgments of women’s pain, power and sexuality.
The bloodshed is disturbingly epic, as expected in any retelling of Greek mythology; however, what I found interesting is the way Casati uses the raw and twisted details to reveal a morally ambiguous heroine that is capable of both love and ruthlessness. She is written with a vulnerability that opens us up to the experiences of a woman simply trying to survive the brutalities she undergoes at the hands of manipulative, violent men. A flawed character motivated by the need to make right all the wrongdoings done to her. She pulls herself out of the horrible things she has had to live through and, because of that, we have no choice but to wholly empathise with the vengeance that consumes her.
For the better part of this year, anger is something I’ve tried to embrace as part of the human experience. Rather than shying away from the emotions that come with it, I’ve tried to acknowledge and honour, not suppress and shrink like we are conditioned to do. Female rage always seems to be intellectually entertained as a concept, but very rarely recognised or respected IRL, which is why it’s so exciting to read in fiction in the first place.
𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘺𝘦𝘴.
𝘉𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦; 𝘠𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘦𝘴.”
— 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘳
In this epic retelling of the Greek myth, rage becomes the fascinatingly complex woman that is Clytemnestra, sister of the beguiling Helen, daughter of Leda, wife of Agamemnon. In an ocean of female rage and ambition, the fierce princess of Sparta grows up to become the powerful, feared queen of Mycenae. Her story is not an easy one to digest, as it takes us through utterly dark tragedies full of betrayal and violence that make her the queen she eventually becomes. I think what’s unforgettable about her is exactly what drew the author to her story in the first place: she is a woman who refuses to know her place and, because of this, is hated and vilified by the men around her. It is inevitable that the book raises important questions on our perceptions and judgments of women’s pain, power and sexuality.
The bloodshed is disturbingly epic, as expected in any retelling of Greek mythology; however, what I found interesting is the way Casati uses the raw and twisted details to reveal a morally ambiguous heroine that is capable of both love and ruthlessness. She is written with a vulnerability that opens us up to the experiences of a woman simply trying to survive the brutalities she undergoes at the hands of manipulative, violent men. A flawed character motivated by the need to make right all the wrongdoings done to her. She pulls herself out of the horrible things she has had to live through and, because of that, we have no choice but to wholly empathise with the vengeance that consumes her.
For the better part of this year, anger is something I’ve tried to embrace as part of the human experience. Rather than shying away from the emotions that come with it, I’ve tried to acknowledge and honour, not suppress and shrink like we are conditioned to do. Female rage always seems to be intellectually entertained as a concept, but very rarely recognised or respected IRL, which is why it’s so exciting to read in fiction in the first place.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War
soos14's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Rape