Reviews

House of Odysseus by Claire North

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larsssreads's review against another edition

5.0

I’m obsessed with the women of Ithaca; I would literally take a spear for any of them. This book is, like the first one, such a beautiful story. I was already mesmerized by the first one, and then this second book topped it even more. One of the women of Ithaca is Penelope. She has my heart and will forever be an icon. The plotting, acting, and loving- just everything about her makes me want to follow her blindly. I found amusement in Laertes’ snides about what happened to his house. I’m not sure if this would be a spoiler, so I’ll talk about the person anonymously. When the person first arrived, I had high hopes, only to be reminded, in a rather annoying way, that they are still very true to their nature. Helen, however, took me by surprise. I had doubts, but she proved me very wrong, and now I’m obsessed with her too. I love how the story is told by Aphrodite. I never really knew much about her except for the basics, but this book showed me her characteristics, and I now love her so much. The goddesses; Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, and Artemis are a fantastic addition to the story. Their presence and aspects really added something special. I can’t wait to read book three next year in Greece!

sethwaylin's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5 stars out of 5, and purely because I wasn't sure about the first few portions of the book. I read the first installment of the series at the beginning of this year and loved it, so I already knew coming into this one that it would be a slow burn narrative. I wasn't wrong, but it did take me quite a while to get into a rhythm where I was actively turning pages to figure out what happened next, and not merely to make progress. It took me until maybe 30% or 35% in to get super invested, but once I was, I did not want to stop.

I enjoyed the creative liberties that North went with here, bringing the tale of Elektra and Orestes and the Furies into the fold - though I was somewhat hoping they'd have their trial like in the myth, but it ended up mostly being Athena telling it like it is to the Furies instead. Other than that, I thought it brought a lot of life to a hypothetical of what all Penelope was dealing with in the twenty years she waited for Odysseus to get back. Obviously this is a trilogy that's going to expand and not be 100% true to "The Odyssey" - I'd argue if we only looked to the source material for a fictional retelling, there wouldn't be much to retell, so I liked the blending of stories here, and the time frames make sense so it's not a completely crazy concept. You can digest this adaptation pretty easily despite the changes.

From a series perspective, I can also say that the characters are absolutely developing. I feel such a major change in them, especially Penelope (and Athena, interestingly) since the first book, and I'm excited to see what arc North chooses to go with to finish off Penelope's arc in the final installment. The way this novel ended also had me so, so, so excited to read the final book in the series, and I'm kind of mad I didn't wait to start this, so now I've got to wait like six months to get the last of it!

There's also no doubt in my mind the last one is going to be narrated by Athena (the first was narrated by Hera since Clytemnestra was a major player, this one by Aphrodite because of Helen of Troy), and I am so excited to see what her narration looks like now that Odysseus is coming back into the fold, since we all know he was her favorite. Athena is *my* favorite, so I've got great expectations.