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A review by immabehazzie
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
4.0
“They will not see my grief,” she said. “They have not earned it.”
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This story is not about the honor that men can earn in war, the fascinating battles, or vengeful Greek Gods. It’s about how war is a tragedy and it’s the elderly, women, children, and disabled who truly suffer.
I really liked the concept of this novel. I love to read Greek mythology retellings that focus on women and I don’t think that any other book has done as good of a job at telling the women’s side of the story as Natalie Haynes does with ’A Thousand Ships’. Many women who only get a brief sentence in other stories are expanded upon in this story.
The voice in this book was also really strong. It demands you feel what it wants you to feel and a lot of the time authors have a hard trying to convey their thoughts and emotions through their characters. Especially when every chapter is basically a new character.
My favorite thing about this book is that it’s entirely female-focused. It’s not focused on the men and who they love, or their honor, or what they are missing out on. It’s about the women who are in a city under siege, women who have to wait at home for ten long years not knowing if their sons and husbands are coming back. It’s about the women who lose their homes and become slaves to the soldiers who destroy their families and take them to a place they have never seen.
My main problem with this book is that it felt disjointed. The constant switch between all of the characters felt like a bit much. This definitely isn’t the first book I would recommend to someone if they want to get into this genre because it already assumes you know certain things. The change in characters in every chapter is quite confusing and took me about halfway through to completely understand what was happening.
I did thoroughly enjoy it, though, and I think most would like it as well.
-
This story is not about the honor that men can earn in war, the fascinating battles, or vengeful Greek Gods. It’s about how war is a tragedy and it’s the elderly, women, children, and disabled who truly suffer.
I really liked the concept of this novel. I love to read Greek mythology retellings that focus on women and I don’t think that any other book has done as good of a job at telling the women’s side of the story as Natalie Haynes does with ’A Thousand Ships’. Many women who only get a brief sentence in other stories are expanded upon in this story.
The voice in this book was also really strong. It demands you feel what it wants you to feel and a lot of the time authors have a hard trying to convey their thoughts and emotions through their characters. Especially when every chapter is basically a new character.
My favorite thing about this book is that it’s entirely female-focused. It’s not focused on the men and who they love, or their honor, or what they are missing out on. It’s about the women who are in a city under siege, women who have to wait at home for ten long years not knowing if their sons and husbands are coming back. It’s about the women who lose their homes and become slaves to the soldiers who destroy their families and take them to a place they have never seen.
My main problem with this book is that it felt disjointed. The constant switch between all of the characters felt like a bit much. This definitely isn’t the first book I would recommend to someone if they want to get into this genre because it already assumes you know certain things. The change in characters in every chapter is quite confusing and took me about halfway through to completely understand what was happening.
I did thoroughly enjoy it, though, and I think most would like it as well.