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A review by abbieinwonderland
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
dark
emotional
sad
slow-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? No
2.5
I originally rated this as a three star book, but I woke up the next day after reading it and chose violence.
In my opinion, this book does not do what it claims which is the biggest flaw. It promises to tell the stories of the unsung women of the Trojan War. What we get is just a few pages for some of the characters, which I can only assume is an extension of the one line they were given in the original poems. It felt like the author was telling a very simple rendition of these characters. I never felt like they had real depth. The only moments we saw of some of their lives were the moments before their deaths.
I also felt this book was quite repetitive. Especially the first chapter which felt like an effort to add some drama and tension at the beginning as a hook. There were some phrases throughout which kept getting repeated, particularly about Hector's body being dragged around the battlefield by Achilles. This was brought up over and over.
I enjoyed the idea of the Calliope chapters. This was a nice touch. However, it did get heavy handed with the feminist themes.
Speaking of feminism. The author clearly hates Helen of Troy. Calliope literally says she's trash and won't tell the poet anything about her. Um, this is a book claiming to tell the stories of ALL the women in the tales. Helen is the most important. Her choices or lack thereof led to the whole war. Why should she be left out? Even if Helen is not a "pure", brave and heroic character, why not explore her story anyway? It would have been interesting to see a complex interpretation of her. There are many different types of women. We can't all be crammed into the same box or label. When telling the story of multiple women, shouldn't there be a level of variation? There was an opportunity here to explore a woman who makes a bad decision and the consequences. But no, the author has decided she must be shunned instead and have her voice taken away... feminism? Really?
And don't get me started on Penelope. She is such an interesting, clever and resourceful character, a match for Odysseus, but she was reduced to retelling the story of Odysseus instead. I did enjoy how her letters grew more sassy as the war went on. Her voice was the most distinct to me out of all the other women. But she spent most of her chapters retelling Odysseus's story and not her own.
I enjoyed certain characters more than others, for example Cassandra.
I'm not saying I hated this book, I was in it for the ride at the time of reading but on reflection I feel like I've been scammed.
Maybe it's because I've read Circe and I've been spoiled by having a whole book about an unsung woman. But I don't think it is. I think some of the decisions made while writing or editing are the cause of it.
In my opinion, this book does not do what it claims which is the biggest flaw. It promises to tell the stories of the unsung women of the Trojan War. What we get is just a few pages for some of the characters, which I can only assume is an extension of the one line they were given in the original poems. It felt like the author was telling a very simple rendition of these characters. I never felt like they had real depth. The only moments we saw of some of their lives were the moments before their deaths.
I also felt this book was quite repetitive. Especially the first chapter which felt like an effort to add some drama and tension at the beginning as a hook. There were some phrases throughout which kept getting repeated, particularly about Hector's body being dragged around the battlefield by Achilles. This was brought up over and over.
I enjoyed the idea of the Calliope chapters. This was a nice touch. However, it did get heavy handed with the feminist themes.
Speaking of feminism. The author clearly hates Helen of Troy. Calliope literally says she's trash and won't tell the poet anything about her. Um, this is a book claiming to tell the stories of ALL the women in the tales. Helen is the most important. Her choices or lack thereof led to the whole war. Why should she be left out? Even if Helen is not a "pure", brave and heroic character, why not explore her story anyway? It would have been interesting to see a complex interpretation of her. There are many different types of women. We can't all be crammed into the same box or label. When telling the story of multiple women, shouldn't there be a level of variation? There was an opportunity here to explore a woman who makes a bad decision and the consequences. But no, the author has decided she must be shunned instead and have her voice taken away... feminism? Really?
And don't get me started on Penelope. She is such an interesting, clever and resourceful character, a match for Odysseus, but she was reduced to retelling the story of Odysseus instead. I did enjoy how her letters grew more sassy as the war went on. Her voice was the most distinct to me out of all the other women. But she spent most of her chapters retelling Odysseus's story and not her own.
I enjoyed certain characters more than others, for example Cassandra.
I'm not saying I hated this book, I was in it for the ride at the time of reading but on reflection I feel like I've been scammed.
Maybe it's because I've read Circe and I've been spoiled by having a whole book about an unsung woman. But I don't think it is. I think some of the decisions made while writing or editing are the cause of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism