Elektra: No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller from the Author of ARIADNE

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The book evokes so many thoughts and emotions that I never could pin one thought down in regards to the characters. Mind you, this is a messed up tragedy that even gets the furies involved, but most of that is AFTER the war is won. Frankly Agamemnon doesn’t really seem to be worthy of the adoration and loyalty that Elektra demonstrates, especially given the fate of her sister.

While naturally, the women are not on the same side, never in the story is one the ‘bad guy’, each of them knows why they do what they do and narratively it makes sense. Ariadne is her first novel, Elektra is her second, and Atalanta is her latest mesmerising mythological retelling. Elektra is her daughter by Agamemnon who, along with her brother Orestes, works to avenge their father by killing their mother. Many of her actions and motivations might not feel justified but she is her father’s daughter and is unapologetic in her quest to avenge her father’s death and willing to sacrifice and bear the consequences of her actions. The titular character was the worst of the three, and while I liked Clytemnestra at the start (I REALLY hate Agamemnon) she lost all personality in Act Two.Unlike Ariadne who I wished took more control, the women in Elektra took decisive actions that forever changed the course of their story.

The complicated mother-daughter relationship between Clytemnestra and Elektra, each obsessed with their respective quest for revenge, was brilliantly penned. The spellbinding new retelling of the story of Troy drawn from the perspective of the fearless women at the heart of it all. Suffice it to say it is a twisted tale of vile acts committed and the subsequent feeliings of hurt and betrayal. Whenever I'm in a reading slump and I need something to shake me out of my funk, Greek mythology is what I reach for. In Elektra, the author weaves the stories of Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Elektra together, allowing us to witness events during the Trojan War from their perspective.The whole thing where she TRIED TO REASON HER FATHER'S TAKING AND *RAPING* OF BRISEIS JUST LEFT ME SHOCKED. Cassandra is a Princess of Troy, who was cursed by Apollo to see the future but never to be believed. I’ve loved Greek mythology since I was a kid, I adore Percy Jackson and have since I was younger, and am amongst the many, many people who are obsessed with Madeline Miller’s retellings.

I'm tired of authors "rewriting" classic myths in a feminist way and failing to do anything original with them. this novel tells the stories of three women who are impacted by the trojan war - clytemnestra, elektra, and cassandra (why this book is named after only elektra, i couldnt tell you). An exciting, lyrical new retelling of the trojan war stories from Jennifer Saint, the bestselling author of ELEKTRA (UK, Sunday Times, May 2022) and ARIADNE (UK, Sunday Times , April 2021). I’ve been fascinated by the entire drama surrounding the House of Atreus since senior year of high school and having been teaching it for the past 7 years.

My throat is raw from the words that are torn from me when I touch someone, when I look into their eyes and see the blinding white truth. Instead as Elektra takes the view of the sacrifice being god ordained- she cannot understand why Clytemnestra is grieving and hating her father. Next we have Cassandra the princess of Troy who upon refusing the god Apollo’s advances was cursed to be able to foretell the future but never be believed. But as much as I appreciate how they took more initiative, it is difficult, if not impossible, to ignore how some of those choices are just simply flawed and come with terrible consequences. For example, in the way the women behaved, their curbed freedoms, even the way the names were spelled, which was somewhat inconsistent in Elektra, where the author chose only to spell er name with the "K" as would have been correct, but Clytemnestra and Cassandra with "Cs", though, as far as I know, there is not letter "c" in Greek.

When I had seen all those suitors clamour in the hall for Helen, I had believed they were there because they loved her, but I had been wrong. Elektra' is a beautiful, haunting, twisted, and fascinating Greek retelling, inextricably bound to tragedy, mystery, intrigue, and retribution.Finally, one day I will be tired of Trojan War's retellings but not today and definitely not with this book!