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Oct. 8th, 2022 08:48 amI've read a fair amount of books that fall into what I've termed the Female Character-Centric, Trojan War-Adjacent Myth Retelling Literary Universe— a niche I've enjoyed for even longer than I originally thought; the OG was Esther Friesner's duology about a young Helen of Sparta, circa 6th grade— so when I say that Claire North's Ithaca is my favorite I've read yet, I mean it as significant praise.
Ithaca takes the story of Penelope and the suitors— which I've read a few variations of— and adds to it, weaving in the family drama of the house of Atreus, as its survivors land on Ithaca's shores with the worst possible timing; the family drama of the Olympians, by way of the goddess Hera as the novel's POV character; and some great original characters, including a mild-mannered suitor from Egypt, a priestess of Artemis, and an Amazon who fought alongside Penthesilea at Troy. I think that, of these, the thing that really cinched it for me was Hera-as-narrator: I enjoyed the wry tone, and the balance North struck between mortals as the chess pieces of the gods and as humans with free will.
( Read more... )
Still listening to The Magnus Archives; I'm through episode 111. Jonathan Thearchivist* is having the worst time, and I'm having a great one.
( Read more... )
Ithaca takes the story of Penelope and the suitors— which I've read a few variations of— and adds to it, weaving in the family drama of the house of Atreus, as its survivors land on Ithaca's shores with the worst possible timing; the family drama of the Olympians, by way of the goddess Hera as the novel's POV character; and some great original characters, including a mild-mannered suitor from Egypt, a priestess of Artemis, and an Amazon who fought alongside Penthesilea at Troy. I think that, of these, the thing that really cinched it for me was Hera-as-narrator: I enjoyed the wry tone, and the balance North struck between mortals as the chess pieces of the gods and as humans with free will.
( Read more... )
Still listening to The Magnus Archives; I'm through episode 111. Jonathan Thearchivist* is having the worst time, and I'm having a great one.
( Read more... )
