Elektra by Jennifer Saint is a captivating read for fans of atmospheric, emotionally charged storytelling, particularly those who appreciate Greek mythology, strong female characters, and tragic tales of love, family, and the cyclical nature of fate.

I simply adore the modern femist retellings of Greek myths, and this is an excellent addition to that canon. Jennifer Saint never fails.

Elektra written by Jennifer Saint
Narrated by Beth Eyre, Jane Collingwood, Julie Teal

Alternating between three women whose fates have been bound to the House of Atreus’s curse. A bloodline of generational vengeance, murder and violence.

Clytemnestra
Wife of the Agamemnon, King of Mycenae of the House of Atreus. Twin sister of Helen of Sparta (or rather, Troy). I loved her initially and I felt furious and heartbreak when she was betrayed by her husband in the worst possible way. Her hatred for him turning into her sole purpose of living. In the end, I felt sorrow for her as she realizes her mistakes and come to terms when justice is handed to her.

Cassandra
Apollo’s priestess and a princess of Troy, sister to Paris (Helen ran away with Paris to Troy igniting the decade long Trojan War). Apollo gives her the gift of foresight but the curse of never being believed. Despite being outcasted, she remains loyal to her family, city and Apollo. We follow her as she sees in her mind’s eye the future and dissolution of the fallen city. My favorite voice in this novel. I felt real sadness for her life and loved how the author closed out her last chapter. Her entire life was decided for her in one way or another, but she makes the final decision.

Elektra
Youngest daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. The name of this novel and yet I despised her the most of the three women. Her storyline was flat and I hated listening to her chapters, I actually felt disgust Not sure why she’s the namesake of Saint’s novel. She was unlikeable from the beginning to the end. She has the weakest traits. Vengeful and brooding like her mother yet with no ability to see fault in herself or her father. She lets others bear the consequences during her quest for retribution, not caring what happens to them. She was incestuously in love with her egotistical & ruthless father and is narcissistic like her father, always justifying her cursed family.

I alternated between reading the story and listening to the audiobook and whoever narrated Elektra does too many obnoxious mouth noises that it exacerbated my misophonia. It completely killed my listening experience during her chapters.

Saint is able to capture the emotional complexity of both Cassandra and Clytemnestra. The ending scene between Cassandra and Clytemnestra may have been my favorite in the entire novel. Not much was said, yet so much was felt between the two women. Both broken and lives completely altered by the decisions of one man. A powerful scene.
Overall, an enjoyable reading experience with great details and mostly fascinating characters and side characters to give a full picture of the women affected by the Trojan War.

I always enjoy a good retelling of Greek mythology and tragedies, especially since many of them are rooted in a masculine perspective.

Elektra takes the common story and gives a voice to three female characters that have never had a full story told. This novel gives them a motivation and a voice.

Fantastic for readers looking to expand their thoughts on classic stories.

God I love Jennifer Saint and I love the Trojan War so putting the two together is just magical. This book takes a much more serious and dark tone than Ariadne but I still loved it. Saint is amazing at seamlessly writing multiple characters with intense and complex themes influencing their lives but making you relate to them in such a passionate way. Taking these traditionally hated women and being able to spin it with compassion and reveal a twist/revelation on their motives through the book is a true skill Jennifer Saint never fails to deliver on.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

A retelling of the story of Elektra and the Trojan War from the perspectives of three women whose fates are intertwined: Elektra, her mother, Clytemnestra, and the cursed seer and Princess of Troy, Cassandra.

Greek myth retellings are always interesting as authors try to imagine these fixed figures as living characters. However, I grew bored of Elektra as a MC where many of her chapters felt repetitive and her primary character trait was her adoration of her father. There's only so much I can read about her blind devotion when this is marketed as having a feminist slant?

Clytemnestra's narrative was more interesting and her complex feelings towards her husband, Agamemnon, and her sister, Helen of Troy. Her character started strong, but then also slogged on after she took Agamemnon out.

Even Cassandra was more interesting though she is a very loose connection to the story and feels like a character to include to have Trojan POV.

Overall, yes, it was well-written, but man...these characters - whether accurate to the source material or not - were one-dimensional and felt like cardboard cutouts of the original character archetypes just with modern sensibilities slapped on.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is fine. Retellings/reimaginings of Greek myths are very in right now, and I like mythology, so I was excited to read this.

The Trojan War is the main vehicle for this story. Three women - Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Elektra - serve as the three narrators. Their fates are all intertwined as they deal with the consequences of the war and what led up to it.

This book dragged for me. What could have been really compelling subject matter - war! elopement! murder! vengeance! - was made to feel pretty dry, partly because of the amount of time dedicated to Elektra and Clytemnestra brooding about how to best avenge their loved ones. I know this book really relies on that introspection to offer something more than the source material, but it wasn’t particularly effective here, IMO.

That being said, I think Jennifer Saint is a talented writer. She is gifted at creating vivid scenes. The whole section related to Iphigenia’s wedding was particularly well-done in that regard.

I am puzzled by the inclusion of Cassandra’s POV as a plot vehicle. Cassandra is probably the most interesting of the three narrators, but her connection to Clytemnestra and Elektra is tenuous at best. I wasn’t really satisfied with the resolution to Cassandra’s storyline, nor do I see at this point how Cassandra’s storyline really advances the crux of this book, which seems to be the tension both Clytemnestra and Elektra feel as they search for justice.

Overall, as I said before, the book was fine. If you’re into reimagined mythology or love delving into the psyche of literary characters for hundreds of pages on end, this might be the book for you.

I enjoyed this retelling of the Trojan War from the perspective of Elektra, Clytemenstra, and Cassandra. It was very adherent to the original source material, so I would definitely classify it as a retelling, rather than a reimagining. It provided a voice for the three MCs, developing their characters quite a bit, but I would've loved if it was a bit more of a reimagining.

Also, I felt like Cassandra was slightly underdeveloped compared to Elektra and Clytemnestra, making her character stand out and seem out of place, in the narrative. I think if her character had been more developed and we'd seen more from of her perspective, her inclusion wouldn't have felt out of place.

Jennifer Saint never disappoints. Reading Elektra was a whirlwind of emotions. The book has three points of view: Elektra, daughter of Agamemnon. Clytemnestra, wife to Agamemnon. And Cassandra, priestess of Apollo and princess of Troy. The storyline follows how each woman goes through the events of the Trojan war. The writing was terrific. In some stories I’ve read, brief mentions or an excerpt that is written about Helen could be better. She’s been portrayed as a vain person that has no kind of personality. Sometimes it’s hinted as if she doesn’t care for the war, and that she was partly the reason it started. Saint writes Helen as this beautiful composed woman in the eyes of strangers and people of power. But when she’s with someone she feels like she can trust – Clytemnestra or Cassandra, her guard can come down. We see the humanity of Helen that was very much needed. The grief Clytemnestra goes through, and how she recounts motherhood are beautifully written. I didn’t have much of an opinion of Clytemnestra. Despite how cruel Agamemnon was, I used to think it was petty of her to kill Agamemnon. But Saint has given me this perspective that I would justify Clytemnestra’s actions. When reading Elekta’s point of view I understood her hatred for Clytemnestra, and possibly the love she carried for Agamemnon. But throughout the book, I felt anger that she would side with Agamemnon and feel the need to carry on his legacy. Realizing very few people actually cared about him, and knowing about her family curse. I thought of her as being really naive despite growing older. Cassandra is one of my favorites in the whole Iliad story. I enjoyed the scenes of her priestess duties and the fact that when Apollo had given her his gift Cassandra can’t automatically see the future. Apollo made her see when he wanted her to see, and it was a painful experience. Also, Cassandra might see into the future but apollo would blur out details. Cassandra would have to figure it out for herself. It really brings up the question, what Apollo bestowed on her can it even be considered as a gift, to begin with? Overall, I loved this book and the fact that Saint writes about minor characters in mythology. She breathed new life into them. I cannot wait to read Atalanta.
this review will be posted on GoodReads on 1/5/23.

I didn't love Ariadne, but I thought I'd give Jennifer Saint another try. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy Elektra that much either. It's a solid mythology retelling in the sense that it's true to the source material and easy to read. For those who aren't familiar with the story, this would be a great introduction to it. But I don't think this book has much to offer those who already know the story. The book doesn't add any significant complexity to the characters. I'd definitely recommend Madeline Miller's books over Jennifer Saint's books to those interested in a good mythology retelling that adds complexity to the characters and their story. 2.5 stars.

As someone who has trouble remembering different historical elements but loves to read historical fiction/ retellings, I can really appreciate when it is done well and is easy to follow. I found Elektra to be just that. The characters were well fleshed out and the plotline kept a nice pace and I was interested all the way through.

Elektra by Jennifer Saint is another retelling of Greek Mythology, this time the story of Elektra, Clytemnestra, Cassandra & the Trojan War. I adore Greek Mythology and am thoroughly enjoying all the new feminist retellings being published lately, so I had high hopes for this one as well. The title is a bit misleading, since the book focuses on Elektra, her mother Clytemnestra, and the Trojan princess Cassandra in almost equal parts. These three women have very different experiences with the events that led up to and through the end of the Trojan war and they react differently and take different paths. Elektra is Agamemnon's daughter through and through and can't find any fault in him, her mother, Clytemnestra is dealing with Agamemnon's devastating actions before heading to Greece, and poor Cassandra is victimized by her visions and the conquering of Troy.
While this book had everything I love about the Trojan War, Saint's novel fell flat for me, and the title was a bit of a misnomer. With Elektra being very young throughout most of the novel, she felt one-dimensional and boring and the addition of Cassandra did nothing for the narrative. Honestly, the book was at it's best when focusing on Clytemnestra and her devastation of her husband's actions at the beginning of the war, her plot for revenge and her final days.

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron books for the free e-book.

Elektra by Jennifer Saint is about three women from the Iliad and Odyssey. Clytemnestra is the wife of Agamemnon, Cassandra is a cursed priestess, and finally, Elektra is the daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. Jennifer Saint does a great job of bringing these ancient characters to life. This was an interesting retelling about some of the most famous women in ancient Greek mythology.

Fantastic addition to the current trend of Greek Mythology retellings. The use of multiple perspectives takes this story to another level. This was my introduction to Jennifer Saint and boy was it a fun one, I'm very interested in checking out her past releases now.

I really enjoyed this book. I hope the author continues to write more books in the future. I can't wait to see what the author releases in the future.

Elegant prose, well paced and intense narrative. Highly recommend this to anyone who loves feminist mythology retellings. This one is top notch.

This was really well written, but even that can't make this story enjoyable. Clytemnestra could have saved herself some trouble if she’d just told Elektra that the gods told her to kill Agamemnon because apparently that makes it okay, but instead everything is angry people killing each other and nobody working things out.

I love this author’s portrayal of the women of Greek mythology. Elektra does a good job of showing how life was for the women who get married to the powerful men of the time and how they adjust to life during and after the long Trojan War. This was well done within this story. This was not my favorite of the Greek retellings but still enjoyable and worth a read if you like this style of book.
#Elektra #NetGalley #FlatironBooks

Elektra was an interesting read, and gave great insight as to life of the main character. The story was compelling, but a bit of a slow pace.