I have read so many retellings of the Trojan War, but I somehow never get tired of them! Elektra will fit perfectly among some of my favourites. Elektra as a character is someone I knew little about, so it was interesting to read her perspective and to see what drove her. A lot of the other Greek Myth retellings I have read from the perspective of women have focused on either one character or on many characters, so it was refreshing that this one focus on three. I wasn't expecting to hear from Cassandra, but I was thrilled that she was included because I have always been fascinated by her. I also liked that Jennifer Saint chose to skim over some of the bigger plot points of the war- we didn't need to drag out Achilles' death, for example. This retelling focused on women's rage and grief and I thought Saint did an incredible job. I now want to go back and read her debut, Ariadne. I loved the writing style and flew through this one quicker than I ever have with a Greek myth retelling!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* this was a really great read, i could reread this as im sure i missed some stuff but overall entertaining read.

☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ + 1/2

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A beautifully written tale of three women tangled up in a curse, a war, and forced to be at the will of men around them.

For anyone who loves the passion, drama, and rich lore of Greek mythology, ELEKTRA is the book you want to read. From beginning to end, Saint weaves together a tale steeped in ancient history while still somehow making it seem uniquely modern.

What is so wonderful about this book is how the author allows the women in this story to tell their tales. Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Elektra share experiences, thoughts, and perceptions with the reader in a way that makes the narrative richer and has a far more well-rounded account of what is going on.

I will be honest. I am familiar with the source of this story and have long loved Greek as well as Roman myths. However, I never connected to the stories on the level that I did with this book. There was a relevance to the mythology in today's world that I didn’t see before. Having these women tell their stories instead of having the male perspective was enlightening as well as brilliantly connived. It simply could be the author’s amazing prose or maybe it is simply that I am older so I identify with the characters more. Whatever it is, this book is hands down brilliantly constructed.

Truly, with all my book-loving soul, I recommend this book. It is a powerful, insightful, and vivid retelling of a classic. The writing is spellbinding and the characters come to life. A must-read.

A tragedy in four parts. Wow. Greek retellings are so fun for me because you have some frame of reference, even if you don't know all the details. You know the House of Atreus and its players — egotistical Agamemnon, king of the Greeks, who sacrificed his daughter in front of her mother, Clytemnestra, who swears to avenge her daughter's death. You know the Trojan War spanned a decade and its impact resonated for decades after. But in a modern Greek retelling, you get to experience the people behind the myth.

This story follows three women at the center of the House of Atreus — Clytemnestra, the family's matriarch, her youngest daughter Elektra who was too young to know the ruthlessness of her father, and Cassandra, sister to Paris of Troy and cursed with the ability to see the future, but no one believes her prediction of the fall of Troy. She's taken as Agamemnon's slave following the war. I really enjoyed this one — more than Ariadne, actually! I kind of procrastinated on reading this one, and I'm glad I did just because I picked the perfect setting — Greece — to finally read it!

I did not love the audio — the narrators were great! — because each chapter alternates between characters and you don't know who's speaking. Seems like maybe an error that could have been fixed in the final production.

You know the stories of Helen and Hector and Agamemnon and Achilles - but what about those they left behind?

Elektra tells of a story interwoven with the Trojan War from three different perspectives - Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Elektra.

Clytemnestra is the sister of Helen, wife of Agamemnon, and mother of Elektra. She unwittingly married into a cursed family, plagued by murders of family members and children while vying for the throne. When one of her children is killed, will she continue the family curse?

Cassandra is blessed to see the future, but cursed that no one will believe her. She lives in Troy during the war, but will she convince other people to heed her warnings?

Elektra is a loyal daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, but her loyalties shift as she grows to understand what’s happened in their family history.

I enjoyed the story, which was extremely well-written. I got confused by the multiple narrators at first (I was listening, and the voices were a little too similar for me). It also kind of blended together with all of the other Greek myth retellings I’ve read in the past year (5??)

Overall, if you like Greek myth retellings, I bet you’ll love this. If you need a break from them, you won’t.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the audiobook ARC!

I have really enjoyed the feminist greek mythology retellings that have come out in the past few years. So when I saw this was a story about three women that I am not at all familiar with I was really excited. I think Jennifer Saint succeeds in introducing you to the characters if you are like me and did not know anything about theses characters in the original myth. These characters and setting feel very real and lived in. My issue with this book however was the writing, it was a bit too flowery for my personal liking.

“Nothing brought them more joy than the fall of a lovely woman.”

This is the pattern of myths and of history. Women. Their reputations. Their legacies. Their lives. Picked apart by the vultures of our patriarchal society until nothing but bones are left.

Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Elektra are three such women of myth who’s fates were twisted and warped by gods and by men.

Even though this telling seeks to reclaim their narratives in a way, there are no victors. ELEKTRA binds the lives of these three women together through loss, grief, and pain. A (beautifully weaved) literary tragedy in every sense of the definition. For once, they are given ownership over their own choices and stories, and yet they cannot escape the inevitability of their fates.

I was able to read this as an audiobook (courtesy of NetGalley–thank you!!) and, with three distinct narrators, I found the format to be especially powerful and helpful in ensuring that these three women were shared as individuals outside of their collective tale.

The end brought me right back to when I finished reading Mockingjay for the first time. That really unsettling and tired feeling of relief and sorrow. Read if you wanna experience that little easter egg of nostalgia. ❤️‍🩹

As a classicist, I am a big fan of Greek myth retellings, and I am happy for every chance I get to read them. Jennifer Saint weaves a wonderful tale full of of heroes and monsters, and brings a new twist to the classic mythology surrounding Troy. If you thought you knew the whole story, think again. Beautifully written and utterly captivating, Jennifer Saint builds a magical world for the women of Troy, and brings perspective to some of the powerful women that we have never seen before.

This novel is so beautifully written. I loved the narrative and I enjoyed the female perspective of these Greek mythology retellings. But honestly, this book should have been called “Clytemnestra” because she was absolutely the main character. The bulk of the Elektra content didn’t really come until Part 3. When it did though, it was great but I wanted more. I also don’t really know why Cassandra’s POV was even presented. The Clytemnestra-Elektra POVs made sense being a mother-daughter relationship. I think I would have liked the story better if it was just from the perspective of Clytemnestra and Elektra. I’m still new to greek mythologies and retellings so I may just need to learn more to appreciate these books better.

This just isn't for me. I'm a classicist (getting my Phd) and so I'm really picky with my retellings. This retelling just didn't have enough of a new voice or a new spin for me. I wanted interesting new voices, new takes. This felt pretty same-old. I could see recommending this to someone who can't get enough of retellings, to one of my undergraduate students, but it just doesn't feel worth my time right now.

4.5 stars. Thank you to Macmillian Audio and Netgalley for an advanced recording of Elektra!


This book was incredible. Female driven Greek mythology retellings might be my new favourite sub genre. Not only was the writing beautiful but the narration between the characters was distinct and made individual thoughts and motivations clear as the story progressed. The complexity behind character, particularly Clytmenestra was something I was not expecting. Her rage and grief were so well portrayed that she became my favourite character. I did find Elektra a little boring in comparison and I held very little compassion for her as the story progressed, which maybe is the point of the writing, but I found myself sometimes tuning out Elektra’s chapters. This book didn’t overly simplify the story and managed to make the complexity of events digestible, which as someone who wasn’t familiar with the story of Elektra prior to this book, I really appreciated!

Overall, this is an excellent read and the narration was fantastic between all three narrators. They were easy to distinguish and really embodied the different perspectives of each character.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC audiobook.


Description from NetGalley:
Three women, tangled in an ancient curse.

When Clytemnestra marries Agamemnon, she ignores the insidious whispers about his family line, the House of Atreus. But when, on the eve of the Trojan War, Agamemnon betrays Clytemnestra in the most unimaginable way, she must confront the curse that has long ravaged their family.

In Troy, Princess Cassandra has the gift of prophecy, but carries a curse of her own: no one will ever believe what she sees. When she is shown what will happen to her beloved city when Agamemnon and his army arrives, she is powerless to stop the tragedy from unfolding.

Elektra, Clytemnestra and Agamemnon’s youngest daughter, wants only for her beloved father to return home from war. But can she escape her family’s bloody history, or is her destiny bound by violence, too?

I really enjoyed Ariadne from 2021, so I was really excited to pick this up. The narrator did a fantastic job making each of the three women sound unique, which paired nicely with how the author wrote them to feel and sound so different. Just like with Ariadne, I knew the myth but thoroughly enjoyed this retelling. I do wish I had more time with some of the women at different points.

Overall: 4/5

Enjoyed this one, Saint manages to captivate with her narrative of Clytemnestra despite readers knowing the ending! I think her narrator's voice sounded a bit aged for the character though. Loved the Cassandra perspective.

I am a huge sucker for Greek mythology, so I knew I needed to devour this book when I read the synopsis. Following the story of three different but interconnected women, Elektra takes an insightful look at the complex and sometimes tragic relationships between mother and daughter but also pays close attention to the devastation of war on both sides of the battle. When I first picked this up, I didn't know much about the stories of Elektra, Clytemnestra, and Cassandra before reading, I was able to catch on easily to their roles and even did some background research to make sure I was educated on what I was getting into.

I absolutely loved the way the characters were written and the emotions and actions of each were perfectly depicted in my opinion, throughout the story. I'll go ahead and say I wasn't the biggest fan of Elektra, but I can appreciate her world and what she has to overcome. On top of that, I thought the writing was beautifully done and told the story in a well-balanced way. The flow of events was done timely and didn't feel rushed or forced.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with an Audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Three figures of the Trojan War are given voice by Saint: Cassandra, Clytemnestra, and Elektra. The novel begins with a young Elektra, but then moves back in time to a young Clytemnestra- sister to Helen. Through three women who are often seen as the villains, the reader / listener witnesses the impact of the curse on Agamemnon’s line and how it impacts the women. The three narrators are all excellent and the story moves swiftly through Helen’s wedding, through the war, all the way to the story told in the Orestes trilogy. Well done re-imagining of Greek dramas.

Wow! What an amazing new retelling of Elektra, her mother and sister. I loved that it was from the women's' point of view in regards to Agamemnon, Hector, Achilles and the other Greek men who are usually front and center.

The style of her language is so flowy and I couldn't put this book down. I know that anyone who likes Greek mythology or Circe or Song of Achilles--this book will be a hit for so many readers.

Thank you so much @netgalley and Flatiron Books for my access to this advanced readers copy.

I love Mythology. I loved Jennifer Saint's last novel, A Thousand Ships. I didn't listen to that one on audio because I'm rather picky about Narrators, but I'm glad I listened to this one. I highly recommend this story and Saint's beautiful writing to any Mythology fans,

I really liked this book but based on the name was a bit surprised to see that it was split into three different points of view. I actually think that Cassandra and Clytemnestra's points of view were much stronger and held some of my favorite parts of the story! As I have already begun recommending this book at my store I've been using that somewhat as a selling point. Obviously, the summary of the book mentions all three but not everyone picks it up straight away.

As is expected the writing is exceptional! I think Cassandra was probably my favorite of the characters because her burden/curse is so familiar in some aspects and otherworldly in others.

The narrators also did wonderful work- my favorite scene had to be when Helen was speaking to the men in the Trojan Horse imitating each of their voices and I think that the narration really brought that to life!

I loved how this Greek Mythology retelling of the Trojan war was from three different women’s perspectives! It was entertaining and refreshing. I really liked how it moved along, it wasn’t slow like some retellings can be. I listened to the audiobook version of this, and the narrators were incredible. Calm, soothing, but commanding at the same time. The audio was wonderful! I would definitely recommend this to someone who likes Greek Mythology or someone who just appreciates a great audiobook!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced audiobook in exchange of my honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. Greek mythology is definitely my thing and this one was very interesting seeing the Trojan War through the women's POV. So glad I already purchased a physical copy for my library