I’m a sucker for a Greek retelling and this is no different. I loved this multiperspective tale of a character that doesn’t always get highlighted when we talk of the Trojan War. Told from 3 perspectives: Elektra, Clytemnestra, and Cassandra - we see these women struggling as secondary casualties of this high stakes pissing contest between the men who will shape their lives. And all the perspectives are so vastly different and yet as you get inside each mind you find yourself empathizing with each, even when they are pitted against each other.

The narrators were amazing in embodying each character and it was the Trojan war told with such authenticity it felt like you could truly feel what these women went through.

Jennifer Saint breathes new life into a familiar tale by giving voice to women who are cast as either villain or witch (often both) in familiar story telling. In her new book, Elektra, Saint explores the curse of House of Atreus from the perspective of three voices that are seldom listened to in these ancient myths--Clytemnestra, Cassandra and Elektra. Impeccably researched, Saint weaves together many familiar myths to beautifully illustrate the layers of the curse that haunts the House of Atreus. Saint offers readers three new angles from which to view this story and readers come away feeling empathy towards each woman's plight. This book was a delight to read.

Thank you to NetGallery and to MacMillan Audio for the advanced listen in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 5/3/22
Genre: mythology
In one sentence: The Trojan War reimagined through the eyes of three women - Clytemnestra and Elektra of the doomed House of Atreus, and Cassandra, the Trojan princess and prophesier.

I love the trend of mythological retellings, and Saint's previous book Ariadne was one of my favorites of last year! Listening to Elektra on audio was a special experience - I loved how the three narrators each embodied their characters and made them distinct for the reader. I don't think you have to be familiar with Greek mythology to enjoy this book - Saint gives enough background information to keep things clear. While listening, I could feel the pain in these women's lives - Clytemnestra for the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia, Cassandra's never being believed, and Elektra's loss of her father Agamemnon. The moments where the storylines of the three women intersected were especially powerful.

I highly recommend this audiobook if you're looking for a feminist read - 4.5 stars rounded to 5!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great re-telling of Helen, Klyemnestra, Elektra, Cassandra, and many others. The story of Iphigenia always breaks my heart. Audio was very well done. Highly recommend.

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

I received an ARC from MacMillan Audio through NetGalley.

3.5 Stars

There is no doubt that Jennifer Saint is an excellent writer and storyteller. Readers with an interest in learning about Greek myths should absolutely pick up this book. I love that it is a retelling from the female perspective. That being said, if, like me, you are a reader who is already familiar with the stories of the Trojan war, you may find yourself a little bored. I was hoping to get Elektra’s story, starting perhaps from the death of her father as I don’t know much about what happens to Clytemnestra and her children after this event. However, the first 70 to 75% of the book is a retelling of the Trojan war told mainly by Clytemnestra and Cassandra. I feel that naming the book Elektra is a bit misleading in this way. Again, the writing is excellent and those less familiar with the stories will find it to be an incredibly enjoyable read. If you already know this particular myth quite well, there isn’t enough that is new here to recommend it.

All three narrators are excellent. Their voices are all very different, making it is easy to tell which character you are listening to, which is very helpful as each chapter is told from the viewpoint of either Clytemnestra, Cassandra, or Elektra. I also found that this is one of a very few books that I listened to at its original speed. I usually feel that the reading is too slow and have to increase the speed.

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I love Greek Mythology and was so happy to receive an advance copy of this audio book to review. This tells the story of 3 women Cytemnestra, her youngest daughter Elektra and Cassandra the Princess of Troy. This is not a happy story by any means, and lots of parts in this book broke my heart for these 3 girls and felt deep sorrow for them and the life that they had to live. Jennifer Saint did a great job of telling the story so it was easy to follow though, which was perfect because i think sometimes Greek Mythology is easy to get confused but this flowed really nicely. It is in the 3 different POV of the women, and the audio book had a different narrator for each Voice which made it even easier to follow along. Cassandra was probably my Favorite of the 3 girls, I wish we got a bit more of her story but what we did get told of us a strong women who fought in till she couldn't anymore. who loved her family and city with great love even when they didn't show her the same love back. Cytemnestra is married to King Agamemnon and he is not a kind man to be married to and she has to leave all her family behind to become his wife. She puts her whole soul into becoming a Mother having 3 daughters and one son. Especially her first daughter, who saved her from a lonely existence and gave her life purpose again. Half way through the book Cytemnestra experiences a great loss and the grief over comes her and she loses her self in it and getting Revenge on the person who did it. She confides in the wrong person instead of her children during this time, and she ends up suffering more in the end. But she is also a STRONG women who did what she felt was right in her mind, and held her head high till the very end. Elektra is the youngest daughter of cytemnestra, and she is a huge daddies girl. She has nothing but love and admiration for him and has blinders on to how bad of a person he really is. It is heart breaking but it over comes her life and she can do nothing but hold on to these feelings of her father. and she holds on to grief, revenge and resentment towards her mother. It ends up leading her into a life she never thought she would have, a life a princess should not have. Thank you netgally and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this audio book for a review! if you enjoy Greek Mythology and stories about powerful women you wont be disappointed if you pick this up!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review! I was so excited to see Jennifer Saint had another Greek reimagining after thoroughly enjoying my time with Ariadne. Greek tales are my weakness, and especially those retold from the perspectives of women in a historically male dominated study and genre.

That being said, this story may not be for everyone. Greek myth is riddled with names and relationships and family ties that can be extremely hard to keep track of. I could see a reader choosing this book without being prepared for that and then disliking it.

But if that's your jam (like it is mine), this was a dark and moving tale of the futility of revenge, war, and how hatred and violence move like a serpent through generations of families. While I didn't love it as much as I loved Ariadne, I still enjoyed it. I would recommend it to those who love Greek tales told in a modern voice.

I am loving this trend of stories from the women's perspectives in history/mythology.

This book is told from the perspective of three women during the Trojan War: Clytemnestra (sister of Helen/wife of Agamemnon), Elektra (youngest daughter of Clytemnestra) and Cassandra (who was cursed by Apollo to know prophecy but for no one to believe her). I think it's easy to forget that the Trojan War was 10 years long, and how many people died in order for one man to get revenge for another man stealing his beautiful wife.

Jennifer Saint is a wonderful storyteller and is now a must read author for me.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the advance audio ARC in exchange for my honest review of this book.

Releases this Tuesday May 3rd.

I really enjoyed Ariadne (the author's last book and another Greek feminist retelling) so I couldn't wait to read Elektra, her newest book featuring three different women's stories: Cassandra, Clytemnestra, Clytemnestra's daughter, Elektra. I don't recall seeing much about Elektra recently (and there have been a LOT of Greek retellings). It was refreshing to get to know more about her life and that was definitely the highlight of the story for me.

Overall though I thought the transitions between the three women's stories didn't flow great and I wanted more personal details. If you really enjoy Greek mythology and books like Ariadne, The daughters of Sparta or Pandora's jar this might be for you. The audio production was good with three different narrators for each woman too. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance listening copy!

I have been desperate to read this book since I finished Ariadne last summer. The three female characters the book revolves around are extremely strong and I adored both Cassandra and Clytemnestra. Elektra however, I strongly disliked. I don’t know if I was supposed to, but I did. Her character was so one dimensional and had no redeeming qualities. The passages narrated by her seemed to drag. I honestly could have done without her character at all 🤷‍♀️

Another disappointment was the role of the gods. One thing I love about mythological retellings is when the gods are more central to the storyline and you really get to see their character and personality. In Elektra, they remain a mystery and part of the background.

That being said, Saint still put out a very enjoyable read. If you enjoy mythological retellings, I would recommend you give it a try.

It is no secret that I love retellings of fairytales, myths and legends.
I especially love it when it focusses on the people the original story villainizes or barely speak off. So having the story focussed on these three women was a pleasure to read!
The story was being told through three point of views across different time lines. Each character was well written, they all felt deep and interesting.
I could relate the most to Cassandra, and her parts where the ones I enjoyed the most. Clytemnestra kept me going in her rage and thirst for revenge. As for Elektra, she frustrated me in her obsession with her father.
All three of them were strong characters that kept me engaged in their story.
The narrators were enjoyable to listen to. It was nice that each of the three main characters had their own narrators, it made it easier to follow.
The only reason why I didn’t give it more than 3 stars is that, even though I did enjoy the book, I wouldn’t read it again.

I love Ancient Greek storylines. Especially if they include the Battle of Troy…it is my literary Achille’s Heel, if you will. It gets me every time. Ha. Ha.

Anyway, I liked that this book was told from the perspective of the strong women: Cassandra (Princess of Troy and the sister of Paris and Hector), Clytemnestra (the sister of Helen and wife of the infamous Agamemnon) and Elektra (the eldest daughter of Clytemnestra).

These women are often side characters in the story, and I really appreciated that this book gave them their chance to shine.

The author really makes the tragedy and heart wrenching incidents of Greek mythology come alive. I felt sadness and frustration along with the characters.

While I didn’t love this one quite as much as I did Ariadne, it was solid and definitely kept my interest throughout.

💥Thank you @netgalley for giving me the audio early to listen to. It was super well done and had multiple narrators to play each perspective. It was immersive and I got lost in the storytelling as they voiced each woman gave voice to the book. - I would definitely recommend the audio route.

I give this 3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4 for this review

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with this advanced listener copy!

“A spellbinding reimagining of the story of Elektra, one of Greek mythology’s most infamous heroines.

Three women, tangled in an ancient curse.“

This story was INCREDIBLE! A feminist masterpiece. I don’t know much about Greek mythology so the entire tale was new to me, and I loved it! The story is told from three separate perspectives that all interconnect. The lyrical writing style brought me right into the story. I felt such an emotional pull towards each character.

If you like Greek mythology, feminist retellings, stories about war and vengeance, and ancient curses, this is the book for you. It comes out on May 3rd!

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

I adore Jennifer Saint. She's rapidly becoming a favorite of mine. I didn't think she could top Ariadne, but Elektra is fantastic. I love a Greek mythology retelling and this ranks up there with the likes of Madeline Miller. Just fantastic.

All of this being said, I had some issues with the audiobook version. The narrators were great. I have no complaint against them. It was just hard keeping track of who was narrating and when. There were no clear indicators when the narrator changed and I found that extremely confusing. I also had a tough time keeping names straight. I think a book like this is best left to the print edition. The names are difficult and when they're not written in front of you, they can get jumbled, which is what I think happened here. I just need it to be clearer. Ariadne was only narrated by one character, but Elektra had three different narrators. Someone else may have noticed the subtle differences in the voices of the narrator, but it wasn't enough to keep it from being confusing.

This is a great book. I will revisit when the print edition is released. 4 stars. One star knocked down due to the audio.

This is my first book by this author so I guess I didn’t know what to expect, but this wasn’t it. It’s obvious that the author knows the stories of these women very well and was able to encompass so many events and years in a single book without making it feel like info dump which is impressive, but as someone who knows Greek mythology I didn’t get anything new from reading this. The characters were bland and Elektra, the title character, is the blandest of them all… I wish we had gotten more personal with them and the author had granted them a personality but since I didn’t see it come through it just felt like a text book to me. It was still entertaining though.

After really enjoying Ariadne by Jennifer Saint, I was very excited to start Elektra. I’m not a Greek mythology buff, so I greatly enjoy reading these books because I’m not familiar with the stories and don’t know what I’m getting into. Elektra surprised me in a good way - it’s more of a novel of the House of Atreus instead of just Elektra’s story. There are three POVs: Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. Cassandra, Princess and prophet in Troy who prophesies about Agamemnon’s armies, and Elektra, daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon’s youngest daughter. This was so well done on audio with a different narrator for each point of view. I loved reliving the Helen of Troy story and learning more of the Greek mythology around the House of Atreus. This was really entertaining, and I couldn’t put it down at the end! I highly recommend listening to this if you are into audiobooks.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the copy of this ALC!

Thank you to Jennifer Saint, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I just wanted to start this off by saying that I am a sucker for any Greek Mythology retelling--especially ones that focus on the women that are often overlooked in ancient epics. Beth Eyre, Jane Collingwood, and Julie Teal all did an amazing job narrating for and giving life to Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Elektra. I was initially confused as to why this book was named "Elektra" when there are two other perspectives being shown throughout the story. However, without revealing any spoilers, it all makes sense in the end.

Elektra tells the story of these three women before, during, and after the Trojan War. I minored in Classical Studies in college, so it was interesting to see the events that I am familiar with from the perspective of these women. While it took a while to associate each respective narrator with their character, once the story got started, each character/voice became very distinct.

The writing style itself is quite exquisite and somewhat flowy. I quite enjoyed seeing how the events played out, and how the women's different perspectives inevitably cross over. The perspectives of mother and daughter, Clytemnestra and Elektra, and their differing motives were very satisfying to read through. While I know that Cassandra's perspective was ultimately needed for this story, I did feel like she was a pawn or afterthought in someone else's story in the very end (just like in Greek Mythology in general).

Ultimately I loved how this audiobook turned out, and would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in a fresh perspective on the Trojan War or just a great read in general! Elektra as an audiobook is definitely the perfect way to digest this story due to the effort put into giving a voice to these characters.

I loved this retelling of a classic that never gets old. Each time I read a contemporary story, I learn something new. As a teacher of Mythology this one is just as epic as her last, but you can definitely tell the author has grown this time.

*I received a copy of this audiobook on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, narrators, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

ELEKTRA tells the story of Troy, both the events leading up to the 10-year war and after. It has three viewpoints intertwined– the titular Elektra, her mother Clytemnestra, and the Trojan princess Cassandra. Each are strung together by the king Agamemnon, a vicious king from a long line of bloodthirsty men.

This book does something as delicate as making you love all sides of a story. The drowning dispare of a mother tricked into the sacrifice of a beloved daughter. The burning rage of a child who’s held onto hatred for as long as her hands could grasp. And the woman who dared stop her own rape at the hands of a god, cursed with knowing the destruction of her beloved home and having no one believe her.

It captures the true folly of the Greek gods, and the helplessness of those caught in the whirlwind of their mythos. Saint does a wonderful job of bringing life to each woman’s story– not only providing the emotional motives for each character but making you root her until the bitter end.

The audiobook in particular was truly spectacular. The narrators (all three) perfectly captured the spirit of these three woman. They were not afraid to wield the power of their voices, and in doing so made each part more powerful than the last.

This is an excellent book for fans of Madeline Miller’s work or anyone looking for a feminist retelling of classic Greek myths. I’ll be anxiously awaiting the next Jennifer Saint book!

Elektra is the story of Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Elektra herself. Hailed as a feminist retelling of the story of the three women amid the Trojan War.

I won't rehash the story anymore than that because this follows Greek Mythology pretty faithfully. I think that might be part of the problem. It's not particularly feminist nor does it add anything new to an already established tale. For the most part, I was incredibly bored with the story. Elektra was horrible, a spoiled child. Cassandra seemed so flat, and for someone with such an interesting power, she should have been way more interesting. The only likable character in this whole book was Clytemnestra. She had so much more depth than any of the other characters, and I think this would have been a better story if it were told from her POV. This just was not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Beth Eyre, Jane Collingwood, and Julie Teal were fine narrators.