Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨⬜
Title: Ithaca
Author: Claire North
Genre: Greek Mythology / Fantasy
Setting: Ithaca
Month Read: August 2022
Book Type: E-Book
Publication: September 2022
Publisher: Redhook Books
Pages: 464
*Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for this E-Arc of Ithaca. It has in no way influenced my review of this title.
TRIGGER WARNING-
Rape / Murder / Matricide / Sex / Sexism / Patriarchy / Death / Slavery
"Two Queens sit now in silence, and wonder: is there a limit to what a mother can give? We gods applaud those who give it all, all, more than all and more than could ever be enough. Any woman who gives merely all she has to give, and then has no more left in her, we condemn to Tartarus's burning fields, and simply say: it is for the children"
No Spoiler Summary:
Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom.
Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door.
No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus' empty throne—not yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning, wit, and her trusted circle of maids, can she maintain the tenuous peace needed for the kingdom to survive.
This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca’s shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women—and their goddesses— that will change the course of the world.
Review:
I'm happy to have gotten an e-arc of this, because I'm not entirely sure I would have loved spending the money on this. It moved pretty slow for me, and maybe I was a little underwhelmed after just reading Elektra which had an overlapping storyline to this.
I will say, the writing is absolutely gorgeous. I highlighted several passages on my kindle, and there were even more I didn't highlight that made me catch my breath. Claire North really makes you feel like you are there, smelling the sea, the death, the desperation, the wanting, the desire of the characters you meet on this long journey.
I do wish that the narration changes were stated. It would take me a minute to realize who was speaking; Hera, Penelope, someone else, etc, and that took me out of the novel a lot and I found it hard to dive right back in. Otherwise, I think it's a good book, and definitely more detailed than a lot of other Greek mythos books out there.
For fans of Madeline Miller's writing style, Ithaca is for you.
Recommendation:
Elektra by Jennifer Saint
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Circe by Madeline Miller
"The only songs they remember, the only songs that are sung in the palaces of kinds, are of the men who make something of themselves! The warriors and the heroes who die fighting to make a name! Who the fuck cares about the fucking mothers?!"
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