Review :: Elektra by Jennifer Saint

I adored Jennifer Saint’s first novel, Ariadne, when it came out last year (you can see my review here) and I was thrilled when I found out she was tackling another Greek myth retelling in Elektra! Here’s a bit of info about the book, then check out my review below.

What is Elektra about

Elektra tells us the story of the Trojan War, from the perspective of three women with high stakes in how it unfolds:

Clytemnestra
The sister of Helen, wife of Agamemnon – her hopes of averting the curse are dashed when her sister is taken to Troy by the feckless Paris. Her husband raises a great army against them and determines to win, whatever the cost.

Cassandra
Princess of Troy, and cursed by Apollo to see the future but never to be believed when she speaks of it. She is powerless in her knowledge that the city will fall.

Elektra
The youngest daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, Elektra is horrified by the bloodletting of her kin. But can she escape the curse, or is her own destiny also bound by violence?

My review of Elektra

Obviously Greek mythology inspired/retelling books are having a moment right now, and there is no shortage of titles to chose from. I’m relatively new to the retelling space, but Jennifer Saint’s have been my favourite so far. I’m not sure quite what it is about her writing, but it just really hits the spot for me.

In Elektra I loved the way we saw the story from different POVs, and from characters who come from different sides of the battle and who have different hopes for how things will pan out. I feel like this does a great job of increasing the tension and “buy-in” from the reader – I enjoyed the POVs from each of the characters, and so I wanted everything to work out for all of the women even though them being at cross purposes meant this was completely impossible.

As I mention above, I don’t have loads of experience with the Greek myths yet, and I’m finding these books presenting the stories from the perspective of the women to be a great way to discover them. Not knowing the stories in a lot of detail also meant that there were some moments that really pulled me in and even shocked me – in a good way!

Overall I just loved this from cover to cover. I was drawn right in, I fell in love with all the women, and now I’m that reader who already wants the author to hurry up with their next book before this one has even been out for a week haha.

I would definitely recommend checking this out if you are into retellings, especially if you already read and loved Ariadne. I really am excited to see what Saint will have for us next!

Let me know in the comments if you have a favourite Greek myth or retelling, or if you have this one on your TBR!

xo Bron

***

Elektra by Jennifer Saint
Out now from Hachette
Source: I received a free copy from Hachette for review (thank you!). All views are my own.
Category: Retelling, Greek Mythology
Format: Paperback

Elektra on Goodreads
Find Jennifer Saint online here
My review of Ariadne

Love a Greek Myth retelling? Check out more of my reviews here.