House of Odysseus

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I have a smile on my face after reading this brilliant book. Claire North made me laugh my head off at this excellent re-telling of the Penelopiad. Richly poetic . . . This is an impassioned plea for the lost, disenfranchised queens of ancient Greece, a love letter to the silenced women of history' Booklist

Men give women power, and women sacrifice the women around them to appease men. Not Clytemnestra..." I know, I know, I also was among others who didn't enjoy the first book, as much as it deserved, but House of Odysseus filled all the previous weak points, I really liked this one!I understood Claire North in The Songs of Penelope series, three women protected and loved by three goddesses as a narrator for each book. North brought in a few old friends from the Iliad and Odyssey. Menelaus and Helen were perfect characters to move this story forward. The face that launched a thousand ships and the buffoon. I never really like Menelaus or his blow-hard brother. Homer never really painted them in a good light, the Iliad and Odyssey had other heroes, and like Tina Turner, we don’t need another one.

The protagonist of the story is a compelling and complex character, offering a fresh perspective on the well-known figure of Penelope. Her personal journey is filled with obstacles, self-discovery, and moments of profound introspection, allowing readers to connect with her on a deep emotional level. The supporting cast is equally well-crafted, each adding their own layers of depth and intrigue to the narrative. Elektra and Helen of Troy are given voices in this narrative as well; they are not just seen as vapid, beautiful (but tragic) figures in the story. They plot. They aid. They use their wits to ensure Penelope is helped to preserve the peace on the island. I appreciate that this retelling focused on the women and their alliance and how they helped one another and showed strength, not in the physical sense, but the emotional. They were so intelligent and ruthless, it was refreshing to read about. Please tell me now if you killed any of them,” sighs Penelope. “I would rather not be embarrassed by the revelation later.”

For a woman to contemplate her own beauty is vanity, superficial pride, shallow beyond contempt, the sign of a mindless slut. Of course for a woman to be anything less than beautiful is for her to be ugly, or in the best case invisible and without merit, and that is also unacceptable, but still, but still. The most a woman born without socially acceptable perfection can do is worry about these things in secret, rather than be caught trying.” Penelope is proving to be an outstanding epic hero in her own right. A sensational retelling’Elodie Harper, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf Den Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope must find a way to keep her home from being crushed by the machinations of a battle that stretches from Mycenae and Sparta to the summit of Mount Olympus itself. Her only allies are Elektra, desperate to protect her brother, and Helen of Troy, Menelaus' wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own. Everything I've wanted in a retelling: a vibrant cast, full of suspense, told with a phenomenal narrative voice - this is an absolute masterpiece' Sarah Bonner, author of Her Perfect Twin Claire North has set a new standard for Ancient Greek retellings. Absolutely sublime’Hannah Lynn, author of Athena’s Child

Aphrodite is generally portrayed as conniving and cruel, wielding love as a weapon. In House of Odysseus, she knows that she is viewed as such, but within her mind we see that she does truly find something to love about everyone. It’s sweet and lovely and more than a little sad, as she holds so much love inside herself so as not to make others feel more uncomfortable around her than they are already. I’ve never been a fan of Aphrodite, but this book softened my heart toward her in exactly the same way Ithaca softened me toward Hera. North has a gift here, of bringing dimension and sympathy to classical characters.Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK (Orbit) via NetGalley for giving me a chance to read House of Odysseus (The Songs of Penelope #2) by Claire North, I have given my honest review. We women of sky and fire, we goddesses, we are so mighty, and yet if we learn anything from old mother Hera, it is that the brighter we blaze, the more the men line up to make us fall. Our power will be suppressed, subdued, and we will be turned from creatures of immortal majesty to cowering wives and simpering whores, adjuncts merely to a story told by a man. A story about a man.” Now Penelope faces a new threat. After providing a place of refuge for Elektra and her brother, Orestes, both children of the now dead Agamemnon killed by his wife Clytemnestra, Menelaus, Agamemnon’s brother, catches wind that his niece and nephew may be hiding out in Ithaca. This second volume of Claire North's Song of Penelope is at least as good as the first. I've been a fan since The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, but here her writing has matured to something extraordinary; poetic, earthy, profound, funny.