I love Claire North. Her books are superb. This one felt harder to connect with since Hera was more narrator than character.

I have been really LOVING greek retellings lately. They seem to be having a major moment in story telling and publishing. But because of that, I have definitely read a lot of these stories. I don’t like to compare, but it can be different reading about the same characters over again, just in different lenses.

This story was not bad, just not what I was hoping for. The story felt slow, and unfortunately I had moments I was bored. I heard recently that North tends to do YA, and I feel like the writing style might fit better for that genre.

I would read Claire North again!

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.

This novel gave me Circe vibes, and had such beautiful writing that I couldn't put it down. I'll be buying a case of these for out store!

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read.

I love mythology. I love it so much that I voluntarily took a class as a senior in college to fulfill one of my graduation credits (instead of something easy). When I see a "retelling" of such a classic story, I get excited.

Ithaca did not achieve what I wanted it to achieve. Our narrator is Hera, speaking in the first person with her view of everything going on. However, you'll also see that this is "Penelope #1", which I interpret to mean that there will be future novels like this. There are so many characters, but they don't interact with Hera directly. It's like hearing stories about your friend's friends from your friend. You don't have all of the backstory and color, so all it really feels like is a story.

I also read that Claire North is better known as a YA/fantasy writer. I believe the writing style I read would translate well to those styles of novel. However, as a retelling of a well-known story, it fell flat.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

While I know she has a cult following of readers, I myself have never before read anything Claire North has written. I went into Ithaca with no expectations, and came out revitalized and eagerly browsing her catalogue of works.

Ithaca, to be fair, is certainly a slow burn of a read. And yet, despite the plot itself moving slowly, I was enchanted by each chapter and eager to read the next. This is because of the brilliant way the goddess Hera is used as the sole narrator. Seeing the story of Penelope and the people of Ithaca through her eyes, having her speak directly to the reader at times and warn of events to come or muse about different outcomes, mimics the way the reader themselves engages with any text from that position of removed observer. The reader, in a sense, is another member of the pantheon, observing the lives of mortals, but helpless to interfere to change their fates. It's brilliant!

Hera is also a powerhouse of a character. She is witty, sarcastic, bitter, mournful, cutting, scheming, and everything in between. I found myself laughing so often at her descriptions, especially in the way she was often so irreverent towards important events that scholars often obsess over. Were she any less compelling of narrator, it would certainly have been a more challenging read.

It should also be noted that using Hera as a narrative device is always perfect. Because events are filtered through her perspective, it is difficult to grow attached to characters, and to really know them intimately in a way that a text told through a first or third person limited perspective would allow. Though I did grow attached to a number of characters, by the end, not all are given enough time to grow, and those that did have that time took a while to get there.

If you are a fan of mythological retellings, and are willing to put in the patience for a story that unfolds slowly but steadily, then Ithaca is for you.

"He once heard an old soldier say that fighting clean was for fools. First you survive. Then you make up the story of how."*

Ithaca is Claire North's idea of just what might have been happening in Odysseus's house while he was... lost... or being held hostage... or slaying cyclops...

It is told by the goddess Hera, who feels largely forgotten by the poets in the shadow of her husband Zeus, and step daughters, Athena and Artemis.

"I realise that what makes him king amongst the gods is less the thunderbolt he wields and simply that he believes himself set upon high."*

We know, of course, that Penelope is holding down the palace in Ithaca, fending off suitors left and right. In this book, the island is also under attack from pirates. So we must follow Hera and Penelope down the rabbit hole of who might be attacking the island and why, and then also figure out how to defend an island when the only men are largely untrained teenagers and old men.

"How do you hide an army?...You hide them in precisely the same way you hide your success as a merchant, your skills with agriculture, your wisdom at politics and your innate cunning wit. You hide them as women."*

I very much enjoyed Hera's voice as a narrator. There are moments when she is scathing in her critique of men and disdain for the ancient poets, and moments where she is softer in the fondness she feels for her queens. I do think telling the story through a third party created some distance between the reader and Penelope, who easily fades to the background in the large cast of characters, many of whom I struggled to keep track of at times. (Let's face it, the suitors are just a laundry list of ancient Greek names to me save for a couple.)

"She understands, of course, that this is society and how society works. She is smart; she has learnt these lessons. What she doesn't understand is why, being the way it is, society is so insufferably stupid, run by flaming idiots."*

If I have one critique for this book I think that it's a tad on the long side? Hera, is prone to rambling a bit it seems, and though I enjoyed her voice more than not, I do think it could have been trimmed in places. The setting and description are all wonderfully told and easy to envision. It appears as though a second book is due to out in May and you can be sure I'll give it a go.

Before I'll go I'll leave you with just *one* of my favorite quotes:

"Athena loves it when a hunk warrior clad in bronze kneels before her inner sanctum, and when a man violated a woman upon her altar, it was the woman whose hair she turned to snakes in retribution for this sacrilege. So much for the wisdom of Athena."*

Oooh.... BURN.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

*Quotes pulled from advanced review copy and have not been checked against final published edition. Subject to change

Having already loved Claire North’s science fiction works, I was surprised and delighted to learn she was writing a series of Greek mythology retellings- a sub-genre I adore! North’s writing is evocative, lyrical and always a little surprising, so I expected to love Ithaca.

And..I was not disappointed in the least! I will say that Ithaca is a book that will not be for every reader. Don’t go into the book expecting a first person narration from Penelope or to focus intimately on a small group of women. Ithaca has a much wider scope.

Hera, goddess of women, marriage and childbirth, narrates the story. She is sarcastic, humorous and at times irreverent. It might not resonate with all readers, but I found Hera’s voice perfect for telling this story about the ways women can be strong, about how they can struggle with the balance of power, of motherhood and personal freedom.

Through Hera’s eyes, we get the perspective of many women besides Penelope, including Clytemnestra, Elektra, and Penelope’s maids. We also see the story though the perspective of Penelope’s son Telemachus, and though several of the suitors. While this might make the story too complicated for some, for me the interweaving of all the perspectives created a vibrant and rich world.

It is a fiercely feminist book, but it’s not a preachy book. It tells a story that is full of betrayal and scheming, of friendships forged and friendships broken, of goddess and queens, love and death, and of fate and free will.

If you love Greek mythology retellings, unique, narrative voices and if you love a large cast of characters, I’d highly recommend picking up Ithaca. I am beyond excited to pick up the next book in this series!

*Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the digital arc. All opinions are my own.

Overall, I found ITHACA by Claire North extremely disappointing. I generally love retellings--especially of The Odyssey and Greek mythology in general--but ITHACA fell flat for me. The writing lacks polish, and the voices of characters often seem far too modern (ex: "Helloooo? Orests? Anybody home?"), so much so that it made it difficult to fully immerse in the world and connect with the various characters. Being in Hera's head was certainly very interesting (as we don't hear her side of the story nearly as much as we should), but I wonder if the story overall would have been more successful if told more (or exclusively?) from Penelope's point of view. Unfortunately, there are so many other retellings of The Odyssey out there that are far more compelling and well-written for me to recommend this to others. This is a hard pass for me.

I so badly wanted to enjoy this book, but just couldn’t connect with the characters. At first I thought having it narrated from the perspective of Hera was a very interesting choice, but in the end it made Penelope’s character harder to connect with. I wanted to know the complete character of Penelope, not just her political plans.

I was really excited for this book as a lover of Greek myths and retellings/reimaginings, but this one was not for me. The narration felt very awkward to me and I did not connect with the story or any of the characters.

I love a feminist Greek myth retelling, so I was delighted to receive a copy of this book for review. I could not get into it, though. The choice to have Hera narrate the story was fascinating, but it was unclear what Hera's motives were for telling the story. In fact, it took me a chapter and a half to figure out that Hera was the narrator. Hera is also tired and cynical (which makes sense given everything Zeus puts her through), but it bled through into her narration and did not make for an enjoyable experience as a reader. We also flipped back and forth between so many different characters in Ithaca in a short amount of time that it was hard to keep track of who everyone was at times. The writing was beautiful, but structured in a way that was difficult to follow.

** Thanks so much to NetGalley, Claire North and Redhook Books for this ARC. Ithaca will be out September 6th, 2022 **

Ithaca by Claire North tells the story of Penelope, Queen of Ithaca. Set while Penelope is entertaining suitors and weaving (and unweaving) her father-in-law's funeral shroud, it explores what it means to rule as a woman who must be seen not to rule at all. I always enjoy feminist interpretations of myths, and this was no exception. The plot was fascinating and I really appreciated the insight into what it means to be powerful as a woman - which in ancient Greece meant to be powerful in secret. Narrated by Hera, the story comments on the different ways in which the most famous queens of Greece - Helen, Clytemnestra, and Penelope - navigate the balance between motherhood, womanhood, and queenhood.

My one main complaint about this book was that the narration by Hera was sometimes very annoying and the writing bothered me at times. I really struggled with how to rate this, as the writing sometimes felt very subpar, but I enjoyed the story quite a lot despite it.

This wasn't a favorite read, but I enjoyed reflecting on power and gender in ancient Ithaca.

The women of Ithaca have been left alone for almost seventeen years since the men of their island left to fight with King Odysseus at Troy. None have returned, including the King. Penelope married Odysseus when she was very young and was secure in her position. But now that he has been absent, she faces a difficult choice – remarry to remain in power or likely be assassinated. Penelope’s life and country hang in a tenuous balance, and it is up to her cunning and wit to maintain the peace of the kingdom.

I was excited to read a retelling of “The Odyssey” that centered around Penelope, but this work fell dramatically flat of my hopes. The author chose to tell the story from the goddess Hera’s POV rather than Penelope – I think this was a big mistake, as it made the story feel divorced from Penelope’s emotions and feelings. It did allow the author to include more information that Penelope would have had no way of knowing, but she sacrificed including this information for losing any character depth and development for the protagonist. It was an extremely detached way to tell this story and the work suffered for it.

Unfortunately, it was the case that all of the characters were lacking. There was no real depth or development to them, and they felt like cardboard cutouts rather than real people. The author also introduced many, many characters (in true Classical Greek fashion), which left them all bland and interchangeable. It was impossible to connect to any of the characters, which led to a lack of connection to the book as a whole, majorly detracting from my enjoyment of it.

The writing of the work also left much to be desired. The POV used throughout the book alternates between third person omniscient, third person limited, second person, first person, then also shifts between present tense and sometimes using past tense. The writing constantly bounced between all of these. And the changes happen within a paragraph, which makes for a very frustrating read. There was an abundance of run-on sentences, over-flowery language that added nothing to the story or descriptions, weird smiles and metaphors that were nonsensical, as well as several typos and errors. The author also used modern words and phrases scattered throughout the work which completely broke the little immersion there was with this book.

Overall, I cannot recommend this work. There was nothing I enjoyed about it except that the cover was pretty. It was difficult just to finish this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and Redhook Books for allowing me to review this book, which will be published on September 6th, 2022. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you Redhook and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I have a long and difficult history with Greek myth retellings, especially ones targeted for adults. Lately, I’ve been starting to think I’ve hit a rut with myth retellings in general, so at first I was nervous to pick up Ithaca. But I was very pleasantly surprised!

I think, at first, the shifting POV was hard to pin down, but once I bought into it (and it happened quickly for me, knowing that Hera is the one doing the narrating) I really liked it and it worked well for me. At times I felt as though the language used was anachronistic, but on some level I felt like I could reasonably chalk it up to Hera telling you a story, and she modernizes some of her language because of that. I don’t think that will work for everyone, especially those who are pickier about narrative shifts and “accurate” language, etc, but I think it was a fun take on how to tell a story.

I think North did a good job showing that Hera primarily looks out for her own interests. While that might not work for everyone, either, since gods can obviously be a wee bit fickle, I liked that this depiction of Hera showcased that gods had shifting moods. I also liked how her own interests were quite clear, and I felt that many of her actions were consistent on that line. Since this is all from Hera’s perspective, Penelope, Telemachus, the maids, the suitors, and so on and so forth do feel a bit distant, but I found it to be fun and I liked the effect.

I don’t think it particularly did anything new with Penelope, but I still think there were liberties taken here that made it interesting. Depending on what sort of liberties you’re comfortable with in a retelling, I think that this will either really capture you or simply not be your thing. North made interesting risks and choices from a narrative perspective, I really enjoyed Ithaca and think those risks paid off.

A Google search tells me this is part of a trilogy, and the next two books are written by Aphrodite and Athena respectively (also, it appears, to be about Penelope). I am very eyes emoji about this, and am fascinated to see what North brings to the next installments. I also quite enjoyed North’s prose and found it very readable. This was an engaging read for me, and I do recommend it!

I am so sad to say this book was a miss for me!

I love Greek mythology retellings and I was really excited to read about Penelope! However, I felt that the first-person omniscient narration did not work for me, we kept jumping around and being in Penelope's head would have been way more compelling and interesting.

I love all types of mythology books and realize that in order to set the scene the book has to be a bit slow. But I loved that we used Hera as the narrator of this story and I cannot wait for the next one!

Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed off to war with Troy, as did every man of fighting age on Ithaca. Over the ten years that war raged on the plains of Troy, Ithaca sent money and men who reached fighting age off to Troy, and received songs from the poets about their brave fighters in return. The old men who were left nodded and told the boys who remained that this was what being a man was all about. Seven years have passed since the war ended and none of Ithaca's men have returned- including their king. Outsiders and Ithaca's youth alike are starting to circle, trying to decide how to take the throne from a man who must be dead, but hasn't quite been declared dead- especially by his loyal wife and queen, Penelope.

For seventeen years Ithaca has managed to survive: food has made it to tables, trade has continued in the harbors, farms have continued to produce crops. Suitors are fed and the balancing act of hospitality and greed is kept in check. None of the old men question how this is done- until pirates come to Ithaca. Suddenly they have to do something, and they discover while they think they have been running things, they really have no idea what to do.

Ithaca is the book the Greek poets (and plenty of more modern fiction writers) wouldn't think to ask: what happens when the men leave home to go off fighting? The answer is obvious: the women run everything. But in Greece they are hampered by the cultural problem that they cannot be seen to run anything. In ancient Greece women have a strict place and that is behind the scenes, in the women's quarters, in the women's world. How to handle this catch-22 situation? Ithaca is narrated by Hera, the goddess of wives and marriage, a goddess who knows a few things about toxic masculinity and double standards. She doesn't pull any punches in her assessments of the characters she introduces us to and is willing to call a twerp a twerp if that's what she thinks he is- poetic hero or no. Hera doesn't have much use for heroes or poets. But women and queens, those are different matters. In daylight where Penelope plays the perfect Greek wife mourning her husband, in night's shadows where Penelope hunts for clues about the identity of the pirates and builds an army of women to defend Ithaca, Hera shows us all of Ithaca's secrets.

In case we, as more modern readers, don't understand the situation Penelope would be in if she just stood up and told the men "You lot are idiots, I'm in charge now", there is a secondary story to bring the message home to us. Penelope's cousin Clytemnestra has been ruling Mycenae openly in her husband's absence. Now Agamemnon is back and while there were a few domestic squabbles about lovers on the side, Hera makes sure we understand that really, it was Clytemnestra's decision to rule openly that has led to her downfall. (And a bit of murder.) By the time Penelope's deception with her weaving is discovered we aren't surprised by the violence that nearly comes from it because we understand now- it isn't necessarily about the act itself but about the woman trying to take some control over her own life (or being perceived to take an active role in the lives of men) that is the real problem, and brings about death. Men must always be in control of the narrative. It is why women, even goddesses, must work in shadow and avoid being seen. But they get the job done.

If you think that Hera is an odd choice of a narrator in the beginning, it won't take long for you to understand that she is the perfect choice to tell this story of women who are ignored or forgotten, belittled, by the men who rule. Remember, none of the stories you think you know about Hera have been told by women either.

An excellent addition to the popular mythology-alternate genre, fans of Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes will definitely enjoy this new take on Penelope's story.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

King Odysseus sailed away from Ithaca seventeen years ago, taking every man of fighting age along with him. Although the war has long since been over, none of the men have come home, leaving the women to take care of the homestead. Penelope was just a young girl when she wed Odysseus and gave birth to his son. She always knew that as long as he was around, she would be protected and her position in Ithaca unchallenged. But now everyone is saying her husband is dead, and it's time to choose a new king from the many suitors living under her roof. Penelope knows no man can match her husband's power and that picking one would send her entire kingdom into chaos. With the fate of Ithaca hanging in the balance, Penelope will have to use her cunning and her network of maidens to ensure it topples in her favor.

By this point, I've read a ton of Greek mythology retellings, so I'm always on the lookout for one that will set itself apart from the rest. I think North did that here. I've read many Troy-inspired books, but I've never read one narrated by one of the goddesses. I loved how North used Hera to tell the tale of Penelope and the events on Ithaca. It was a unique plot device, and I think it worked very well. There were times where she overpowered the other characters, but I didn't mind so much. Speaking of, it is a very character-driven book, which I'm not usually a fan of, so it did feel like the pacing dragged on a bit due to that. While I don't think North brought anything new to Penelope's story, I did think her writing was beautiful and lush and would be interested in checking out the rest of the series.

I'm a great fan of Clair North, and I love retellings of mythological stories, so I was delighted to get a chance to read this new book!
I absolutely loved it, and I am so glad it will be part of a trilogy rather than trying to cram all that plot and prose into one book. Penelope is a character that can be overlooked, and this is an amazing glimpse into her perspective.
I thought Hera was a perfect narrator for the story. She is a goddess, and has an omniscient perspective, but I especially loved when she went off on tangents about how she is treated by Zeus and the other gods.
I cannot wait to recommend this to readers, even those who remember hating The Odyssey when they were forced to read it in high school. This is a whole different story.