I was really looking forward to this book because it was about Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, on whom very little is written about. However, I did not like how the narrator was the goddess Hera. It felt out of place. I would have enjoying more if it was from Penelope’s perspective because she is rarely given a voice in literature. Still, I recommend this for fans of Claire Heywood, Kerry Greenwood, and Natalie Haynes!

It took me some time to get into this book. "Ithaca" tells Penelope's story, from the perspective of Hera, during Odysseus's absence. In addition to her missing husband, Penelope is balancing increasing pressure from wannabe suitors, raising her son (Telemachus) and general politics of ancient Greece - not to mention a few meddling gods.

Things are fairly uneventful until Clytemnestra and her children arrive, following the murder of Agamemnon. Telemachus feels the need to prove himself as the son of Odysseus while Ithaca is under attack, and Penelope needs to continue to quietly pull strings behind the scenes.

Overall, this was very character-driven and moved very slowly for the majority of the book, although I enjoyed Hera's commentary about the poets' favoritism towards men. I love Greek mythology, but this just wasn't one of my favorite interpretations.

After reading this I can say that prose wise it has some moments of greatness, but overall this fell flat for me. It took me a while to figure out who the narrator was, once I was set that it was Hera it was easier. And I do like the freshness of having Hera's voice as the story teller, she is not one we usually hear from.

My biggest issue is that there were so many characters, none of them I particularly liked or felt invested in in any way. You definitely need to know the Trojan war back story, which I did, and I did, but there were so many characters and political dealings, it was difficult to follow.

I already posted this to Goodreads.

Claire North has crafted an incredible story of the queens of Greece, focusing on Penelope of Ithaca, told from Hera's point of view. Claire's take on Hera is fresh, cutting, and witty—her narrative style keeps you engaged, and I was enraptured the whole time I read this book. The characters felt fresh and real, focusing more on the lesser-told tales of women than the blustery men that often dominate Greek tales. The pacing was fast—the kind of book you want to devour—and the story itself was clever and exciting. I cannot wait for the second installation of this series, and hope Claire North continues to write about Greek figures. She is breathing new life into these stories in ways that hopefully will continue to be replicated for generations to come.

A powerful greek story centered around aspects of the Odyssey. I've always been a mythology girly so seeing these stories be expanded and brought into modern language makes my little heart flutter

(I posted this review on September 20th, 2022, but thought that I was too late to get credit on Netgalley because I posted it after the book was released, so I never posted it here.)

I was gifted this book via Netgalley. While I didn't read this book in time to give an official review via Netgalley, I would still like to share a few thoughts. My opinions are completely my own and influenced by no one.

...

"'So,' Athena muses, as we watch the ships grow near. 'An army of women?'
'Wasn't my idea,' I shrug.
'But you have hardly discouraged the venture.'
'I am practical. The island does not have enough men of fighting age, and yet there are people here who would fight.'"~Ithaca by Claire North

Don't be turned away by my rating of three stars. I enjoyed this book and I would definitely read more by Claire North. However, this book was hard to get into at first. The writing style is very different, to say the least, and not always in a good way. I was eventually gripped to the page, but the first 25% of the book was very hard for me to read. I was very confused and had to read very slowly in the beginning to make heads or tails of what was going on.

And while I understand that there are a lot of people in mythology, the way the book was written didn't help with keeping characters straight at all. Once I got into this book I found it enjoyable and empowering, but it is not a book that you can causally read and still understand.
Claire North does an incredible job of painting a picture of the trials of women in this period. It was a culture shock to me, how little freedom and rights they had. Or course, you learn in school...but you don't really understand until you dive in deeper.

This is a book that I will remember and I am glad that I read it.

(Sorry, I know that this isn't my greatest review. But it is late, and I am tired.)

I was so excited to receive an ARC of this book, as I love mythology retellings. I typically devour retellings in one or two sittings, and that was definitely not the case with this book. I started and stopped this one a number of times-- largely because I was in the middle of a cross-country move as I tried to read this, and this is not an "easy" read, which I needed. I considered DNF'ing a couple of times, but ultimately I think I am glad that I pushed forward and finished this one.

As I mentioned earlier, this is not an "easy" read. The cadence of the novel is almost that of a story being told orally, and it takes a minute to adjust to that for one who is reading on paper. Once adjusted though, the prose is lovely. The narrator, Hera, is full of snark and wit, which I enjoyed. Though, she was a somewhat odd choice as a narrator and her point of view (narratively) speaking, jumped around quite a bit. With a mostly omniscient third person narrator, the author maybe tried to do too much in terms of incorporating or referencing literally every single thing that may have been going on in that time period, based on all of the myths, instead of just honing in on Ithaca and Penelope's story. You definitely need to know/understand the mythology outside of just the main characters of this book to keep up with all the references and the story. The narrative choices paired with the never ending and revolving cast of side characters with underdeveloped backstories also made it very difficult for me to invest in the characters and, ultimately, the story. There was just too much going on. If I picked this up, I was very interested while I was reading, but felt no real rush to pick it back up again and see where the story would take me.

I enjoyed how the book mixed ancient stories and language with modern language and humor, but it seemed to do this only sporadically. I wish the author committed to either going all in on this or not doing it at all. The pace of the story was also a bit erratic, very long and slow (too slow) in some parts and then super quick and almost too fast in others. The novel to me, in part because of the issues I mentioned above, just felt somewhat disjointed of a read and lacked overall consistency or narrative flow. That being said, I'll reiterate again that the language was beautiful, and the parts that I did like, I really enjoyed. I would have loved this novel had I felt more invested in it.

I hope retellings of mythological stories from women's perspective will not be the next WWII stories. At some point everyone started to write about WWII and the sentiment lost its charm. I think right now we are in that sweet spot of still having multiple mythological women left to tell their own version of Odyssey and Iliad. And this book is a good example of it.

You are introduced to multiple queens, princesses, and goddesses here. While you hear their story from Hera and mainly focus on Penelope, Odysseus' wife, story has something about every woman in her circle from every level. Penelope both literally and figuratively was creating her own women's army to take people down. She was giving all women their voice while she found unexpected male supporters from far away lands.

I wish the second book after this is not a retelling but more of an alternative history where upon his return Penelope kicks Odysseus out and continue to be the queen that she is. Let's see, maybe be I'll be surprised :) If you want to learn thing or two about how to deflect unwanted male attraction, please read this book

Wonderful retelling of a Classical myth. This is written in a modern, engaging. Of course, the vest part, is that it gives voice to women. I love these retelling that are inclusive and develop the female characters. I will definitely read more by Claire North! Loved it as much as Circe.

A bit slow at times and stuck to the classic myth, but still beautifully written. Great for fans of Madeline Miller, Natalie Haynes, and Jennifer Saint.

Ithaca is an Odyssey retelling which focuses on the lives of those left behind during Odysseus' time in Troy and his voyage home. We follow the lives of the women in Odysseus' house, the men who were too old or too young to go to Troy, and the suitors who are making a mess of Odysseus' home. The story is narrated by the goddess Hera, which I was initially surprised by but grew to love. Her snarky commentary on heroes and men was fun to read, and her love for the three Spartan queens of Greece (Penelope and her cousins Helen and Clytemnestra) provided a beautiful commentary on female power in an androcentric world. The book may seem oversaturated with too many characters, given Hera's bird's eye view of the world. However, I feel as though it fleshed out the universe and not only developed the world-building, but gave the story a Homeric feel. Overall, I enjoyed reading Ithaca, and I'm sure anyone who enjoys feminist retellings will love it as well.

Thank you so much Hachette Book Group for the ARC!

I have a Classics degree and have been steadily reading the many retellings of ancient myth and epic. This is among the best and most grisly and true. Delighted to include this title in the September instalment of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

I really enjoy Greek mythology inspired novels, so I was excited to read Ithaca by Claire North. Narrated by the goddess Hera, the story focuses on the challenges faced by Penelope, Queen of Ithaca. Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, who has been missing at sea for several years. With Odysseus’ throne vacant, Penelope faces the tricky responsibility of ruling the kingdom without appearing to rule at all. Meanwhile, the nobles are eager to declare Odysseus dead and maneuver to elevate their sons to the throne through a marriage to Penelope.

Hera, Goddess of Wives, makes for an interesting narrator. She watches over Penelope, who is dismissed as unimportant by the greater gods of Olympus. Hera’s language is casual, and her tone is cheeky with a bitter edge. She has a tendency to ramble a bit, interspersing stories from her own life as the wife of Zeus.

As women have little respect in Greek society, Hera, as the goddess of women, is given little respect on Olympus. But Hera and Penelope know the true strength and value of women. Taking advantage of the men’s neglect and assumptions about female weakness, Penelope is able to gather a network of spies and warriors to enact her own plans. These women do her bidding, and the men of her council are none the wiser.

Hera’s narration took a bit of getting used to in the beginning. Her somewhat rambling nature made it difficult to find the plot thread, and because she acts as an observer, I didn’t connect with the main characters until about halfway through the book. When the narrator is watching from afar, the characters and plot tend to remain at a distance from the reader.

But once I settled in, I enjoyed Penelope’s plotting and Hera’s feminist take on events. North’s descriptions of Ithaca were also strong, evoking an image of the kingdom as a backwater cousin to Mycenae and Sparta, weak with only young boys and old men for defense.

Readers familiar with Madeline Miller’s tale of Circe and Odysseus, may find special interest in the events back in Ithaca while he was gone. But all should find Claire North’s Ithaca a strong addition to the growing catalog of feminist mythological novels.

Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

What an incredible retelling. I think this may be my favorite mythological retelling. Beautiful writing and breathtaking scenes.

What a delightful surprise to have Hera as a narrator, too!

I have to admit that as much as I love Claire North, I had a hard time getting into this book. The prose style was slightly too removed to really connect easily with the characters, and I found that I had to kind of force myself through the beginning parts of the book. Once I got further in and got a better idea of what North was trying to do, the story was a bit easier to digest. Hera is a lovely narrator whose humor and observations add much to the story. I think that one of the reasons that I was taken off guard by the narrating device is that the book is billed as Penelope's story, but the use of Hera as narrator makes the story kind of one step removed from her.

This wasn't my favorite of Claire North's books, but it was unique and well written, and I will still be picking up the second book.

This book is brilliant. I have pretty high standards when it comes to greek mythology inspired books as I studied it in college so sort of prefer literature with a little bit more substance and story rather than just a blind spin on the stories that can be found in other works, and for me this was just spot on. Claire North's take on the female experience mixed with historical fiction is just top tier for me. In all honestly I find a lot of historical fiction hard to enjoy because I typically like reading books that will give me a bit of a brain break from school, but this book is just in my eyes perfect. Penelope is just such a perfect example as to why frail men are too scared to give strong women the opportunity to a narrative. Overall I could probably write a 5 page paper on why I love this book in connection to feminism, but I will end it will I will. happily read anything Claire North writes.

Ithaca is a story about Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, 18 years into his absence and 8 years into the Odyssey. I LOVE retellings of Greek myths and was very excited to see this one as I hadn't read any books that includes Penelope.

Oh man this book was boring. I liked the idea of Ithaca and Penelope being a leader of women for many years, but it moved slowly and was generally uninteresting. I'm not sure why this book is set 18 years after Odysseus leaves because not a lot happened around that time. I was really excited to read about a young Penelope and how she found her place ruling over Ithaca through the years. I think I would have preferred that time frame to the one present in the book.

Ithaca is narrated by Hera, who has a bird's eye view of all of the characters. That means that the subjects switch pretty frequently and for seemingly no reason. I truly can't remember any of the other characters besides Telemachus and Penelope and kept wishing for it to go back to them since I recognized the names. Hera is pretty bitter and this casts a hostile light over all of the other characters, which made the book more unpleasant. There is growth over time for her, but it certainly didn't come fast enough for me.

In general, I found the story very boring and it felt like a slog to get through. I read that there will be a second book and I'm interested to see what that one will be like. 2.65 stars rounded up to 3 from me. Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book!

I love Greek mythology and Greek mythology retellings and the recent trend of turning it on its feminist head is totally my jam. This story follows Odysseus' wife Penelope (you know, of the Odyssey fame) and the women of Ithaca who are left to take care of themselves when all the men leave to fight the Trojan war. Penelope is no dummy, unlike her over-eager not still a boy not yet a man son Telemachus. This story finally paints her as the strong and intelligent woman that she was, rather than a lovesick wife twiddling her fingers and waiting for her husband to return to her. Damn the man, Penelope is trying to save her people.

This story gets its humour from the snarky and sarcastic narration given by Hera, goddess of and protector of women. I did like how the author didn't just focus on Penelope's story but on the other women from The Iliad and The Odyssey as well. However, other readers may find the jump between characters a little hard to get into as the front end is a little heavy with characters/backstory.

On a scale of the feminist retellings I have recently read, this fell just under Circe (oh how I loved Circe) but above Ariadne and was on part with A Thousand Ships. A great read for fans of Greek mythology retellings- I really loved learning about these strong women of Ithaca.

ITHACA by Claire North is a retelling of the Odyssey but instead of following Odysseus, we get a glimpse into the lives of those he left behind while off galavanting on his quest. It has been 17 years since Odysseus left and as suspicion mounts that he has perished, his wife Penelope must carefully elude and delay suitors as they circle around Ithaca like sharks.

The story is narrated by Hera, queen of the Greek gods, and mostly focuses on Penelope, Clytemnestra (Helen of Troy's twin), and Elektra (Clytemnestra's daughter). I absolutely loved Hera's (North's) storytelling style fused with biting wit and quite frankly the most passages about farts than I ever expected in a book retelling a Greek myth.😂

I gobbled this story up and listening to the audio narrated by Catrin Walker-Booth was a real treat with her lovely cadence and the perfect non-chalance for Hera's voice.

I cannot get enough of these retellings from the female perspective! I would highly recommend this book if you like Greek myths, retellings, saucy and conniving characters, and generally seeing another potential perspective from the great myths.

Have you read any awesome feminist retellings lately?

Thank you to @netgalley, @hatchetteaudio and the author for the audio ARC.

(3.5/5 stars) I really wanted to like this book. But, it was so difficult to get through. The book is extremely slow and honestly uneventful. Although I enjoyed seeing the "behind the curtains" life of Odysseus on Ithaca, I struggled to find motivation to get through it. I really enjoyed the authors writing style, but the story itself dragged on. I'm not sure if the author intentionally wrote the story this way to depict how slow and uneventful life is on Ithaca. I was disappointed that the story didn't end with Odysseus, but that there is a second book coming out soon. Can't be sure if I'll read book two. Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher, and the author for a copy of this book.