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⭐️ 4.5/5

📚 “The gods can’t find you here.”

“As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten.”

👍🏼 Greek mythology retelling from titular character POV. The Greek myths always laid the heroic actions of the male heroes, but they were actually terrible people. It was interesting to see the events leading up to, and after, the Trojan War from Clytemnestra’s POV. She definitely gave off Cercei Lannister vibes, but in the best way. Her life was nothing but tragedy, but she refused to bend. In a world run by men, she successfully ran the kingdom of Mycenae for nearly 10 years in Agamemnon’s absence. The entire story was interwoven with depictions of harshness, desolation, and downright sadness. However, where the story left off in her life was surprisingly hopeful.
Thank you netgalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for and honest review :)

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

3.5/5 stars: This is a take on the tale of Clytemnestra, daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, wife to Agammemnon, sister to Helen, and Princess of Sparta and the events of her life.

I honestly did not remember much about her specifically since it has been ages since I last took a mythology course, but after reading the summary, I was excited to read this. There were appearances from many (more familiar/"mainstream" Greek heroes/heroines, and so pieces began falling back into place as I read. The events of this story unravel over Clytemnestra's life and are both interesting and tragic, describing well how Clytemnestra earns her titles: warrior, mother, huntress, etc.

The pacing throughout felt odd to me, with the beginning dragging (until the events of her romance with Tantalus), and the narrative also dragging/becoming a bit more fractured in the last third. I think the biggest obstacle for me to become fully immersed in the story was also the tense; this was written in more or less present tense, which was just irritating enough for me to be aware of it the entire time, and thus, fairly often wondering why it was told in this way vs. past tense. I know that's a minor point but it is something that kept me from investing quite as much in this as I could have.

That said, it is a good story although Clytemnestra isn't generally a heroine I would have considered as such. As a debut, this is decent and I would consider reading other works by this author.

What I love most in this retelling of Clytemnestra's life and myth is that it doesn't go out of its way to punish her, but rather allows her to be a morally complex character in her own right. Everyone who knows mythology knows the basics of Clytemnestra: sister of Helen, wife of Agamemnon, and mother to the sacrificed Iphigenia. It's known that she murdered Agamemnon upon his return from Troy due to his murder of their daughter. But what this retelling does is show who Clytemnestra was before and after the most traumatic events of her life.

I loved seeing her go from a hopeful and lovelorn young woman to a mother who has seen countless tragedies and has to find a way to live through them. Every action she takes, while not the most healthy obviously, make complete sense for her and how she was raised to take action. You also get a greater understanding of the people around her, including Penelope, Helen, Electra, and countless other female characters who round out the experiences of Clytemnestra.

If you're a big fan of Circe, you're going to really enjoy this retelling and I can't wait to see more from this author.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book because I LOVE retellings and reinterpretations of Greek myth. I am also a staunch Agamemnon hater, so this book was perfect for me. I think that this retelling works well with the source material and expands on Clytemnestra’s point of view in a nice way. Clytemnestra’s rage was palpable and you could easily follow her thoughts as she shifted through emotions. The writing is beautiful and I found myself highlighting so many quotes as I read either because of the beauty in the prose or because of the profound statements that were made. This book is easy to follow if you don’t already know the myth of Clytemnestra or the Trojan War, but having an understanding of them helps contextualize the events. Overall, this is a solid take on the myth of the Trojan War, and I will be adding a physical copy of this book to my collection when the book is released.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone, especially fans of Greek mythology retellings.

What I loved:
1. The telling of Helen of Troys sister, Clytemnestra - her "side of the story" is one we haven't seen in this light before.
2. A strong female protagonist who loves fiercely and brings her rage to those who betray her.
3. The writing is beautiful and brings you face to face with the harsh and beautiful time/place of Clytemnestra.

What I wished were different:
1. Felt like it could have been 50 pages shorter.
2. Lots of characters - wondered if we needed to have all of them developed as they were.

Releases March 7, 2023

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark and Net Galley for the advance copy of this novel!

Whew. The world of Ancient Greece is full of blood, drama, cruelty, and did I mention it’s a veritable soap opera? This one was hard for me - I don’t read much set in Ancient Greece, so I don’t feel like I was ready for the brutality. It took me a bit to settle into that. But if you like that sort of thing, this is a good read. I enjoyed the literary history lesson, and I definitely went on a deep dive about a lot of the characters afterward.

This was such an interesting retelling of the story of Clytemnestra! It was wonderfully written and fully gave credit to the powerful women in this story. Even though this story is not told from a single person's point of view, the author is able to create a well rounded picture of each character, as well as the story as a whole.

Clytemnestra, sister of Helen, grew up in Sparta where women are treated as equals and taught to fight. As she chose her own husband, and father of her child, Agamemnon decides he wants her for himself. Enduring tragedy, leaving her homeland and ruling Myncae while Agamemnon is fighting to bring down Troy, Clytemnestra is vengeful, resourceful, and patient. She does everything for her children, and in the end, was it the right decision?

I've only read a handful of Greek mythology books and this by far is my favorite. Spread over the entire course of Clytemnestra's early life and through the end of the Trojan war, I couldn't help but feel for her.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

I did try reading Clytemnestra, but ended up not enjoying it, thus getting about 40% through and finally DNF.

Clytemnestra is interesting book. I am giving it 4 out 5 stars. I enjoyed reading this novel however it loses a star due to it dragging in the begging of the novel and the way it was written in third person present tense making it a difficult read. The book centers from the view point of Clytemnestra who is a women who is met with much grief in her life, and focuses on her relationship with her family. her sister happens to be Helen of Troy, but the book does not center about the war of troy. instead it centers around our main character who is abused at the hands of her husband. She does become centered in her rage , and his her want of vengeance to guide most of her decisions in the story. It truly capture's a lot of complex feeling for the mains character, as she loves her children she has, even if they came from a monster. It shows that you can overcome terror in your life. It is one of those powerful novels about moral grey areas, and gives a good view of a minor character of the Trojan war. I think it is a must read even though it is initially very hard to get into.

I was given this novel in exchange for my honest review from Net Galley.

Clytemnestra was absolutely fantastical! Casati wrote a story that was so well written I found myself flying through the pages, unable to put the book down, pondering what would happen next. My favorite piece of this entire story was how believable the characters were.

The writing is clear and clean, and very immersive. The book hums along at a good clip, but the pacing makes sure we're given time to breathe between plot-intensifying moments. The story was absolutely engaging and the work that went into the settings was noticeable and superb. I felt absolutely transported and I'm so incredibly glad I was able to read an arc of this story.

Clytemnestra, as the style makes clear, is another entry in the ever-growing genre of Greek myth retellings. Casati does a nice job here of creating tension even within a well-known tale, and has several quite moving scenes, though the book’s somewhat flat style and — for me at least — odd choice of where to end, places it more in the middle tier of similar works.

After some a welcome family tree and large cast of characters that also serves to refresh a few details (who raped whom, who cooked whose kids and served them as dinner — all the Greek classics), the narrative opens with a young Clytemnestra alone in the forest in a predator-prey faceoff with a lynx. Since it’d be a pretty short novel otherwise, it’s no spoiler to say she’s the one walking away with a carcass. The scene does a nice job of displaying her abilities, will, and the dance she’ll be dancing for most of her life going forward. It also foreshadows in some of its other details as well, but those events I won’t spoil.

From there we move onto her youth in Sparta, in the court of her father Tyndareus and her mother Leda, along with her siblings Helen (though some say Zeus not Tyndareus is her father while other parental rumors are more worldly), the twins Castor and Polydeuces, Timandra, Phoebe, and Philonoe. Their cousin Penelope also plays a role in the tale. Clytemnestra and Helen are quite close, though things begin to change as potential marriages begin to arise on the horizon. Clytemnestra, much to her surprising pleasure, ends up courted by King Tantalus; Penelope is happy to be wed to Odysseus, while Helen chooses Menelaus despite Clytemnestra and Penelope’s warnings about both him and his brother Agamemnon.

As anyone familiar with Greek mythology knows (spoilers for the millennia-old stories), happiness and peace are short-lived, as Agamemnon eventually kills Clytemnestra’s husband and child and forces her to become his wife instead. The story takes us through her ongoing relationships with her siblings and then with her children Orestes, Electra, and Iphigenia. Then, of course, Helen is taken by Paris off to Troy, leading to even more tragedy for Clytemnestra, though ironically Agamemnon’s absence while he’s off commanding the Greek army for a decade gives her more power than she has ever or will ever have. Eventually she meets up with Aegisthus, with whom she plots her revenge on Agamemnon. The book closes with her husband’s death.

As noted, Casati does a nice job even with the highly familiar beats of the story, carving out scenes of originality and crafting strongly realized characters such that expected scenes, such the death of Iphigenia still carry a good amount of emotional weight, at least where Clytemnestra is concerned. Other characters are a bit more mixed in their depth and thus the impact of scenes focused more on them than the title character. Electra’s response to things toward the end, for instance, felt somewhat rushed into matching what we know happens in the original tales.

As is typically the case in these retellings, what is often glorified or glossed over in the myths (violence, rape, etc.) is cast in a less flattering (or neutral) light. As when, for instance, a very young Helen is kidnapped and raped by Theseus, Tyndareus says they can’t go to war with powerful Athens for “such a reason,” a phrasing that infuriates both Clytemnestra and her brother Polydeuces. Even more so when Tyndareus waves off their anger, noting “Theseus is a hero, and he does what heroes do.” So much for being covered in glory. Agamemnon and his brother come off as mostly brutes, Calchas the seer a manipulative, ice-cold killer of women and children; and even “wise” Odysseus is portrayed as clever, yes, but to sometimes appalling ends.

While Casati does at times turn a nice phrase and employ some vivid detail, overall there was a flatness to some of the prose and narrative that distanced me from the book somewhat. I also felt at times the writing was bit too overt, where I would have preferred picking up on things without them being revealed by the interior narrative or sometimes the dialog. Finally, I felt a bit mystified by choosing to end the story so soon after Agamemnon’s death, with so much dramatic potential left on the table. And the more or less triumphant (only partially so, admittedly) close feels more than a little odd given what I assume most of her readers knows is coming.

We’ve seen a run of these sorts of stories, to greater and lesser extent. While Clytemnestra doesn’t match the best in this genre, such as Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls or Madeline Miller’s Circe, it’s a worthy entry into the field with a strongly conceived character as its central strength.

Mythology comes alive with the telling of Clytemnestra's story. The lives of Spartan women are detailed. Power is taken and in this case by a woman! Different stories are intertwined and family dynamics are fleshed out. All in all a vivid telling of ancient history. Thank you for a chance to read this debut novel.

For fans of Circe and A Thousand Ships, Clymtemnestra is another masterful Greek retelling focusing on the notorious queen of Mycenae, wife of Agamemnon. Casati brings this story alive exploring complex characters, powerful women, sibling relationships, injustice, and revenge. Her writing is accessible, even for those who do not know all the Greek myths. I highly recommend Clytemnestra!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.

Thank you to NetGalley & Sourcebooks for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

I was a big fan of Madeline Miller's Circe, so I was really excited for this novel to come out. The premise and reviews seemed great, and I really loved that it started off with a family tree because I was definitely a little bit confused. However, I found a lot of the passages really beautiful, and this was probably one of my more highlighted texts on my kindle just due to how much imagery there was. I do think, though, that this book did not click with me as much due to just the pacing of the novel overall. I did really appreciate some of the themes, but over time they began to seem a little more dragged on than I had wished for. I think for a debut novel, Casati did a great job, and I definitely am looking forward to more works by her.

(3.75/5)

This debut novel reads like the author has polished and published a dozen novels. This story of the Greek queen, Clytemnestra, really brings to life the period of the Spartans and the Trojans with all of the intrigue and bloodiness included. Even though Clytemnestra is remembered as heartless and scheming, here her motivations are explored and the reader supports her in her desire for retribution. The author did a fabulous job dealing with all of the characters so that I was never confused about who was who.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC to read and review.

I love anything to do with Greek mythology, now I am not a savant of it in any way but I do know my fair share. Clytemnestra is not someone that I have heard ever referrred to in anything that I have read. She almost reminds me of Hera, Clytemnestra has no forgiveness in her heart once she is wronged and she is wronged many many times in this novel. Her sister however is the infamous Helen of Troy who feels as though she lives in the shadow of her older sister. In this story we hear of Agamemnonn, who Clytemnestra is forced to marry after he brutally disposes of her Husband and Child while her Father the King sits back and allows it. On this day an anger and thirst for vengenance grows within her heart and she is more than happy to cultivate it. Costanza Casati brings Clytemnestra alive in a wonderful way, pulling you into the world of this strong, brutal woman. I found this book to be very intriguing and loved being wisked away.

Thank you #NetGalley for letting me read the eArc of #Clytemnestra by #CostanzaCasati in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me access to this arc! I was really excited for this because I feel like the tell of Clytemnestra gets forgotten and put on the back burner quite often and I felt that the author was able to breathe new life into this story. This story felt raw and real and it will be staying with me for a while. I found this to be really well written and my attention never drifted while reading this. I believe that Casati is a great storyteller.

I generally love the retellings of Greek mythology, and this was no exception. I know Clytemnestra as the sister of Helen of Troy and the wife of Agamemnon and was intrigued to read more about her. This story really dug deep into her life starting with childhood, her tragic first marriage, and the heartbreaking events that shaped her life. It also shows the strength that manifests from grief and how hatred fuels revenge. I did feel everything from the Trojan war to the end was a bit rushed and I wished to learn more about Aegisthos and his motivations. But overall, this was a fantastic debut novel and I'm looking forward to more from Costanza Casati. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

The teaser states that Clytemnestra is "the most notorious villainess of the ancient world." Clearly my knowledge of ancient history is lacking - I've never heard of her. But I know of her sister, her husband, her daughter...and Clytenmestra's story is fascinating. The author takes what we know of this queen and creates a complex character who I loved, hated, pitied, and celebrated.

I will caution readers to stay off of Google while reading - if you don't remember your ancient Greek history, let Casati tell it to you.