Clytemnestra is a new look at rhe Helen of Troy myth and instead of focusing on the boring Helen, we instead focus on her lesser known sister, Clytemnestra and her struggles through life cleaning up her sisters mess along with the rest of her family. Casati takes the Greek myth, removes the gods and divine intervention to humanize the story and it truly works. Casati truly breaks down Clytemnestra character and why she is one of the fiercest warrior queen's and mother's in the Greek mythos.

Let me repeat that: there is no gods in a Greek myth reinterpretation and it still works as a story. And the writing totally makes sense as to why the characters believe the gods meddle in their lives while actively showing other characters operations and how most of the events were not godly. And the story still works! I have yet to see that in a reinterpretation of books like these.

While I see many already saying there are no redeemable characters in this book, I truly feel sorry for Clytemnestra and truly understand her pain, rage, and the hunt for her own justice for all the horrible hands she has been dealt for in her life as a mother and truly feel for her.

Overall Clytemnestra is definitely on my must read list and I highly recommend you read it too, especially if you were a Percy Jackson kid.

Special thanks to NetGalley for an ARC!

Clytemnestra
By Costanza Casati

Clytemnestra is a princess, her mother, the queen. She comes and goes from the castle, behaves as all children do, seeking adventure outdoors. Helena of Sparta is her sister but still, Clytemnestra is the adventuress readers will want to know in this tale of an ancient heroine who has many objectives to overcome in her life. This book highlights them all, making it a read you aren’t able to put down, non-stop action on every page. Despite the fact the movement in the book, much of the action is dramatic, does not stop the fact that it comes to the girl, then woman, at a pace and and all would be overwhelmed. But, Clytemnestra holds her head high and prevails in it all, however the events play out. This woman, definitely a Spartan worthy of her own telling, tale, and book. Constansa Casati wrote it, simply titled, Clytemnestra.

Her sister, in youth, remarks that as a man, she would be one of the strongest fighters in Greece. Clytemnestra, knowing she must be the cleverest of all to prevail, working hard to make herself so. And the story of her parents are very important to the girl, her heritage, reminding her forever of where she came from and what she carries in her veins, not just the royalty, but the strength, endurance, and fortitude to be great, the greatest of all others. The girls are thought to be born from a mortal mother and a god but their father, King Tyndareus, loving their mother for her fierceness, doubts Helen (her sister) as his child.

Clytemnestra’s family is quite large, full of many brothers and sisters. They are all loved, all except Helen, by the King, as he thinks Leda (Helen and Clytemnestra’s mother) had taken with another man to beget this daughter. The rumors, stories, tales and jokes do not help the matter. But, whatever may come of this, whatever of the future, the sisters are close and nothing will part them. Will that always remain true? Their grandmother Gorgophone would tell them that they would be remembered, throughout history, over their brothers, their family, a dynasty of queens. Will that be true? Will both sisters be remembered?

The girl has learned much in her training, wrestling the Spartiates throughout her youth. This is part of her training as a Spartan, as part of the royal house, as a girl. The Spariates are the daughters of the best and noblest houses of the warriors of Sparta. They are to train with the commoners until they start a family. King Tyndareus oversees the training and fights and when Helen is challenged for her first fight, Clytemnestra has to do something that is against the rules, something never done. While royalty may burn, rape, steal, and kill as they like the only thing forbidden to them is to hurt a noble person. Will Clytemnestra always break the rules? But, will she only do that for those she loves?

A smart girl, growing into a woman, Clytemnestra disagrees with a glorious death over being shamed. The decision in living is what, I think, makes her a woman now, rather than a girl. Being alive is the only way to make it through life, as in death, there is nothing, you are gone and only a story remains, however victorious, or glorious it may be, only words whispered from anothers mouth. Better to be there to go on, seize the next day, and have a mighty victory for a glorious, long life. This thought, however, separates her from many of the other Spartans. How will Clytemnestra’s different ways of thinking about things (however smarter they may seem) create victories, or disasters, for her in the future?

In Costanza Casati’s story, we find all the good traits of a great woman, a wise woman, a worthy woman and readers need to read about this lesser told Spartan who we should have heard just as much, if not more than, her well known sister Helena. There is alot to enjoy, in Clytemnestra a book readers simply won’t want to put down, or, be able to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmarks for this ARC. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to read and reviews this fantastic work. This was such a well done work on a complicated character. I thought the story did a stellar job of making these characters relatable. I don’t think I have enough positive words for this work. It was heart wrenching, and beautiful. I could not recommend this more to people who have read myths and myth retelling. Casati took on such a difficult character and absolutely smashed it.

Thanks so much to Sourcebooks Landmark books and Costanza Casati for an ARC copy of this title in exchange for an honest review. 5/5 I absolutely loved this book. The writing was captivating, the story was vibrant, and Clytemnestra was written so well. She is relatable, but seemingly untouchable. Flawed but strong. The whole story was just written so beautifully. This ranks right up there with the books I’ve read by Madeline Miller, and I’m sure this book will stick in my brain for years. Casati’s writing is poetic and lovely yet very readable. This is an outstanding debut and I can’t wait to read more from her in the future.

Knowing how Clytemnestra's story ends, I found it both heartbreaking and captivating to read about her journey to said end. Casati's Clytemnestra is a monumental tale worthy of the complex, enigmatic, and very human woman at the center of it. Casati maintains the atmosphere and epicness of Greek myth while giving voice to figures long left voiceless.

Reading this was empowering and gut-wrenching, and (as mythology retellings often do) has made me ponder the concept of history and who gets to tell their story and who decides what makes a hero. Fans of Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint will love this haunting, tragic masterpiece.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing a digital copy of Clytemnestra in exchange for an honest review. Clytemnestra will hit shelves March 7, 2023.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this amazing book. Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati is a retelling of the ancient Queen of Mycenae. Clytemnestra has a poor reputation in Greek mythology, known only as the evil wife that killed her husband, Agememnon, and took his cousin as a lover when Agamemnon was away at war. In Casati’s retelling, Clytemnestra is so much more than that.
This story is beautifully written and paced incredibly well. Clytemnestra’s character is so fleshed out and so well written that as you read you find yourself relating to her and feeling all of her feelings. The rage and anger she has sheds through the pages and you begin to feel angry for her. I am constantly looking for books that let me feel the character’s emotions and root for them and this did just that. I adored this book and would recommend it to anyone.

Book friends have I got a Greek Mythological recommendation for you!

If you are a fan of Madeline Miller or Jennifer Saint, then make sure to add Costanza Casati to the list be Clytemnestra is a novel you won’t want to miss.

Whenever you think of Greek Mythology your mind may take you down the rabbit hole of gods and goddesses, the “hero's” poets have written into legend. More often than not, in the past that is, the women are left in the margins or are completely erased. But the epic poets have long been dead, and their stories to patriarchal to consume.

Give me a story that frames female characters in a humanistic and feminist way and publishers are guaranteed a preorder from this reader. And Casati’s Clytemnestra is a sweeping force of a novel. Brimming with vengeance, a mother’s wrath, and political intrigue, Casati tells a story about the women of Greece and one woman in particular who would not be forgotten.

With beautifully written prose from beginning to end, Casati’s Clytemnestra embodies the Furies themselves in this mesmerizing tale of a mother, monarch, and murderer.

Go preorder this book.

Happy Reading ~ Cece

Me? Giving a Greek Mythology retelling two stars? Say it isn't so!

Sadly, it is. This is one book I was hyped for, because Saint's Elektra also dealt with Clytemnestra. I've always loved her as a character in the stories, so I was REALLY hoping that Casati would bring something new to the table for this character. It wasn't to be.

The first issue I had was the writing. I felt it was a very jarring writing style, and it wasn't working for me. I struggled because it felt very boring. Even when you know what is going to happen, there are ways to make the characters dynamic and intersting. And I didn't feel that was the case here. I didn't care about them at all. There are some terribly sad scenes in this book, but I wasn't moved by them.

It was very much a disorganized book and it jumped around quite a bit. It lacked depth and interest to me.

Surprisingly for me, I didn't mind the ending. But I felt that the rest of the book was so weak it couldn't hold the book up on it's own.

4.5

I am knocking off half a star because I felt that the book was rushed and skipped a lot of important pieces once the war started, but ultimately I really enjoyed hearing about how Clytemnestra ended up in Mycenae. I’ve never read an account including Tantalus and her son before and I appreciated the layers it added to her story. It shed light on how she came to despise Agamemnon. I read Elektra by Jennifer Saint this year, and it made it hard to see why Clytemnestra did what she did - this telling portrays everyone as more likeable and nuanced.

Something else I LOVED was how this telling included mention of the gods, but you never see them or even see real proof of their existence. The gods are used to explain strange circumstances and encourage sacrifices, belief, etc — but I truly liked that they never make appearances and there is nothing more to the characters lives than the belief (or lack of) in the gods.

Thank you to NG for this ARC!

There's no better time than now to read this book. In the era of the overturning of Roe v Wade, I've found myself drawn to stories about female independence and triumph. Casati takes a long-forgotten woman in history and brings her back to life in this extraordinary book. In the BookTok world, we'd call Clytemnestra a woman entering her villain era. Honestly, after everything she went through, I don't blame her! No spoilers, but the quote "I support women's rights but, more importantly, I support women's wrongs" has never been more applicable than with this book.

Clytemnestra joins the ranks of mythological women getting their story told. For the most part I enjoyed it. However it did drag on at some points and had weird moments of flashbacks that weren’t fully clarified as flashbacks imo. It does gives some agency to women in mythology but it was a little too “girlboss” for me.

Overall, if you like Circe, Adrianne, Elektra, and other Greek myth retellings you will like this!

I really enjoyed this telling of the story of Clytemnestra. Other books I've read haven't gone as deeply into her childhood and training as a warrior. I appreciated learning about that aspect of Clytemnestra's life.

Clytemnestra is a masterpiece. I've been searching for the feeling I get when reading Madeline Miller's books, but nothing has compared until I read Costanza Casati's new novel. Clytemnestra, princess of Sparta, sister of Helen, warrior, mother, and Queen of Mycenae, was an incredible character and a joy to follow. At its core, Clytemnestra is the revenge story of powerful women. This novel has solid and overt feminist themes.
I recommend it to anyone who enjoys feminist theory, myth, retellings, or wants to be sucked into an engaging story with a beloved central character. I can't wait to see what Constanza Casati does next.

As with most Greek Myths, this book contains trigger warnings for violence and rape.

Huge thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks, and Costanza Casati for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Clytemnestra is an engrossing work of historical fiction. The novel is beautifully written, and features such compelling characterization, that I read it in one sitting.


The plot: Clytemnestra is an infamous figure in Greek mythology, but often known solely in relation to her actions against her “hero” husband Agamemnon. This novel traces Clytemnestra’s life since her Spartan childhood, growing up alongside the golden Helen (later, of Troy.) Clytemnestra’s complex character is brought to life, showing her intelligence, strength, and force of will - plus, of course, her tendency to violence. We see her grow from adolescence to her promising marriage to the intriguing foreigner Tantalus, rooting for her despite her flaws as she enters motherhood. When tragedy strikes in a blink, Clytemnestra is torn from this happy season of life, betrayed by her father to become the reluctant bride of Agamemnon. From there, misfortune continues to befall her throughout her journey to become the ruling queen of Mycenae.

My perspective: This book made me feel so many things. The writing was incredibly beautiful, and felt fresh despite nods to lyrical mythology. As an English student and frequent reader of Greek mythology, I learned new things due to the characterization Casati brought to familiar figures. Clytemnestra, Helen, and their others sisters (such as Timandra) were fully explored rather than portrayed as the one dimensional archetypes we typically see them as. I loved this book and read it in one sitting! My only constructive criticism is that the time jumps for Clytemnestra felt rushed - I would like to have seen more from her, for example, right after Iphigenia’s death. I felt we mostly saw her years later after the wound was not as incredibly fresh, missing some of her immediate emotional journey afterward. Overall, I highly recommend this novel and can’t wait to see what Casati writes next!

Thank you Costanza Casati and Sourcebooks Landmark this ARC!

#Clytemnestra #NetGalley.

A great read on my thematic groove of mythology reading. Clytemnestra was a strong novel of a flawed, clear-minded heroine handling the life she was dealt with in a way I'm sure many can relate to. Some heroines I'd enjoy being friends with while in this case, Clytemnestra is one that I would deeply respect though not necessarily befriend.

The patience she had throughout the course of her life is something to be admired. Knowing how her story ends in general made her life story all the more fascinating from her childhood as sister of Helen to wife of Agamemnon and mother of Iphigenia. The commonalities of her mother Leda with her own story felt circular and similar in terms of a mother/daughter relationship.

There were a few narratively lose moments for me; understanding this is a debut novel makes me look forward to more of Casati's writing.

Even though I have always been a sucker for Greek mythology, I had no idea who Clytemnestra was before reading this book. Early on, the only character I recognized was “Helen of Troy,” but I had never given much thought to what occurred before she took on that title. Until reading this novel, I had no idea what went on outside of the infamous war. And I think not knowing the events that led up to that war kept me invested in this story. Beginning with her childhood in the palace of Sparta, you get a good feel for the environment Clytemnestra, Helen, and their siblings grew up in and the impact their upbringing played on their lives later on. Clytemnestra especially is the product of the people around her and what has been done to her.

The way Clytemnestra is presented throughout this story makes it impossible to not root for her. She spends most of her life at the whims of others in the worst possible way, but her strength and, for a lack of a better way to describe it, just pure rage allowed her to keep her feet underneath her despite all of that. Her resilience is inspiring. She is far from perfect, and it is easy to see how she could be turned into a villain.

I greatly enjoyed how Casati presents a timeless story through the lens of an often hated character. If you enjoyed books like Miller's Circe and The Song of Achilles, this book is right up your alley. I greatly enjoyed Clytemnestra’s journey and look forward to doing some more research on such an interesting character.

I liked the story of Aeschylus's Agamemnon which was pretty much the extent of my knowledge about Clytemnestra, so I was pretty excited to read this! I liked Clytemnestra as a character and Agamemnon's cruelty is so vicious so I was curious to see how Casati's retelling would go.

While this was rather slow-moving and the pacing didn't work out for me, I loved diving deep into Clytemnestra's character history, especially her early life and her relationship with her sister Helen. Agamemnon was just as vicious as I remembered and it makes for a powerful story about the capability of women's power. The second half, and especially the last quarter, I started to feel like I was losing my grasp on the story. But I think the last couple of chapters were great!

I'd recommend this if you're looking for another Greek mythology retelling focused on women in the mythos, revenge, and justice.

Since I'm a sucker for anything Greek mythology, I instantly added this to my TBR and was very excited for it. Sadly, it was a bit of a letdown.

As familiar with Greek mythology as I am, I was waiting to see some expansion of Clytemnestra's story that I didn't already know. She'd been wronged, she hated Agamemnon, she plotted against her husband - these were all things that I knew, and I kept waiting to see if Casati would add any interesting twists to Clytemnestra's story. She didn't. This read like an account of what happened exactly, according to the myth, and I didn't pick up a novel to rehash a story I already knew. (This was one of my main issues with another Greek retelling, Ariadne.)

Clytemnestra certainly was not portrayed as a hero, but barely anything she did made me support her. I did at times, but that was because everyone around her was even worse.

There are random time jumps that occur throughout the book. They're always placed right after tragedies and frankly seem like a cop-out to portraying Clytemnestra's grief.

Clytemnestra survives, but I honestly don't see her being the clever princess and queen that everyone calls her. The only thing she kind of did was throw Aegisthus in the dungeon to trick Agamemnon. I suppose I was also meant to think her clever when she deduced Aegisthus' identity instantly, but seeing as I figured it out the moment he appeared, I wasn't as impressed. Clytemnestra also barely manages to kill Agamemnon, and I was left feeling confused that her plan was simply to stab him. Hadn't she already tried that once?

Lastly, I felt cheated by the ending. In the myth, Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon as revenge for Iphigenia, and is thus killed by Orestes to avenge his father. In this book, Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon, becomes reigning queen of Mycenae, and the curtain falls. She's triumphant. She gets everything she's been working towards. The only hint is Electra spitefully telling her mother that Orestes will kill her for this, but seeing as the author tried to get us to dislike Electra, I don't think it's meant to carry much weight. (As a side note - I thought it was funny when Electra first says "Agamemnon treated all of his children the same" and then later says "Agamemnon made her feel special.")

Clytemnestra doesn't win like that in the myth, and I found it distasteful to end the novel pretending she doesn't die by the hand of her son. Yes, it's retelling, and yes, it's a work of fiction, but Electra is right, and the themes of familial (especially fatherly) loyalty were established early on.

I might pick up another book from this author, depending on the synopsis.

Clytemnestra is the daughter of the king of Sparta, the sister of the infamous Helen. When her husband Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter to the gods in return for fair winds, she begins to plot against him - for this is by far not the first ill he's dealt her.

I thought Clytemnestra was an odd choice as heroine, even within the recent trend of novels centering women in Greek mythology - but I read this book because I was excited to see how it would be done.

Clytemnestra is immediately established as a compelling heroine, as despite her perspective on events being way off center from the usual narrative of the Iliad. The author did a really good job of making the reader throw their lot in with Clytemnestra and feel that the things she does are inevitable considering how she has been wronged. Despite the book being crowded with fascinating characters, Clytemnestra holds center stage.

However, I did think the story began to crumble in the second half, as we move onto the events of Iphigenia in Aulis and Agamemnon's return. There are large time skips in this section, and I did not understand why we didn't see much of a change in her perspective despite the long periods missing - it was as though her character did not develop off screen.

Huge thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks and Costanza Casati for this ARC. I read this book at the tail end of a mythology binge, and I loved this one. This book is all about Clytemnestra’s story, from details of her childhood in Sparta, all the way up through the end of the Trojan war. I went into this book knowing a lot about this story and specifically the women of the Trojan war. Even though I knew the story, the artistic take on this story still left me surprised and on the edge of my seat. I felt so emotionally attached to the story and every scene, even though I already knew the ending, which is something so special and so hard to do. I specifically loved how much of the book was focused on Clytemnestra’s life and childhood in Sparta. In my personal life, my mother told me and my sister stories of the strong and powerful women in Spartan lore. So reading more about the Spartans in this book really touched me in a way that I felt connected to the stories from my own mother. This book was powerful, emotional and empowering. I loved this take on Clytemnestra’s story and would recommend this to anyone who wants to read more Greek mythology.
(4,5 stars rounded up)