Absolutely incredible - the story itself (I vaguely knew it), the retelling of it and the writing. When I saw a recommendation, saying for fans of Madeline Miller (Circe, Song of Achilles), I was like ok - that’s a tall comparison. But it was so accurate!

It is a heavy read, as it is a feminist retelling of a myth that has always painted the woman, Queen Clytemenstra, in a very unfavorable light. But that woman SUFFERED. And with Casati’s telling, I can absolutely see the reason she made the choices she did.

Cannot recommend enough.

I originally DNF’d this book. I tried twice to get into it and didn’t make it but a few chapters in. Then I read another book that mentioned Clytemnestra and I decided to give it one more try.

The third times the charm! I finally finished the book. Also, instead of trying to read the ebook, I listened to the audiobook this time. It definitely helped and made it feel like it wasn’t as long. (That is one of my complaints in reading it vs listening. Reading it felt like it was never ending)

This book will make you feel a lot of emotions. Including anger. What some of the women in Greek mythology go through is just awful.

I did feel like this one had some confusing moments. Time jumps that threw me off. I think this would be one I would refer to someone who really enjoys Greek mythology and is more familiar with it than I am.

I loved this dang book. Yes, a few times it was slow moving and at first all the dang weird names had me confused but who cares? IT WAS the BEST!

<i>Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review</i>

This is perfect for fans of Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint. I think soon enough lyrical myth retellings centering women will have the tagline "perfect for fans of Costanza Casati." Casati has forged a delightful entry into the myth retelling subgenre. I am excited to read about the women she will recenter in future works.

Clytemnestra is such a fascinating story and I enjoyed Casati's approach to a heavy and busy tale. There are so many details and layers within Homer's works that get left out due its centering and I enjoyed reading the gaps get filled in and really wade through Clytemnestra's feminine rage alongside her.

This historical fiction was a very good read. The writing and story kept me intrigued. Will be recommending it in my bookclub.

While I enjoy the fact that we are getting more Greek retellings with Greek Heroines this one was not my favorite. But I still enjoyed it, and I hope to see more Greek retellings in the future.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebook Landmark for an E-arc copy of Clytemnestra. I love Costanza Casati's portrayal of Clytemnestra. Not only is this book about her but Helen and Penelope are important characters in the story as well. When one reads about Clytemnestra, it's filled with a scorned woman filled with hatred. She is the murderess of her husband with the help of her love who is related to him and nothing more. Helen is just this ethereal looking mortal who launched a thousand ships and helped cause many to die. Penelope was the faithful wife of the warrior Odyessus waiting for him to come home. But in this story, theyre so much more. Clytemnestra and Helen are provided with backstories, childhood, and more. They are so much more than the myths tell us. The girls are spartan warriors who know how to fight, they are cunning women. Clytemnestra is an amazing character.

I knew very little of her and read this story with a fresh mind. I was astounded to read that Clytemnestra might have had a husband before Agamemnon, and what befallen the first family she created. The Spartan women aren't seen or raised as weak women. They are a united front, they reminded me of Amazons, safe for the fact that when theyre married off theyre expected to act dutiful and docile. What happened to Clytemnestra, what caused her to do what she did was justified with the heinous acts Agamemnon has done. I've said before when I read "Elektra" By Jennifer Saint that I was a Clytemnstra apologist, and I still stand by my statement. She hasn't done any wrong in a men-dominated world.

I loved reading this book and I hope Casati makes more retellings of women behind the myths. I have no doubt it will be as great as this story. The writing was beautiful. When introduced to the next part of the story you read a small introduction. The first one really invites you into the story, wanting to read more because what's said is so true.

Where do I even begin with this book? Costanza Casati is definitely going to the author who gets me to read more books set in this time period. I find that in many of these books, many authors go into too much detail but she gave the perfect amount. Just enough to set the scene and then let the interactions speak for themselves. I recommend this book to everyone now. Can't wait to see what she does with book number 2!

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

I'm going through a bit of a fictional mythology phase right now, so this book played right into that. Clytemnestra is a character that I was not familiar with at all prior to reading this book, but now I feel like I know her whole life story. And while I realize this is fiction, I'm fairly certain that mythology as we know it is also fiction that only loosely resembles events as they actually happened. And honestly, this is probably a more realistic version of events as they happened because it doesn't feel so mythical.

This book was a little dense in places, and it was definitely painful at times. Life was particularly painful for women in Ancient Greece, especially Sparta, even when they are the favored child of the king. There were a few times while I was reading that I need to step away from the book for something a little lighter to bring my mood back up before I could dive back in.

If you enjoy mythology retellings, this is definitely one you'll want to read, and it was a great debut novel. Overall I give this book 4.32 out of 5 stars.

*Hey Alexa, play Vilagante Shit, I Did Something Bad, and Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift*

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Welcome to Ancient Greece and meet Clytemnestra and how the events shaped her into becoming a legendary queen. When it comes to being a queen, she knows too well that you are either hated or forgotten. Clytemnestra is plotting her revenge for those who crossed her because she did not deserve this life. So, she will take it out on the tyrant who murdered her husband, on those who sacrificed her child, and for those who tried to keep her silent and be the good little, meek woman she should have been. She knows that sometimes you have to rise and gain the power you want and crave.

I want to be like Buddy the Elf when he is spinning around saying, "I'm in love, I'm in love, and I do not care who knows it" and that is because I am wholly and unconditionally in love with this book. It was so freaking beautiful and encapsulating.

I could not stop reading this book because I just needed to know more Clytemnestra and everything that was going on in her life and her reactions to everything.

Costanza Casati does an amazing job on how she crafted Clytemnestra and her prose. I felt Clytemnestra's sorrows, griefs, frustrations, happiness, and her burning rage and due to all those emotions, I felt for her and for her to experience them at the same time says something and made me root for her so hard to get the revenge she needed. Then, her character development was well done as we follow her through the many time shifts and stages in her life and a lot of the development had to do with her seeing the world in different perspective (first as everything jaded and it is growing darker and darker with the truths and wrong doings).

This book is definitely a slow burn, but it is so worth it since everything is building up and you just find yourself enthralled with this story.

Clytemnestra is a beautiful and heartbreaking novel that everyone should go and read. I was definitely shocked to find out that this is a debut novel. Also, this book is marketed to those who are fans of Circe, which I was a huge fan of when it came out and I have not found a mythology retelling that made me feel the way I did with Circe until I read this book!

If there is one thing I reliably enjoy it is female-centered mythology retellings, but this one lost a bunch of points.

Firstly, I was a little annoyed off the bat by the description of Clytemestra as the “most notorious villainess of the ancient world” - Medea is mentioned by name in the book.

Secondly, Costanza really lost me with kinda sloppy writing - why, for example, would the characters use the phrase “pride goes before the fall?

Third, Constanza made really weird choices about what she’s chosen to write about. In the second half of the book there are two pretty long time skips - a total of 24 years- but the characters are all, presumably, frozen in amber for those years because they haven’t grown or changed at all. Moreover, in choosing to do the time skips Constanza loses really interesting opportunities to branch off from the original myth and to build complexity into Clytemnestra. How did she handle the grief? What was marriage like?

I do think Constanza did a good job making me care about Clytemnestra - but in a way that was more frustrating for me because it y how little imagination is in the rest of the book.

While I can see the appeal of this books to others, I found the writing slow and unable to keep me immersed.

meet my favorite book i read in may 👀 you’ve probably heard of Helen of Troy, but are you familiar with her sister — Clytemnestra? this is her compelling + dramatic story spanning from her intense childhood in Sparta, her marriages (including one to the notorious Agamemnon), & ends with the Trojan War

throughout the whole story, Clytemnestra remains a brilliant and fierce woman. i loved how Casati illustrated how she differs from her well-known sister throughout the use of simple metaphors — “Clytemnestra dances for herself; Helen dances for others”

as a fan of mythological retellings, i loved how this story wove in references + characters to other familiar stories (including Daedalus + Icarus, the Minotaur, Achilles, etc) — it felt like putting the pieces of a giant Greek puzzle together while reading

THANK YOU Netgalley for this advanced copy! get your hands on this one if you’re a fan of mythological retellings (esp for those that enjoy Madeline Miller, Natalie Haynes, or Jennifer Saint)

#clytemnestra #greekmythology #mythology #mythologicalretelling #greekretelling #costanzacasati #sourcebooks

I received this book in exchange for an honest review and I’m so happy I did! This was a beautifully written retelling of a Greek myth. The female main character is strong and i loves the twist on the myth the author used to bolster her character even more. The story was a bit slow in the beginning but I may have felt that way because I was enjoying the story so much I wanted it to continue.

Can I just say, “Wow!” and leave my review at that?

All the stars. All the cliche words, like “powerful,” “enthralling,” and “captivating.”

Clytemnestra is a mythology retelling that reads like the best, most immersive historical fiction.

The writing has a beautiful, lyrical quality without feeling pretentious or overdone. I lived the story, which is the best gift a writer can give me.

*I alternated between reading my NetGalley ebook copy and listening to the audiobook. Olivia Vinall, the audio narrator, does an exceptional job.*

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmarks, and the author for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! There’s been a lot of mythological retellings lately and this one is a great addition to those. It follows Clytemnesta through her life and reminds me a lot of Madeline Miller’s books. She’s a strong character and it was nice getting to see her side of her own story. I recommend it for fans of Greek mythology!

Really enjoyed this! Love, sorrow, heartbreak, revenge, great characters and the ending definitely leaves room for a follow up to continue the story!!

Such a great book. It was not how I expected it to go at all. I'm a huge fan of Helen and so to hear this story from her sisters side was very interesting. I loved this take on the events. I couldn't stop listening to this book. There are parts that I loved and some that I hated. The characters are amazing and of course I still don't like Agamemnon. Such a great telling of a classic story.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmarks and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Full disclaimer, I got it in October, and it took me until June to read it, but not for lack of story!
This book had all the great elements of a modern Greek retelling, including a new twist of a much hated character from the Iliad. Who doesn't love a feminine reclaiming of Clytemnestra?

For anyone who is a fan of Madeline Miller, definitely worth the read!

This book was incredible! I’m a huge fan of Madeline Miller and when I saw this mythological retelling was compared to one of my favorite authors, I had to read it.

The story follows Clytemnestra, a strong Spartan woman who is incredibly engaging right from the first page. The book starts early in Clytemnestra’s life, and even though her character is strong and witty and smart, the story was a bit too slow for me at first. However, it does pick up and the author does a fantastic job with Clytemnestra’s story. The writing is beautiful and aptly compared to Miller’s.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.