Review: Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a digital ARC of this book via Netgalley, and a print ARC via Bookish First.  Thank you to the publisher Sourcebooks for allowing me to read this wonderful retelling ahead of publication.  The original release date was set for today March 7, 2023, but I believe the US release has been moved to May 2.  As always all opinions expressed are my own.

As the title indicates this follows Clytemnestra, princess of Sparta and eventual queen of Mycenae.  She was raised to be a warrior and valuable member of her father's council.  In a world where women were not respected as leaders, Clytemnestra demanded the respect of the men around  and bides her time to enact vengeance on those who have wronged her.  This is filled with alot of content warnings and potentially triggering material, but if you are a fan of Green mythology you are likely familiar with the horrible things that were done in the original myths.  This particular story is filled with brutality, vengeance, and violence.  Some of the acts are done in the name of the gods while others are done purely for the sake of taking power and showing dominance.  

As with each of these new retellings we get a different take on what these characters were like and what they experienced.   This follows Clytemnestra from childhood through adulthood and we get to see how the events of her life shape her.  This focuses on the many tragedies  and betrayals she must endure, and the simmering hatred that she harbors until she is able to enact her plans for revenge for those acts of betrayal.  We see how this hardens her into a somewhat unlikable queen, but as she questions her counselors, had she been a mad she would have been worshipped as a hero and no one would have questioned her actions.  

This is a little slow paced and there are alot of characters to keep track of, that being said I found this captivating and hard to put down.  I appreciated that there was a glossary of characters at the beginning of the book and a glossary of Greek terms at the end of the book for easy reference.  This was really helpful and I used both often when I couldn't remember who a particular person was or if I couldn't figure out a particular term from context clues.  The author did a really good job spelling out the Greek terminology but if you forget what a term means, the glossary is nice to have.

I thought the author did a great job with the world building.  It isn't often that you are transported through the seasons in a book, but here we get descriptions of cold and mud which I really felt enhanced the storytelling.  It made the story come alive for me and made the characters and the setting feel real.  You could also feel Clytemnestra's hatred and anger throughout the book.  She has to endure so much, yet because of her gender and station she has to wait until the time is right to enact the justice she has been seeking for so many years.  I also thought the author did a great job making you really hate the villains of the book, and there are several of them.   

Overall, I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

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