I have always had a spot of obsession with the Matter of Troy. Michael Wood’s In Search of the Trojan War was the first adult program I was allowed to stay up and watch. So say connect something to Troy and I am there like white on rice (except I prefer brown rice unless I am making risotto. But brown rice with some butter yum!). So when I heard about this book I had to read it.
And then it was like – really, this is the violent page turner that is advertised on the cover?
The book starts out well. The voice of Clytemnestra is powerful and, for the most part riveting. There is a false note with the introduction of Cassandra – there are few lines about her that do not match any version of Troy that I know. But the real shift starts with the too long section about Orestes.
Mostly because I just didn’t care. It really isn’t that different from anything else about Orestes. And the story is so boring. It goes back to being the overly male centered story it is, but it feels like second hand historical fiction.
And then it just becomes the same old, same old. Things are a little better towards the end with the point to the future, but at that point, who cares.
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