Ripped my heart out - 4.5 / 5

This book absolutely ripped my heart out at every opportunity. I went into it not knowing who exactly Clytemnestra was and with only a foggy idea of all the major points it covered. All of the motions Clytemnestra went through, knowing she was too far to pull herself out of it, I went through it with her without issue no matter how intense it got throughout. That was all thanks to the very approachable writing style of the author.

It was also very refreshing to have all of the major characters you interact with being women. Not to say there weren't guy characters that entered focus often, but many of the characters that got a lot of attention were women.

The vengeance felt fun in a way that I hadn't really expected. Clytemnestra never got over Tantalus and I don't blame her, because I didn't either. Where all the main characters in her life were women, Tantalus wasn't excessively masculine and relied on cleverness and kindness, which made him stand out so much next to the brawny-brutal-mostly brainless types she was very familiar with. It was such an interesting and refreshing combination that I was down for immediately. Especially when getting further into the book where there's a distinct lack of respect for women, it deepened the fantasy that her life with Tantalus would've been perfect.

Anyway, when she finally did get her vengeance on Agamemnon, it rang a bit hollow. Any gains she would make were always overshadowed by something else happening. Like immediately when Aegisthus killed Cassandra and took away Clytemnestra's chance to "save" Cassandra, a princess stolen and robbed of all her dignity very much in the way Clytemnestra had been herself. There was just so much taken from Clytemnestra that no amount of vengeance or taking back (and becoming the kind of person that wrecked her life) would ever be enough to make it right.

At points I wanted a little novella for how happy she might've been if she'd lived her happier life with Tantalus. But then there was the letter from Helen that described her life in Troy and how the people hated her for being Greek. That made me wonder how happy Clytemnestra would've been with Tantalus back in Maeonia. But my grief-vengeance-brain could only think of how amazing it could've been for her. Her character was a hyper resilient and powerful woman so I like to think she would have managed just fine and lived a life of her own making with the husband she chose.

As much as I don't enjoy finishing a book and feeling just generally depressed, I adored the rollercoaster I went through. The pacing and writing style kept me interested and engaged throughout the entire book. One of the only points of critique I have are the time skips. I'd have loved to see more of some characters, but that just goes to show I loved her character/world building. Also if I had made it to the end with literal years of moments to make me even more sad/mad I might not have finished it. Plus this book was already pretty long at 450 pages, so what can you do? I still loved it.

All that being said, I needed a pick-me-up after this one but it was totally worth it!

Clytemnestra - Likewise Book Reviews

10 Reviews