Reviewed by Natalie Dean ||

Plot Overview: Elektra follows the women surrounding the Trojan war: Clytemnestra, Helen, Cassandra, and the titular Elektra. Beginning when twins Clytemnestra and Helen are just children and following them into adulthood, the story unfolds around these women as they grow. 

Clytemnestra agrees to be married to Agamemnon, though she is aware of the grisly curse surrounding his family. 

Helen marries the gentle Menelaus, only to leave him for Paris of Troy. When the resulting Trojan War begins, Agamemnon betrays Clytemnestra in a brutal manner, and she spends the rest of the ten-year war plotting her revenge.

(( Disclaimer: This review is based on an ARC copy provided to Glass Mountain in exchange for a review, so certain edits and changes may have been made between this copy and the official release ))

Spoiler-free Review: In her second novel, Jennifer Saint explores the story of three of the most important women of the Trojan War. This book is a well written and faithful retelling of the stories of the women of the Trojan War. Though most of the plot is driven by the male characters, it is the female characters who we the audience follow through their emotions and thought processes. 

Clytemnestra, arguably the main character, is portrayed here to be relatable and sympathetic, even when her choices are less than desirable. Her anger and grief operate twofold to drive her through the story. 

Helen is given considerably less characterization than her twin sister, which is a shame because she is such an interesting character with so much potential for nuance. Her role in the story is somewhat minor, even despite being the cause of the Trojan War, but that is not to say she is one-dimensional. The story features so many interesting female characters that the loss of one does not necessarily take away from the story, though fans of Helen may want to look elsewhere for a story more centered around her.

Cassandra, to me, was one of the most sympathetic characters. Gifted with prophecy but cursed to never be believed, Saint truly captures the frustration and futility that Cassandra feels. No matter how she tries, no one can see that she is always right. She is smart and aware, but still emotional and loving towards her family, despite how they treat her. 

The titular character, Elektra, only enters the story about midway through, when she is born daughter to Agamenmon and Clytemnestra. Such a young child when her father leaves for war, her view of him is idealized and warped, and this causes her to be at odds with her mother. 

The story captures the emotions of war through a perspective which is often neglected, and one which I have not seen before in this context. Clytemnestra is absent from the place of battle for the entirety of the war, and Cassandra is inside the walls of Troy, so their dual perspectives show all the angles to the conflict. This particular combination of women and points of view works very well to capture the very real feelings of grief, horror, and dread that overwhelm the victims. 

There is also a large focus here on female relationships, which I find often lacking even in feminist retellings. The mother/daughter dynamics, especially between Clytemnestra and Iphigenia, are made very important to the story, as are the relationships between Clytemnestra and Helen, Cassandra and Helen, etc. 

The male characters are given no perspective in this book in favor of making the story entirely narrated by the women, which I found to be refreshing. The closest we get to a male perspective is when the women speculate as to how they are feeling, often when they are trying to relate their own feelings, which Clytemnestra and Cassandra do somewhat often. In fact, this book offers the most heartbreaking lines on the perspective of the Achilles and Patroclus story that I have read outside of The Song of Achilles: “[…] that was why Paris’ arrow was at last able to find its target. Achilles had welcomed it” (157). This absence of male perspective makes for a very unique take on the classic story. 

Though the book includes scenes of violence, they are always handled with taste and poise. One of the scenes I was most nervous about when beginning this book was, of course, the sexual assault of Cassandra, but this was handled, I think, very well. It was vague enough to put a veil over what was happening but grisly enough to get the emotions across. I for one am grateful Saint did not show any more detail than she did, as it would have run the risk of being gratuitous violence against women, which is absolutetly unnecessary in a book on female perspective. 

There is so much nuance and depth to each of the characters that the story really does take on a life of its own. Even removed from the source material, this book is gripping. 

I am tempted to say that the title is not entirely fitting of the actual content, since the majority of the story is about Clytemnestra, but at the same time, Elektra does become a very important character towards the end, which  is certainly not negligible. 

I would highly recommend this book to those who are interested in feminist retellings of Greek mythology, stories from a female perspective, and fans of Jennifer Saint’s debut, Ariadne, or Madeline Miller’s Circe.

4.5 / 5 stars. 

Content warnings for: violence, sexual assault