Lauren
This version of Clytemnestra's story really explored the rage, quiet and simmering, of a powerful woman wronged by society and those she is supposed to love.
I was expecting this book to get to Clytemnestra's end, but it stopped after the events of Agamemnon. I would truly love to see a treatment of the events of Electra from this same author.
This one moved too quickly to the end! We missed out on a scene that seemed to have been promised throughout the book (Eric receiving). It's like the author needed it to fit within a certain page count and hurried up and finished it. The time from announcing retirement to vacationing in Greece was not given enough attention.
It was fine. The narrator in the audio book is good, the story is basic but interesting with a few fun details. I honestly think Applebaum is my favorite character. 😂
Could have done with less general harassment of women. I think the whole "Morty" storyline could have been left out and made the book a few ticks better
This book has a few good points, repeated at great length. I also suspect that many of the stories in here are extremely simplified to make the case, which is how these kinds of books go, but really takes a lot of life out of the topic.
I'm probably also a little bit sour on the whole concept of morals, living in the USA in 2025 where our federal government acts with a complete lack of them and purely for individual gain and grift.
I enjoyed the world building, but the various random plot twists seemed a bit like a deus ex machina in reverse. They were always outsmarted, and maybe that is because our heroine was pretty naive. The twist at the end to cause relationship friction felt like the best-executed of the twists. The “king posing as being captive by the desert stoners” storyline was a bit much for me.
I hated this book so much. The plot is basically a loose glue for various scenes of sexual coercion and violence. The repeated asking of consent is like asking for consent with a gun to your head. The lead woman character constantly hates herself and her actions yet KEEPS DOING THEM because she either feels she has to or she is magically spelled and then stuck in a pattern of sexual violence.
I really love all of these books, not because they are wildly different (they are, by this point, becoming predictable), but because they are just so... mature. I like that everybody is a bit older, that they all have their various issues, and that they find mature loves in different ways. I really liked this one for exactly that reason. In all of these, the paladins are such self-sacrificing idiots that you just know they are going to do that. It's in how their loves handle that – that's the real good stuff here. And when Piper gets to show his real talents at the end of the book? Delightful!!!
I also love the world building that is happening slowly through this book and the others. The world being created around these love stories is deep and interesting. Here we get a deeper look into gnole culture, and I really loved meeting characters like Skull-of-Ice. I enjoyed the deeper look at how the gnoles talk and interact, as well.
I always listen to the audiobooks of these, because I cannot get enough of Joel Richards's voices for the characters. I particularly enjoy his gnole voice in this one - it's so good - and the return of the calm, smooth voice of Steven.
