gilda_elise

Continuing the story of the captured Trojan women as they set sail for Mycenae with the victorious Greeks, this new novel centres on the fate of Cassandra -- daughter of King Priam, priestess of Apollo, and a prophet condemned never to be heeded. (When she refuses to have sex with Apollo, after he has kissed her, granting her the gift of true prophecy, he spits in her mouth to make sure she will never be believed.)

Psychologically complex and dangerously driven, Cassandra's arrival in Mycenae will set in motion a bloody train of events, drawing in King Agamemnon, his wife Clytemnestra and daughter Electra. Agamemnon's triumphant return from Troy is far from the celebration he imagined, and the fate of the Trojan women as uncertain as they had feared.

The story is more that of Ritsa, the Trojan woman who is now a slave to Cassandra, who accompanies her to Mycenae, and Clytemnestra. Both women are struggling to create a future for themselves, yet both see only darkness ahead. I found myself rooting for both women, even while knowing the fate of at least one.

Clytemnestra has every reason to feel the way she does, yet she’s portrayed as somewhat off kilter. I’m not sure why Barker decided to make her that way, making her less likable and calling into question her motives. Maybe because the story is so well known she might have felt that she had to follow the script. But that made her story not as interesting as it could have been.

Ritsa’s story is much more interesting. Her future is always in question. Which is why I would have much preferred this third book to have continued Briseis’ story; though less to work with, it would have allowed Barker to go more far afield.

It’s still an interesting and fascinating story that closes out the story of the Trojan War.