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Queen Briseis has been stolen from her conquered homeland and given as a concubine to a foreign warrior. The warrior is Achilles: famed hero, loathed enemy, ruthless butcher, darkly troubled spirit. Briseis's fate is now indivisibly entwined with his.
No one knows it yet, but there are just ten weeks to go until the Fall of Troy, the end of this long and bitter war. This is the start of The Iliad: the most famous war story ever told. The next ten weeks will be a story of male power, male ego, male violence. But what of the women? The thousands of female slaves in the soldiers' camp - in the laundry, at the loom, laying out the dead? Briseis is one of their number - and she will be our witness to history.
I like that many of the ancient Greek myths are now being told from the females’ side. They are the main characters, instead of a mere footnote. And Barker has done an exceedingly good job in bringing one of them to life.
Briseis is given short shrift when it comes to her story in The Iliad. A pawn between Achilles and Agamemnon, one has to wonder what her thoughts were, going from queen to slave. Well, wonder no more. Here, she is the central focus of the last days of the war. As her fortune swings back and forth, she, and the reader, are left to ponder her ultimate fate.
And while we are always aware of what fate holds in store for Achilles, his story as he moves toward it is almost as intriguing. I say almost because knowing that end removes some of the drama.
This is the first book in a trilogy; I eagerly look forward to the next story.
Mount TBR 2025 Book Links
Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.
1. The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson
2. The Silence of the Girls (Women of Troy #1) by Pat Barker
JAN – Storm, Time, Know, Return, Break, Hour, Twist, Silence
The Silence of the Girls (Women of Troy #1) by Pat Barker
