Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty (Review)

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty

Blurb

Yvonne Carmichael has worked hard to achieve the life she always wanted: a high-flying career in genetics, a beautiful home, a good relationship with her husband and their two grown-up children.

Then one day she meets a stranger at the Houses of Parliament and, on impulse, begins a passionate affair with him – a decision that will put everything she values at risk.

At first she believes she can keep the relationship separate from the rest of her life, but she can’t control what happens next. All of her careful plans spiral into greater deceit and, eventually, a life-changing act of violence.

Apple Tree Yard is a psychological thriller about one woman’s adultery and an insightful examination of the values we live by and the choices we make, from an acclaimed writer at the height of her powers.

Review

This is another book that has been sat upstairs on an untouched bookshelf for about seven years. This was another book that I bought because of the all the hype at the time that surrounded it.

I will be honest this is probably the worst book I have read in 2024 so far as I just really did not get along with it. I nearly gave up with it several times but I persevered because as per usual I always try and give a book a second chance. However, the book was brilliantly written and very cleverly worked out. Doughty really knew how to feed the reader just enough information to keep them hooked to the story and I enjoyed her writing style.

My biggest problem with this book was that I just could not stand the main character. Yvonne is a successful and very intelligent woman with a successful career as a scientist but I found her extremely dumb at times and very frustrating. There were so many times I wanted her to grow a spine and actually do something especially in her home life and with her husband. I also found her very gullible and quite frankly unbelievable.

I found the scenes in the courtroom fascinating and very well researched. As someone who has done jury duty I really appreciated the detail that was included in these scenes. It was obvious what was going to happen but still really good to read about.

I found this book so frustrating because it was well researched and cleverly written but the main character was just too implausible for me to believe in. I give this book 2 out of 5 Dragons.

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About the author

Louise Doughty is the author of ten novels, most recently A Bird in Winter, published by Faber & Faber UK Ltd in August of last year. Her previous books include Platform Seven, filmed for ITVX and broadcast on 7th December 2023; Black Water, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; the bestseller Apple Tree Yard, adapted for BBC One; and Whatever You Love, nominated for the Costa Novel Award and the Women’s Prize for fiction. She has been nominated for many other prizes including the Sunday Times Short Story Prize and the CWA Silver Dagger, along with creating and writing the hit BBC drama Crossfire. Her work has been translated into thirty languages.

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A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher (Review)

A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

Blurb

A Place Like Home is a spellbinding collection of short stories by internationally bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher, never before published in book form. The collection contains fifteen stories, which range from “Our Holiday”, in which a wife surprises her husband of twenty-five years with a holiday full of Mediterranean sunshine, red rocks and blue seas in an effort to rekindle the romance they had before children; “Through the Eyes of Love”, which takes the reader to a village by the sea where old flames meet again; and “A Place Like Home”, where a lonely young woman goes to recuperate in the Scottish countryside after a brief illness. The fruit orchards and fresh sea air offer much needed respite–but not as much as the handsome, mysterious farmer she meets.

Each unforgettable story is the perfect slice of romance written with warmth and passion featuring wonderfully memorable, smart, and feisty female characters that will transport the reader to another time and place.

Review

People who have been following my blog for some time know that one of my favourite authors is Pilcher. I absolutely adore her full length novels but I do struggle with some of her short stories. I find Pilcher’s strength as an author was in the epic novel where she had the freedom to create such powerful female characters that were strong and in control of their own futures.

This set of fifteen short stories has been sat on my kindle since last year as it was a holiday read that I never got around to reading. These stories all focus around marriage and courtship and quite a few strong female characters. Each story is beautifully written and has Pilcher’s wonderful charm about it but I did find them all rather similar and could guarantee what the ending would be of each story after finishing the third story.

Whilst there isn’t anything very remarkable about this book of short stories the stories were all enjoyable and a nice read and of course beautifully written. I did find myself wanting to know more about several of the characters and would have loved a full length novel instead of a short story. This was the case for the stories that had the romantic couple as the main characters of the story. The stories which had the romantic interests as side characters were much better suited to the short story format.

This was an enjoyable read and one that was perfectly suited for reading when you have a short space of time but it really lacked the special something that I expect from Pilcher. I give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

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About the author

Rosamunde Pilcher was born on the 22nd September 1924 in Cornwall. She began writing when she was 7 and published her first short story at the age of 15. From 1943 to 1946 she served with the Women’s Royal Naval Service. In 1946 she married her Graham Hope Pilcher and they moved to Dundee, Scotland together. In 1949 Pilcher’s first novel was published under the pseudonym Jane Fraser, she went on to publish a further ten novels under that name. In 1955 she published her first novel under her own name, by 1965 she had dropped the pseudonym entirely. Pilcher retired from writing in 2000, two years later she received her OBE.

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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Review)

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Blurb

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

Review

I have recently been going through some bookshelves in our house that have basically been neglected since we moved into the house seven years ago. Due to this I have discovered a load of books that I had forgotten about and this is one of them. I can’t believe I waited so long because once I started this book I could not put it down.

There were so many twists and turns in this book which really kept me on my toes. This book just kept surprising me and I loved it. I had a few suspicions about who the guilty party was. Some of my early thoughts were way out but I slowly started to work out who it was. The first thing that hooked me in was the prologue to the book. It really set the scene and made me want to know what it all meant. So of course I had to keep reading.

The other element I loved about this book was how it was written. The story is mainly told from Rachel’s point of view but we also have the point of view of other important characters as well and it really added an extra element to the story and threw in a few red herrings. The book is written as diary entries and in Rachel’s case she has a morning and evening entry to go with her train commute.

Rachel is such a tragic character who just needs someone to love her again and care for her. She desperately needs to find meaning and purpose in her life again but she can’t find the way so when she sees something from the train she finds a way to be part of something again and starts to find meaning in life again but the process is not pretty. I felt desperately sorry for Rachel but at times she really did frustrate me. I just really wanted her to succeed and become a better version of herself. Due to Rachel’s problems she doesn’t always remember things very well which adds to the story because the reader is left wondering what actually happened in those blank moments.

I can’t quite believe this is Hawkins’ first thriller novel because it is so accomplished and beautifully written that I would have thought she was a well established thriller writer. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it 5 out of 5 Dragons and I can’t wait to read another book by Hawkins.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

Paula Hawkins (1972) is a British author best known for her book The Girl on the Train.

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Crimson Lake by Candice Fox (Review)

Crimson Lake by Candice Fox

Blurb

How do you move on when the world won’t let you?

12:46: Claire Bingley stands alone at a bus stop

12:47: Ted Conkaffey parks his car beside her

12:52: The girl is missing . . .

Six minutes in the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s all it took to ruin Sydney detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of a brutal abduction,Ted is now a free man—and public enemy number one. Maintaining his innocence, he flees north to keep a low profile amidst the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake.

There, Ted’s lawyer introduces him to eccentric private investigator Amanda Pharrell, herself a convicted murderer. Not entirely convinced Amanda is a cold-blooded killer, Ted agrees to help with her investigation, a case full of deception and obsession, while secretly digging into her troubled past. The residents of Crimson Lake are watching the pair’s every move… and the town offers no place to hide.

Review

I came across this book because my husband and myself really enjoy the TV series Troppo and when I found out it is based on a series of books I knew I needed to read them.

It took me a little while to get into this book and at first I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it but I am glad that I persevered because I soon really started to enjoy it and started to really like the characters.

Ted and Amanda were quite different in the book to the TV series but I think I actually liked them more in the book once I got used to the differences and their quirks. I really liked how you got to see Ted and Amanda’s vulnerabilities as the story goes on and how much they really do need each other. Ted’s lawyer really knew what he was doing when he threw Ted and Amanda together.

Ted and Amanda are working on a case together and their every move is being watched by the people of Crimson Lake. However, as they work on the case Ted begins to realise that something is also not quite right with the murder that Amanda was convicted for when she was a teenager.

I really liked how this book was written with the different threads of the story weaving together. We see flashbacks of Ted’s trial, and the events leading up to Claire Bingley going missing. We see flashbacks of Amanda’s crime and events leading up to it. I really liked how it all worked together and started to give the reader an idea of the bigger picture.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m really looking forward to reading the next book in the series as I want to see what Amanda and Ted get up to next. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.

As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia’s wealth of true crime writers.

Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, while undertaking a PhD in literary censorship and terrorism.

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Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Review)

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Blurb

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders…

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die

Review

I am very late to the party with Fourth Wing but I won’t be making that mistake with the Iron Flame and and the rest of the books from the series. This is definitely one of my favourite reads of 2024. I’m always wary about books that get a lot of social media attention as I’m usually very disappointed in them but thankfully this was not the case with Fourth Wing.

There was never a dull moment with this book and it was full of twists and turns. I also loved the pacing of the book. However, the best thing about this book has got to be that it has dragons in it!

The story resolves around Violet who is the daughter of a formidable general and a scribe. Violet was meant to be a scribe, it was what she had spent years of her life preparing for but then her mother has other ideas and makes her daughter join the Riders Quadrant. Even though it could mean the death of Violet.

During the book we see Violet take on each challenge that a rider faces and the challenges are brutal. It is possibly the scariest school imaginable! The challenges Violet faces aren’t just ones set by the Riders Quadrant, she also faces challenges of fellow cadets trying to kill her and to top it all her body is fragile and can easily be hurt.

I loved how strong Violet was, she never looked too far ahead but faced every challenge or danger head on. She was also a fierce friend to those loyal to her and I loved to see her friendships develop and people to see that she wasn’t weak or a liability but strong and clever. I also loved the humour that came through and the joking around between friends.

Obviously my favourite characters were the dragons and Tairn was just brilliant. I also have a soft spot for Andarna and can’t wait to see what happens with Andarna in the next book. I absolutely loved this book and give it 5 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and coffee addict. She is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty novels, including Fourth Wing, The Last Letter and The Things We Leave Unfinished. She’s also the recipient of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence for Eyes Turned Skyward. Rebecca loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for over twenty years. A mother of six, she is currently surviving the teenage years with all four of her hockey-playing sons.

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Babylon’s Ashes by James S. A. Corey (Review)

Babylon’s Ashes by James S. A. Corey

Blurb

A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.

The Free Navy – a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships – has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.

James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network.

But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante’s problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity.

Review

Every time I read the next book in The Expanse series I think it can’t be beaten but yet again I am proven wrong. This book was fantastic and I could not put it down. It was also way better than the corresponding season of the TV show which after reading the book is a massive let down.

The main thing that I absolutely love about this series is that each book is told from several characters’ points of view. You get to see the story from several perspectives and learn about the characters. However, in previous books you have about 4 or 5 perspectives; this book had loads. Yes, we have the usual main characters such as Holden but we get to hear from even minor characters and it works beautifully. Some only have one chapter but it adds so much to the story.

There were quite a few emotional moments in this book for me and in particular one death really upset me as I always liked that character. There was also a really moving moment with Avasarala in this book which made me quite sad but it was so nice to see a different side to this usually super hard character. I found the growing relationships in the book really moving especially the family bonds that grew on the Rocinante.

This book was packed with action and really did not stop moving but at the same time it showed so much of the human struggle for survival. Earth is dying, people are dying on all sides and there is so much fear about what the future holds. The characters are all so real as well even though the setting is pure science fiction.

Amos has always been my favourite character and I was pleased he was on usual fine form in this book. However, my other favourite character in this book was Bobbie. Bobbie was wonderful in the hot seat of the Rocinante and she is definitely a part of the crew and family. I also loved Bobbie’s humour and how she interacted with Amos and Naomi.

This is definitely my favourite book of the series so far and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

James S. A. Corey is the pen name of fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, George R. R. Martin’s assistant. They both live Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Medusa by Jessie Burton (Review)

Medusa by Jessie Burton

Blurb

If I told you that I’d killed a man with a glance, would you wait to hear the rest? The why, the how, what happened next?

Monster. Man-hater. Murderess. Forget everything you’ve been told about Medusa.

Internationally bestselling author Jessie Burton flips the script in this astonishing retelling of Greek myth, illuminating the woman behind the legend at last.

Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown apart, unleashing desire, love… and betrayal.

Adapted from the hardback illustrated by Olivia Lomenech-Gill, this paperback edition is perfect for readers who loved Circe and Ariadne, as Medusa comes alive in a new version of the story that history set in stone long ago.

Review

Medusa has always been a favourite of mine and so I always jump at the chance to read a retelling of her story. My current favourite retelling is Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes and I remember I had just finished reading it when I bought this book. Medusa’s myth is legendary and although very sad and clearly written by men it also shows the strength a woman can have. In her earliest depictions Medusa along with her sisters Stheno and Euryale were all gorgons of monstrous form. Aeschylus described all three as winged and hair of snakes there was no mention of Medusa being a beautiful maiden first. It wasn’t until the Roman period the myth of Medusa that we all know so well really took form.

This was a different take of the Medusa story and I will be honest I did struggle with the change. This is a feminist retelling and the story that we all know so well is completely flipped. I did however really enjoy hearing Medusa’s side of things and I would have loved the book to have been a bit longer so we could have more of that. I really liked how Burton had Medusa working through her trauma during the story. However, I would have also loved to have seen a bit more of Stheno and Euryale and their relationship with Medusa as we only see a little bit of that and the three sisters were such an integral part of each other.

I did feel this book let Perseus off a little bit and made him look better than he is. To me Perseus has always been a spoilt immature boy who is selfish and arrogant (a typical Greek hero who has a god for a father) and who merely saw Medusa as a means to an end. In this book we see another side to him and I’m not sure he deserves it. In this book he is a scared boy who is worried about his mother who has a whole heap of emotions going on and actually shows some bravery in completing his task when in reality he was a coward who creeped up on Medusa while she was sleeping and cut off her head. He used trickery and treachery to get what he wanted through life and he just didn’t deserve to be so well portrayed.

I flew through this book and did enjoy it to a certain degree but I just couldn’t gel with the story flip or the portrayal of Perseus. I also felt like so much of the story was missing. There is so much material to use in Medusa’s story and this just focused too closely to one part. I give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

Jessie Burton studied at Oxford University and the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she appeared in productions of The House of Bernarda Alba, Othello, Play and Macbeth. In April 2013 her first novel, The Miniaturist, was sold at an 11-publisher auction at the London Book Fair, and went on to sell in 29 other countries around the world. It was published by Picador in the UK and Holland in July 2014, and the USA in August 2014, with other translations to follow. Radio 4 commissioned it as their Book at Bedtime in July 2014. Her second book, The Muse, set in a dual time-frame, during the Spanish Civil War and 30 years later in 1960s London, was published in 2016. Jessie’s first novel for children, The Restless Girls, will be published in September 2018.

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House of Odysseus by Claire North (Review)

House of Odysseus by Claire North

Blurb

House of Odysseus is the follow up to award-winning author Claire North’s Ithaca “a powerful, fresh, and unflinching” reimagining (Jennifer Saint) that breathes life into ancient myth and gives voice to the women who stand defiant in a world ruled by ruthless men.

In the palace of Odysseus, a queen lies dreaming . . .

On the isle of Ithaca, queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband Odysseus sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace—a peace that is shattered by the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra.

Orestes’ hands are stained with his mother’s blood. Not so long ago, the son of Agamemnon took Queen Clytemnestra’s life on Ithaca’s sands. Now, wracked with guilt, he grows ever more unhinged. But a king cannot be seen to be weak, and Elektra has brought him to Ithaca to keep him safe from the ambitious men of Mycenae.

Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the furies circle him. His uncle Menelaus, the blood-soaked king of Sparta, hungers for Orestes’ throne—and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims.

Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope must find a way to keep her home from being crushed by the machinations of a battle that stretches from Mycenae and Sparta to the summit of Mount Olympus itself. Her only allies are Elektra, desperate to protect her brother, and Helen of Troy, Menelaus’ wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own.

Each woman has a secret, and their secrets will shape the world . . .

Review

I will be honest the previous book Ithaca I could have taken or left it but I decided to give this trilogy another go and I started to read this book. The first twenty or so pages of this book I almost did leave the series as the random ramblings of Aphrodite at the beginning were seriously annoying but I am glad I continued with the book because I soon got into the story.

This book is not really rooted in the myth of Penelope and Odysseus, or should we say Odysseus because poor Penelope has never featured very heavily in Odysseus’ tale other than when he suddenly remembered he was married and perhaps should be getting home to his wife and out of the other woman’s bed. However, in the little we do know about Penelope we do know she is loyal, clever, cunning and brave and I think it is these qualities that North has used to inspire this book. I could easily see these events happening in the original myth because there is so much that we do not know about Penelope and how she lived those twenty years her husband was from home.

The absolute star of this book is Laertes. Whenever Laertes appeared I was guaranteed a good laugh. Laertes is a clever old man who really can’t be bothered with being a king. He much prefers living quietly on his farm in his dirty robes and being as eccentric as he pleases. However, with Menelaus appearing on Ithaca and events unfolding he realises he must be there to help Penelope and so arrives at the palace to cause chaos. Laertes knows he has a clever daughter in law and I loved how he took his cues from her and knew precisely what chaos he needed to perform.

Penelope playing detective was also a nice touch in this book and I honestly had no clue who had performed the crime until the culprit started to show their true colours. I also loved North’s interpretation of Helen. Helen was another character who made me laugh quite a lot.

The only reason this book didn’t get the full five dragons from me was because I just couldn’t stand Aphrodite. I did love Athena and Artemis appearing and I really liked North’s interpretation of Artemis but Aphrodite really did waffle too much! I enjoyed this book a lot more than Ithaca and I can’t wait to read the final book of the trilogy. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

Claire North is actually Catherine Webb, a Carnegie Medal-nominated young-adult novel author whose first book, Mirror Dreams, was written when she was just 14 years old. She went on to write seven more successful YA novels.

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Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan (Review)

Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

Blurb

As the Wheel turns, the winds of fate roil across the land, and Rand al’Thor struggles to unite the nations for the Last Battle, when the Dark One will break free into the world, and to spring the snares laid by the immortal Forsaken for unwary humankind.

The White Tower in Tar Valon, under the Amyrlin Elaida, has decided that Rand must be controlled – gentled, if need be – immediately. And in Salidar, among the Aes Sedai in exile, Egwene al’Vere, although summoned to high office, faces the knowledge that her colleagues also wish to bind him.

Drought and summer heat linger into winter, and Nynaeve al’Maera and Elayne, the Daughter-Heir of Andor, begin a desperate search for the fabled ter’angreal that may enable them to bring normal weather – a search that takes them among Whitecloaks bent on exterminating Aes Sedai.

And across half a continent, Perrin Aybara feels Rand’s pull, ta’veren to ta’veren, and for the first time in a thousand years the bowmen of the Two Rivers march to war.

Review

I have finally managed to get past book 5, however I will say this book took me way too long to read! I loved the beginning of this book and the last 300 pages but the middle just moved like treacle for me and not much happened considering the length of the book.

Book 5 of the series seemed to be a little bit obsessed with breasts and braid pulling but this book was obsessed with shapely calves on men with just a hint of women’s neck lines but the neck lines are only judged by other women. Thankfully, the braid pulling was drastically reduced.

The best way to describe this book is an instruction manual of how not to be a female. I’ve never been so annoyed by a group of women in a book before. If they get warned about a danger they go head first into it ignoring all advice and when a man helps them they shout at him rather than admitting they were wrong and saying thank you. Elayne and Nynaeve find new discoveries and suddenly they know everything and are superior to everyone else. Elayne also ignores Mat’s wishes and makes demands that she has no right to. However, seeing how other Aes Sadai behave it is obvious Elayne and Nynaeve will fit right in. Egwene at least has a reasonably level head and remains down to earth.

The really exciting thing for me in this book is Rand. Rand is really taking charge, he has a plan and he will stand no messing from anyone. He stands up for himself and is now realising his potential. I also love the Black Tower taking shape. The other element I loved is Perrin is back! I really missed Perrin in book 5 so I was happy to see him feature a little bit in this book. This is also the first book that I have liked Mat. Mat has grown up and is really coming into his own. In fact I really enjoyed following Rand, Perrin and Mat’s stories in this book. I could have happily missed anything to do with Elayne and Nynaeve.

Overall, this book was much better than book 5 and gave me hope to continue with the series. I blitzed the last 300 pages of this book because it suddenly really started to pick up and I hope the next book will be the same pace. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

James Oliver Rigney Jr. (1948-2007) was an American author of epic fantasy who wrote under the pen name Robert Jordan. Jordan also wrote historical fiction under the name of Reagan O’Neal, a western as Jackson O’Reilly, and dance criticism as Chang Lung.

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Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati (Review)

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

Blurb

As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best . . .

Mother. Monarch. Murderer. Magnificent.

You are born to a king, but marry a tyrant. You stand helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore and comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own.

You play the part, fooling enemies who deny you justice. Slowly, you plot.

You are Clytemnestra.

But when the husband who owns you returns in triumph, what then?

Acceptance or vengeance – infamy follows both. So you bide your time and wait, until you might force the gods’ hands and take revenge. Until you rise. For you understood something that the others don’t. If power isn’t given to you, you have to take it for yourself.

Review

I haven’t found many Greek retellings of Clytemnestra so I was really pleased to find this book as I think she gets rather a rough deal. She was a strong woman who decided to get revenge and be a queen where only kings have ruled and she was hated for it. Plus let’s face it people always remember her sister Helen more than Clytemnestra.

Clytemnestra was born a Spartan princess and she was brought up to be a fighter and to be the strongest she could be. She was brought up in a tough world where softness was frowned upon and she thrived. Her father listened to her when she spoke which he rarely did with his other children and he showed pride in her actions.

I loved how this book also showed Clytemnestra as a soft caring person who loved her sister Helen and wanted nothing but to protect her. She loved her first husband and child with a passion and would do anything for them. However, when Agamemnon comes into her life it all goes wrong and that softness disappears.

The thing I also loved about this book was how Casati brought in other well known characters from mythology. We see the intelligent and sensible Penelope, the cunning Odysseus, Castor and Pollux (although I would have liked to have seen more of Castor and Pollux) and we even see Timandra heavily featured.

Considering this is a debut novel I thought it was a brilliantly written book with a very sophisticated and mature writing style and at well over 400 pages I found it a fast paced read that I flew through. I really enjoyed this book and I hope to read more books by Casati soon. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

Costanza Casati was born in Texas in 1995 and grew up in a village in Northern Italy, where she studied Ancient Greek, and Ancient Greek literature, under one of the country’s most rigorous academic programmes. She is a graduate of the prestigious Warwick Writing MA in the UK, and worked as a screenwriter and journalist. Clytemnestra is her debut novel. It has sold into 18 territories worldwide, is a Times bestseller, an Indie Next Pick, and was shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award.