Rating: 3 out of 5
Troy is a fascinating tale and one that can be retold from person to person, highlighting different aspects. Ms Haynes’ title tries to open the epic context from the point of view of those who normally suffered, i.e., the women – a look into the Greek world unlike what we normally get.
I will say I didn’t know what I was going for when I picked the title up, so it was somewhat of a surprise. I liked the author’s attempt at opening this world, but in several cases it felt contrived. I suspect that writing it was rather complicated, having to remain “factually” accurate while covering so many different characters.
What I didn’t like about this was having the story jump around without any attempt to tell people when this was. Even at the worst of times, I’m a chronological stickler, but this here was plain confusing. Why not have a time descriptor at the start of every chapter?
The characters, on the other hand, were generally believable. Nothing too great here as there was barely time to react to the main event, so we don’t see any change – except for in perhaps one or two cases – but the author has tried to be realistic (realistic based on modern standards) about what could have have gone on.
Overall, I found it interesting but nothing to return to.
