Review: Ithaca by Claire North

Ithaca by Claire North
Orbit
Publication Date: September 6th, 2022
Hardcover. 400 pages.

About Ithaca:

"Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom. 

Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door. 

No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus' empty throne—not yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning, wit, and her trusted circle of maids, can she maintain the tenuous peace needed for the kingdom to survive. 

This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca’s shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women—and their goddesses— that will change the course of the world."

I read one page of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and

Ithaca is a beautifully written story of what happened on Ithaca while Odysseus was missing in the years after the Trojan War. I did not end up connecting with this story as much as I'd hoped to, but I still found myself enraptured by Claire North's prose. 

I was particularly curious about this retelling because, to my knowledge, North hasn’t written anything quite in this historical fiction/myth retelling vein. Her prose is always very unique to me and stands out in her SFF work, so I was excited to dive in and see what her take on this story would be. I’ve loved some of her previous books and I’ve also not loved some of her previous work, so I was eager to check it out. 

Ithaca is told from the goddess Hera’s perspective, which I found to be a particularly unique idea that I was totally on board for. This perspective allowed the narrative to have a more omniscient point of view and to easily move around to difference characters and places. As you may or may not know, the Greek gods are known to sort of be the big players in charge and view all the humans on earth sort of as their little playthings and pawns on their own chessboards against one another, so I loved this aspect because it really seemed to bring that out to me. If you’ve read the Iliad, you’ll see scenes between the gods where they talk about their plans and how they plan to watch their little humans play out their plans, so this felt like a good offshoot from that and I think fit the overall story really well. Unfortunately, as neat as this narrative idea was, I ended up having some mixed feelings about its execution. 

I really appreciated how much detail North went into in this book and how well she was able to tap into this era of ancient Greece and it’s culture, but at the same time it made it apparent that there was actually far too much detail that bogged down everything else. There were so many different names and characters mentioned that were somewhat irrelevant to the story and maybe had one line or a cameo of sorts and then vanished again. This made it hard to keep track of who was who and who would be important to remember and who I could move on from. It just didn’t really work that well for me. And in addition to all of these characters, I felt as though the story really jumped around a lot between characters since it was more of an omniscient narrator, and this left me with a little bit of whiplash in trying to grab onto anything stable. 

My biggest problem was probably simply the fact that this didn’t feel as though it really centered on Penelope. She was the overarching device that pulled everything together and surrounded her, but there was so much focus on other random people and things that it didn’t feel as much of a story focused solely on Penelope as I might have expected. For instance, I didn’t really mind the focus on Clytemnestra and Helen necessarily, but it felt like filler and I didn’t really feel like it was necessarily to read their whole story over again just because Hera wanted to share it. 

I also found some of North’s dialogue and word choices a little anachronistic at times in ways that pulled me out of the story. It’s not that the Greeks didn’t speak in similar ways to us, but rather the ways in which she incorporated some language that didn’t work as much as I’d have hoped it would. 

For the positive part, I’ll say that North’s prose was absolutely lovely and I found myself losing myself and basking in her writing, but the content of that writing was not always my favorite.  Ithaca is one of those books that was just so beautiful to read and I wanted to keep reading because of the beautiful prose and because I kept hoping something would finally grab me and pull me into the story more. Unfortunately, I didn’t find myself overly enjoying the content consistently or even really connecting with the story, which is a bummer considering how much I desperately wanted this to be a new favorite. 

I appreciate what North was trying to do with an exploration of kind of gender and how women had or did not have power, but other aspects I struggled more with. I thought the way she described and featured men was a little frustrating because I don’t think men have to be so overtly stupid and useless in order to make a point about women’s abilities. I understand this was Hera’s POV and I would possibly expect this attitude from her, but I just found it a bit frustrating at times. 

Overall, I've given Ithaca three stars. This book is written with care and dedication and is definitely a great exploration of the ancient Greek world, though it unfortunately didn't end up coming together quite as well as I'd hoped it would for me. 

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org 

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Ithaca by Claire North & The Attic Child by Lola Jade

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

 

This week's upcoming book spotlights are: 

Ithaca by Claire North
Publication: September 6th, 2022
Redhook
Hardcover. 400 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:

"'The greatest power we woman can own, is that we take in secret . . . ' 

Seventeen years ago, king Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them have returned, and the women have been left behind to run the kingdom. 

Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. Whilst he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that husband is dead, and suitors are starting to knock at her door . . . 

But no one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus' empty throne - not yet. Between Penelope's many suitors, a cold war of dubious alliances and hidden knives reigns, as everyone waits for the balance of power to tip one way or another. If Penelope chooses one from amongst them, it will plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning and her spy network of maids can she maintain the delicate balance of power needed for the kingdom to survive. 

On Ithaca, everyone watches everyone else, and there is no corner of the palace where intrigue does not reign..."

I always love a story about Penelope and I'm very curious to see it in Claire North's hands. I just started reading an ARC yesterday and I'm so excited to get into it!

and...

The Attic Child by Lola Jade
Publication: September 6th, 2022
William Morrow & Company
Hardcover. 480 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:

"Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret. 

Early 1900s London: Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea. The only time Celestine isn't bound by confines of the small space is when he is acting as an unpaid servant to English explorer Sir Richard Babbington, As the years pass, he desperately clings on to memories of his family in Africa, even as he struggles to remember his mother's face, and sometimes his real name . . . 

1974: Lowra, a young orphan girl born into wealth and privilege whose fortunes have now changed, finds herself trapped in the same attic. Searching for a ray of light in the darkness of the attic, Lowra finds under the floorboards an old-fashioned pen, a porcelain doll, a beaded necklace, and a message carved on the wall, written in an unidentifiable language. Providing comfort for her when all hope is lost, these clues will lead her to uncover the secrets of the attic."

This has such an interesting premise that sounds like it will be quite an engrossing read! Hopefully I'll get a chance to check it out. :) 

What do you think about these upcoming releases? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

Ithaca by Patrick Dillon

Ithaca by Patrick Dillon. Pegasus Books, 2016. Hardcover. 257 pages.

(I am absolutely in love with this cover design - it's stunning)

*I received a print copy of Ithaca by Patrick Dillon courtesy of Pegasus Books in exchange for an honest review.*

I love learning about Ancient Greek and Roman societies (I am a classics major, after all - it would be weird if I didn't enjoy that), which thus makes me extremely excited whenever I happen across a book that uses an Ancient Greek or Roman setting, storyline, myth, or culture. So when I saw Ithaca, an Odyssey-based story focusing on Odysseus' son, Telemachus, I knew that I had to immediately pick this one up. After reading it, I would say this is a great introductory novel to The Odyssey and the world of Ancient Greece, albeit not necessarily an overly in-depth or reinvented interpretation.

Ithaca is an Odyssey retelling in which Telemachus and his mother, Penelope, have been living in Ithaca for the sixteen years since his father first went away to fight at Troy. Telemachus has grown up those sixteen years never having met his father, and the court where he resides is now overflowing with suitors attempting to take Odysseus' place as Penelope's husband, despite her stubborn refusal to accept Odyesseus' death. As a result, Telemachus decides to embark upon on his own journey to find out whether his father is dead or if he is actually still alive.

 I really liked the concept of this story; the idea of following Telemachus' perspective of the time in which his father is missing is incredibly intriguing, and I was eager to see how Dillon would handle this story line. To be honest, though, Telemachus didn't see much action, and I was almost disappointed by how uneventful his 'journey' ended up being. However, I think is partly because I found this book to me much more of a character and theme-driven story than one fueled by plot, which would account for the lack of adventuring. On the character-driven side, this novel certainly excelled. I liked that Telemachus was portrayed not as the tough, brutal boy you would expect as a result of the environment of his upbringing, but as a somewhat softer boy that is fiercely protective of his mother, but yet still does not know how to fight - likely a direct result of Odysseus' absence. He did not have the opportunity gain the same experiences or skills that a similar young boy at that time would have because he did not have any singular male influence to learn from or even look up to (all of the suitors are rather deplorable human beings). As a reader, we get to see Telemachus undergo a wide array of emotions and opinions, from yearning for his father's presence and firmly believing he is alive, to doubting his being alive and great reputation, along with everything in between.

Along with Telemachus, there is also a sizable portion - about one-third of the story - in which Odysseus recounts his experiences since leaving Troy and attempting to head home, a total of about ten years. This portion was a bit odd to me; I understood why it was placed in the story, but it didn't quite feel necessary. If you are unfamiliar with the actual story of The Odyssey, then this portion is quite frankly a perfectly succinct and understandable summary of the story, and also provided a nice refresher.

The rest of the cast of characters - Penelope, Nestor, Menelaus, Helen, etc. - were all quite wonderfully reimagined, and I felt a sense of excitement whenever a familiar face from the myth was introduced and I was able to see Dillon's interpretation of them. One tiny issue I had was with the character Polycaste, daughter of Nestor, whom Telemachus meets when he travels to find his father. While I enjoyed her character's strength, her dialogue seemed entirely out of place for this story and time period, and I actually found it a bit jarring. It seemed much too modern for a story that I don't think was meant to be overly modern in its retelling.

While this was an overall enjoyable read, I found myself wondering what exactly the point of this retelling was. Was it merely to add in some insight into the character of Telemachus, or was there meant to be something more?  For the most part, I otherwise felt that this was quite literally a basic retelling of the Odyssey with some extra information about what Telemachus may have been experiencing at the same time. I think I was both expecting and hoping for a fresher perspective on this story, so I ended up being left with slight disappointment. Despite this, I cannot fault the writing or strength of the story, which was still certainly entertaining and a lovely story. I would easily recommend this for anyone unfamiliar with the original story, or who is a fan and wishes to read another version. (I must insist, though, that the original be read at some point as well, because it is truly a masterpiece. :) )

Overall, I am giving Ithaca three-and-a-half stars for its readable and flowing prose that retells a classic in a delightful and entertaining manner.

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You might also like:
Helen of Troy by Margaret George
Cleopatra's Shadows by Emily Holleman
Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman