Cassandra

Delphic Women #2

by Kerry Greenwood

Cassandra is the second in The Delphic Women trilogy.

Doomed, magnificent Troy is burning...

Cassandra, the golden-haired princess cursed with the gift of prophecy, and Diomenes, the Achaean with the healing hands, become puppets of the gods.

Their passions are thwarted, their loves betrayed, their gifts rendered useless for the sake of a wager between two immortals.

Will Cassandra and Diomenes find each other in the light of the burning city?

And, if they do, can their love survive the machinations of malicious gods and men?

The Delphic Women trilogy: Medea, Cassandra and Electra.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mythology, Fiction, Greek Mythology, Fantasy, Greece, Mystery

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Kerry Isabelle Greenwood was an Australian author and lawyer. She wrote many plays and books, most notably a string of historical detective novels centred on the character of Phryne Fisher, which was adapted as the popular television series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. She wrote mysteries, science-fiction, historical fiction, children's stories, and plays. Greenwood earned the Australian women's crime fiction Davitt Award in 2002 for her young adult novel The Three-Pronged Dagger.

Reviews

[Cassandra Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both Cassandra and Diomenes are healers who've had close encounters with gods early on in their lives. Cassandra and her twin, Eleni, are given the gift of prophecy as small children, while Diomenes becomes a healer after his life is saved by Glaucus, healing priest of Asclepius. During his illness, Thanatos, god of death, blesses him.

Maybe these blessings are what made the two the target of Aphrodite and Apollo's wager. The gist of the bet is that Aphrodite believes she can get the two together, while Apollo is determined to keep them apart. Posiedon and Athena weigh in, wanting to see Troy destroyed in the process (although Posiedon later changes his mind). The whole thing gets very messy, as you can imagine.

We don't see much of the gods in the book, just in the occasional page of dialogue at the end of a chapter. Mostly, what we see is the poor mortals, struggling with the twists and turns their lives take. Both Cassandra and Diomenes find love elsewhere and lose it, but to me the greater tragedy was the fall of Troy itself. Compared to the culture of the Acheans (Greeks), Troy as Greenwood writes it was a beacon of progress and good behaviour, where women were given equal rights and the gods were offered sacrifices of herbs or precious goods rather than blood. Greenwood takes some liberties with the original myth, so the ending isn't quite as horrific as it could have been -- there is at least a little bit of hope there.

One thing I'd forgotten between readings is just how much sex there is in this book, both hetero and homosexual. For the most part that's fine with me, although fair warning: if you want a "clean" read this isn't it. ;) Also, during some of the war scenes the inevitable rape and treatment of captured women as slaves is quite confronting. A lot of it happens "off camera" but still, Greenwood doesn't pull any punches.

The other thing that's quite chilling about this retelling of Troy is Greenwood's portrayal of Achilles: he is an insane psychopath, far and away the worst of the Greeks. It particularly struck me given I just read The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller not long ago, which is a much kinder portrayal. It's interesting to see such different takes on the same character.

Cassandra is the second book in a trilogy, but stands alone; I've never read the other two. If you like gritty, "realistic" historical fantasy, this may be the book for you. 4.5 stars.

[Christina Hirko · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book….. I must preface that I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Medea’; it was hopeful and romantic, even with a slow burn where the main duo characters didn’t meet until halfway through the brick of a book, and it was so lovingly crafted and well researched and I enjoyed reading how the author had chosen to interpret history and differing accounts~ this book…. This book was painful to read. I’ll admit that the Fall of Troy has never been a favored of mine but I left this book hating everyone and everything. This book’s interpretations I thought did not do it justice—having Cassandra not able to speak her prophecies felt like the author wanted Cassandra to be reverted and beloved in Troy, despite this superstitious race knowing she’s god cursed and everyone openly taking her side on how unfair Apollo was, so that she could remain at the center of things and also fuck, omg there’s so much fucking in this book but it’s kinda terrible? Cassandra would be having real problems but we’d pause her story to have an orgy like nothing was wrong at all—every character is so sexually charged and sleeps with everyone, I’m kinda surprised Cassandra didn’t sleep with Hector (cause incest was not off limits by any means). Then the other half of our heroes is Diomenes and he was literally the authors golden boy—wow, he was so charming as an inexperienced twerp that he is the only man who Helen of Troy willingly slept with~?! Again, excuses to have sex and also tie in the absolute OC insert into more established figures of the myth/history. Having him be Atheist was such a weak point, too, cause a) he still believed entirely in Thanatos and so how far of a stretch was it to realize the rest of the myths were true? And b) literally every few chapters the reader is witnessing the gods, or seeing them physically appear to Cassandra, so what are we really trying to accomplish with Diomenes and his rebellion against the gods? Absolutely nothing—what he hates was the culture of his people, which the previous book did so much better with that male protag, and so by the end when Diomenes comes to this conclusion, I’m wondering why I read 400 pages of just misery but not any cathartic misery; just a bad book. This book was supposed to be “about war” and Diomenes was supposed to be an outsiders perspective, but the war itself was so short—just the last fourth of the book, and Diomenes isn’t ever really describing the war—he’s off doing some minuscule mini game of healing five women or talking plagues with Arion. It didn’t feel like “here’s the other sides of war that you don’t consider often” even, it purely felt like he was on another beach to the actual war. The main duo, who were hyped up about the relationship between throughout the entire book, don’t even meet til the like forty pages of the book and they have the most face value, rushed connection ever—I genuinely feel enraged thinking of this book and how poorly it was constructed and paced and written (as pointed out numerous other by other reviewers, the editor let the author down immensely with the amount of typos in this book); a specific scene that sticks out in my mind as being so confusingly and poorly written was The wife’s death—she died like three times in two pages and the baby both lived and died and survived and died and a chapter later I found out there were twins? It was just such a bad book, and I’ll read the third out of curiosity to see which was more accurate to the authors ability—Medea or Cassandra—but I fear that it being a continuation of this bad story with these bad characters, that I will not like it. I would highly recommend reading Medea and stopping before continuing onto this Delphic woman story.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Trojan War has been covered in so many novels and plays, many of which are classics of historical fiction or fantasy genre from Homer and Aeschylus to Heinrich von Kleist to David Gemmell, Seamus Heaney and even Hector Berlioz's opera Les Troyens, that I feel it's more and more difficult for writers to come up with an original, interesting slant on the story. This author succeeds admirably with this enjoyable novel: her retelling of the story of Cassandra. She makes the strong Cassandra a Trojan princess/priestess of Apollo/healer/prophetess and advances her own reason for why instead of people not listening to Cassandra's prophecies, Cassandra is not even able to articulate them. Greenwood also introduces a fictional character not in the original myth, Diomenes aka Chryse [the Golden One], Achaean [Greek] priest-healer of Asclepius, god-touched by Thanatos, Greek god of death, as counterpoint to Cassandra. Cassandra and Diomenes both are victims of thwarted love. The Olympian gods wager as to what is stronger: love or death. The gods play with these humans, treating them as their puppets. The story covers events prior to, during, and immediately after the Trojan War. The author treats each episode with a large dollop of creative license. Chapters alternate between the voices of Cassandra and Diomenes, giving their points of view and how events affect them. At the end of each chapter italicized paragraphs give us the gods' and goddesses' running commentary.

So: what is stronger--love or death? The gods express their final opinion. All supplementary material was valuable reading. I saw this was put out by Poisoned Pen Press, which generally publishes mysteries; however I wouldn't call this novel a mystery.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit of a different telling of the sacking of Troy. It is a stand alone book and you can read it separate to other books in the series.

I thought it was ok.

[Margaret]

Nope. Can't get into it.

[Mike Shoop · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope. Wanted to like it, but...the writing style didn't grab me, she strayed too far (for my taste) from the familiar stories about Cassandra and the Trojan War, way too many characters with little development to keep straight, just didn't appeal. Read most of it, but ended up skimming about a third of it.

[Ashley G · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book just wasn’t for me. i did read the entire novel however, there were too many characters that it felt overwhelming and strayed too far away from the well-known stories of cassandra and the trojan war ⚔️🏛️

[Wrbill Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Trojan Women

Fine tale of the Trojan war. Greenwood creates a good collection of characters for her version of the story. Surprise: She loves Hector and hates Achilles!

[Christina]

The retelling of Cassandra through her eyes. Changed up a little so that she lives after the war, however it was excellent.

[Tracy Smyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this telling of Cassandra. It was an easy read.

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

df, not for me

[Tien · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main attraction to this novel was, of course, the author. Who doesn’t know Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher? I have read quite a few of her works; Phryne Fisher series (though not quite up to date), Corrina Chapman series, and the standalone Out of the Black Land –an Ancient Egyptian novel. I quite enjoy the ancient world and I thought this book which was loosely based on a Greek tragedy could be a good read.

I tried to read the first book, Medea, first (since I’m slightly OCD and cannot face reading book 2 before book 1) but I just couldn’t finish it. I just wasn’t in the mood for tragedy at the time plus then I realised that the series is really a series of stand alone books based on classic Greek tragedies. Truthfully, I almost gave up on Cassandra too. There were too many annoying characters for me to enjoy it.

Firstly, the gods and their fickleness. I feel like they needed to be slapped thoroughly and taken down quite a number of notches. Then again, Greek gods were fickle so I supposed this is kinda true to character. I think I also found it difficult because I just finished Antigoddess where some of the gods are actually likeable plus it was linked to this particular tragedy so closely that I was torn between them two.

The story was told from 2 perspectives, Cassandra and Diomenes, and they tell their own stories from opposing worlds. Cassandra, whilst a strong female character, I did not find to be at all charming –mostly because she’s strong from stubbornness and at times, spite, rather than anything else. I quite liked Diomenes to begin with until tragedy hit and I wanted to shake him too. Individually, however, they did not actually meet until fairly close to the end and even then, there was not much ado. Not long after their meeting, the story closes.

It was an interesting read of Kerry Greenwood’s attempt at retelling an ancient story but it really lacks the sparkle of Phryne Fisher’s and / or the zest of Corinna Chapman.

Thank you, Poisoned Pen for copy of eARC via NetGalley

[Katie Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure I can fairly review this book right now... I will say this however, if you are a Greek mythology fan, do not go into this book expecting it to be faithful to myths about the Trojan War. On many, many occasions Greenwood diverges from the traditional myths and it is only occasionally effective for moving the story along.

Review for Library Journal: Aphrodite and Apollo are bored up on Mount Olympus, so they devise a test to see if mortal love is stronger than death and loss. It is on this conceit that Greenwood's second book in her Delphic Woman trilogy (after Medea ) is based. Told in the parallel voices of Cassandra , Trojan princess and prophetess, and Diomenes, Achaean peasant and healer, this story follows both characters' lives leading up to the Trojan War. Diomenes is particularly fascinating, as he meets many famous mythological figures and also studies medicine. Greenwood deftly portrays her protagonists' growth as they face loss, pain, and death. VERDICT Originally published in 1995 in Australia, this is an intriguing take on Greek myth, particularly when looking at the culture of the ancient Greeks. But mythology purists may be disappointed with some of Greenwood's departures. An extremely violent, highly sexualized depiction of ancient Greece, this novel is at its best when describing cultural and historical details including medicine and festivals. Definitely a change of pace from Greenwood's delightfully cozy "Phryne Fisher" mysteries, it may appeal to readers who enjoyed Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles .

[Leanne Coughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Lots of death, but by the time the bloodbath started you knew who lived and died, so it wasn't shocking. The focus was on the people and the way they lived and interacted. And it was really fascinating. And I really enjoyed the interaction between the gods and people. The structure reminded me a bit of The Book Thief with the Grim Reaper. And the subject matter made me want to reread David Malouf's book Ransom which was also about Hector and Achilles and the fall of Troy. But from a totally different perspective.

[JG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cassandra is actually a re-telling or adaptation of events surrounding the Trojan War. There are definitely some twisting of the myth to suit the purpose of the plot which in a way expanded the story. A well written, interesting and entertaining novel that fans of Greek Mythology will definitely appreciate.


*The ARC for this novel was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review*

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It is exactly the sort of thing I like - history through the woman's perspective, a different view of a familiar story, rich background, absorbing narrative, multi-dimensional fascinating characters. Highly recommend if you enjoyed Mists of Avalon etc. by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Ms Greenwood is not quite the writer Ms Bradley is, but then who is.

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tragedy leavened with the optimism of hope and love, this retelling of the Illiad is an intriguing amalgam of erotic adventure story and historical fantasy.

[Georgene · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a bit of switching around of history, Greenwood writes a compelling story of Cassandra, Princess of Troy and a seer whom no one believes.

[Rianna Rowsell]

Did not finish