Helen, The First Trojan Horse

by Michael Lally

Helen of Troy has been called a whore, an adulteress and the destroyer of Troy, but questions remain. Did she fall in love with Paris? Was she abducted? Or did she willingly take part in the greatest political cover-up in history? Helen, The First Trojan Horse is about the most enigmatic and vilified woman in history. Helen, The First Trojan Horse explores the untold love story of the ages and provides a new and unique twist on the legend of the Trojan War. Read about this captivating beauty's extraordinary life from her early childhood through the Trojan War, and her horrible death at the hands of a friend. During the Age of Heroes there were many great men. Is it possible that Helen was not only the most beautiful woman who ever lived, she was also a Greek hero?

Genres: Historical Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2013

Reviews

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given an advanced copy of this book to read and provide an honest review. I love historical fiction, so this book was right down my alley. I loved reading about Helen from a different perspective - hers. There is a little literary licence here in the story telling, but wow what a great read. The story starts with a young Helen, already a great beauty, who is abducted from her home. She is rescued and returned to her family, at which point her father believes marriage will stop future abduction attempts. But Helen loves Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon and secretly hopes he will put himself forth as a suitor. Helen's crafty father makes all the suitors swear an oath to uphold Helen and Menelaus's marriage. Tales of Helen's beauty continue to bring men to Sparta after she marries and takes the crown after her father dies. She agrees to a plot with Agamemnon to leave with Paris of Troy who is intending to wage war on Sparta and abduct her. By professing her love for him and leaving, Agamemnon, Menelaus and all the Greek nobility sworn to defend their marriage take the war to Troy, instead of Spartan soil. Clever? The war raged for years and many lives were lost, including Archilles. Eventually Troy falls as we know from history. What is really interesting in this book is what happens after Helen and Menelaus leave Troy and return home. The story is well told and it grips you quite quickly, even though you know what is going to happen. Loved it.

[Melisende · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historical fiction as told from the point of view of Helen of Sparta.

Was Helen's abduction a clever ploy to start a war with Troy on their land rather than on Sparta's. Afterall, we only have Homer's version of events.

Exciting premise not particularly well executed.

[Kayla De Leon · Rating 1 out of 5]

A free digital copy of this book was procured via NetGalley in exchante for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book but while the premise was intriguing, the way it was written was awful. The writing style was very dry and textbook-y, coming across as more of a reference book instead of a historical fiction novel. It was as if Helen, the first Trojan Horse was a modern version of the original myth of the Trojan War with a few elements imagined and added by the author. The way this book was written made me feel as if I was reading a poorly constructed paper on the myth. Sure, there was dialogue and the emotions of the characters was tackled but these were all told rather than shown. As a result, I couldn’t feel any empathy for Helen, Menelaus and the Greek army even if their predicament was already very dire.

The concept was quite good with the author painting Helen as a noble sacrificial lamb instead of the enchanting vixen history portrays her as. There were times when Helen was a weak-minded fool but at the end of the book, she was definitely a brave and courageous woman who could stand on her own two feet. Menelaus’ character would have been fascinating but he wasn’t explored thoroughly, which was really disappointing. He was one of the major characters of the book but he was a one-dimensional person without depth.

The pacing didn’t make the book better as it was all very rushed and hurried. The transitioning was abrupt especially when the point of view changed from one character to another. One minute we were seeing the war through Menelaus’ eyes and the next sentence, we were in Helen’s place feeling wretched over the carnage she had caused.

With my interest in mythology and my 2011 trip to Turkey wherein I saw a huge model of the Trojan Horse, I prepared myself to really love this book. The research is commendable and the concept was interesting but unfortunately, the characters, writing style and pacing made it a very tedious and irksome read.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine Helen an unwilling captive of Paris? Goes against just about everything we've read about the Trojan War. Well, this book gives a unique perspective of the war. We hear Helen's point of view. Not just the war, but her life leading up to and after the war.

I've always imagined Helen to be a somewhat empty headed, silly individual. This book portrays her as a capable, strong woman who helps her countrymen every way she can.

The author, Michael Lally, must have done an immense amount of research before writing this book. He's managed to portray many of the characters exactly as I imagined them to be, ie: Agammemnon, Clytemnestra, Hector. All of the favorites from Homer's epic are here. Some are not so likable.

I found this be a very enjoyable book. 4/5 stars

[Elizabeth Grieve · Rating 1 out of 5]

As I am currently teaching students the story of Troy, I thought this might offer some new insights, but I'm afraid I could't get very far with it. I didn't find it well written at all, with unnatural dialogue, some odd anachronistic vocabulary and some poor grammar. It would benefit enormously from proofreading, and I would be happy to read a revised edition.

Review of a digital copy from the publisher.

[Kendra Simmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book. It mixed Greek mythology with history.