Electra

Delphic Women #3

by Kerry Greenwood

'My sandals were made to glide over the marble floor of the Palace of Mycenae, not to walk the road like a common market trader.

Of course, as a princess, I was unused to walking.

Only female slaves and whore are seen in public.

Only female slaves and whores walk..


Electra is the final book in The Delphic Women trilogy.

Electra is forced to flee her home after witnessing the shocking murder of her father, Agamemnon. But life outside the palace walls is frightening.

The free and easy ways of her foreign companions disturb her - especially the scandalous relationship between the Trojan woman, Cassandra, and the two men - but she needs their help to survive. Along the way, Electra's travels - driven by a burning desire for revenge - become a different kind of journey.

Electra evokes the dark perils and pleasures of the ancient world with a contemporary sensual intensity.

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

329 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

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

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Electra is the third book in the Delphic Women series by Australian author, Kerry Greenwood. Electra’s father, Agamemnon of the House of Atreus, has been victorious in Troy, and is about to return to Mycenae with a Trojan slave concubine, Cassandra, when she becomes aware of the plot by her mother, Clytemnestra and her mother’s lover, Aegithus, to murder Agamemnon. Despite her privileged and secluded life, she assists Diomenes, an Asclepid healer, and Eumides, a Trojan sailor to enter the quarters to rescue Cassandra.

Having seen Agamemnon slain, Electra must flee, and takes her ten-year-old brother, Orestes with her. She is invited to accompany the trio to Delphi. Meanwhile, Odysseus is still at sea, unable to return to his wife and child in Ithica while Poseidon’s wrath remains. And the Gods argue over the fate of the House of Atreus.

Greenwood tells the story in four narrative strands: Cassandra, Electra and Odysseus each relate events from their perspective, and the deliberations of the Gods are reported from time to time. Greenwood’s extensive research is apparent on every page, but her writing style and attention to detail ensures that what could dry and boring is made absorbing and easy to assimilate.

By infusing the characters with personality and emotion, strengths and weaknesses, and giving them everyday conversation, Greenwood takes Classic Greek mythology and makes it palatable. While this is the final book of a trilogy, it can be read as a stand-alone. An interesting read.

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to give this terrific book a 5, but kept being thrown out of the story by stumbling over typos. PPP, please hire more proofreaders!

(e.g., The King and the Kind are not the same people. Especially in Mythic Greece. I had to back up and reread to figure out that it wasn't a poetic reference to the Furies....)

That aside, though, this was a fantastic ending to an excellent series. Well worth reading!

[Christina Hirko · Rating 2 out of 5]

This entire series has been such a whirlwind of opinions for me--I both loathe and tolerate it. 'Medea' is an excellent book of which I highly recommend. 'Cassandra' is trash that does not accomplish anything it sets out to do. 'Electra' is...a conclusion to 'Cassandra' (Medea is wholly stand-alone) and is better than 'Cassandra'...but objectively is still a bad book. Odysseus adds so little to this book that he actually takes away--his half-a-page entries at the beginning of every few chapters serves as comedic relief in that I scoffed when they'd pop up thinking, "what are we really doing here with him?!" It's difficult judging this book because the one thing it cannot be denied is the research put in--Greenwood researched the hell out of the material and made some good leaps of judgment with technology and language--and then she made other leaps that are...nuts. I cannot speak to the validity of the cultures of the different cities and their position on the existence of women; Troy very well could have had the most modern and liberal position on women, and Mycenae could have been a hellish, almost comical representation of the most extreme conservatism (Oh, there's a famine? Whelp, time to kill the useless women--they're replaceable and if not them, then the unthinkable might happen--the men might die!--this said by a woman who is perfectly accepting that she is little more than a potted plant at men's mercy). Like, yeah the juxtaposition of the two female leads was kinda interesting when they didn't veer SO far into the extremes, but most of the time they both served as comical ends of a ridiculous sliding scale--this, however, could be b/c I couldn't pull myself out of the modern mindset well enough and that I'm just in disbelief over how extreme the cultures were portrayed... I could be wrong! As a story, it's...drudging. The prose is so inconsequential and everything that needed explanation gets hand waves and everything that needed nuance gets ham-fisted down your throat. I again felt a disconnect with this *Spoilers* modern dilemma of Electra's rape and trauma when coupled with everything else that is acceptable in this world...Again, there's just this disconnect when half the book world is trying to scorn the trio for being a walking threesome, while the other half looks fondly upon them and it feels like this book wants to have its cake and eat it too--with the shock and moral high ground, but also with the liberalism and casting-aside of judgement... This is a 2.5 purely in comparison against 'Cassandra', but even with that uplifting review it's still not a good book (typos aside; I found WAY more in 'Cassandra'; also, this book is shorter and that's a plus for it) But that still feels like a compliment...

[Dearna (Words of the Roses) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

I adore this series, can't wait to read Medea! Kerry Greenwood is a seriously talented writer. I love how to spins the myths and makes them fit into the history of antiquity. Not sure Odyssey needed a POV but I still enjoyed his sections

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but was somewhat put off my all the typos and other errors in my copy (better proofreading was clearly needed). The fact that Greenwood actually travelled through the places described is evident. An interesting modern take on an ancient story.

[Patricia Barlow-Irick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like Greenwood's talent for turning myth into a novel, but the gratuitous sex scenes could have been omitted.

[Christina]

The story of Electra told through her eyes also connects Cassandra with her story. Truly great read.

[Tracy Smyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book.

[Ruston Farrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this one! Slow at some points

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3.5, but too many scenes that made me uncomfortable prevented my rounding it up to a 4.
As in Greenwood's previous retellings of Greek mythological stories of strong women, it's just as difficult to give a different slant to the Electra/House of Atreus myth. She largely succeeds with this interweaving of the Electra/Orestes myth; continuation of Cassandra's story and that of Odysseus. After having offended Poseidon, the sea god, Odysseus is trying desperately to make his way home because he knows of the present events on Ithaca: Penelope and her unwanted suitors. Electra here is an Achaean [Greek] princess; she flees her homeland with her brother Orestes after their double murder of mother and lover, and wanders for years until the gods are finished playing with them. They search for love and a safe haven. She has a dark secret overshadowing her life. Cassandra, the Trojan princess/priestess of Apollo/healer is taken as slave by Agamemnon, after a failed rescue attempt. We meet again the fictional characters not in the original myths: Diomenes called Chryse [the Golden One], Greek priest-healer of Asclepius and his close friend Eumides, the sailor. These two rescue Cassandra from Agamemnon's clutches with Electra's connivance, and begin travelling together. For awhile these five journey together, then go their separate ways. The gods still play with the lives of all of them, although Zeus periodically asks them to stop. Periodically, the gods look into the Pool of Mortal Lives and comment on the action, argue, and decide the next step in these peoples' fates. We do find out the outcome of the gods' wager: the stronger of the two--love or death. Sometimes this novel dragged; I felt there were too many lingering stops on the journeys. I also felt the ending was rushed and tied up things too neatly.

[Robert Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although not as easy to read as the Phryne Fisher novels, the Delphic Women stories are terrific reads. They are well researched and full of historical facts mixed with myth and conjecture. Cassandra is being transported to Mycenae by King Agamemnon to be a slave concubine. Upon his arrival at the palace, Clytemnestra his queen murders him with the help of her lover. In the aftermath a couple of Cassie's friends rescue her and bring Electra along as a hostage, but also to protect her from her mother. +

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic treatment of the myth of the fall of the House of Atreus.

Replete with gods and goddesses, "Electra" is a wonderful retelling of the myth from the skilled hands of Australian author Kerry Greenwood.

A pity she's only done 3 books in the series.

[VMom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this better than the preceding book, Cassandra, although she is actually also here, making it a true sequel. Odysseus has a cameo pov.
The author brings a new depth to the Electra/Orestes story by giving them deeper motives than Agamemnon's murder.

[Georgene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this out of order of the 3 book series. Ah, well. It was a good read and very enjoyable if you like dark ancient Greek tragedy.

[Marg Corjay · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up reading about 1/3 way through, too many typos, plot was going nowhere and cast of characters was 6 pages long. I was very disappointed because I love her other mystery series.