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A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. Maas
4.6
A Thousand Ships: A Novel
by Natalie Haynes
Published Nov 9, 2021
Categories
About this book
The fall of Troy is usually remembered as a clash of kings and the vanity of heroes, but the true burden of the decade-long conflict falls upon the women left in its wake. As the city burns, the surviving Trojan queens, princesses, and priestesses face a brutal transition from royalty to spoils of war. Their stories are woven together with those of the goddesses whose petty rivalries ignited the fire, the Amazon warriors who fought to turn the tide, and the wives left behind in Greece to navigate the agonizing silence of their husbands’ absence.
This epic retelling shifts the gaze from the battlefield to the domestic and divine spheres, exploring the resilience required to survive a war dictated by men. From the desperate defiance of those captured to the weary patience of Penelope, the narrative strips away the veneer of myth to reveal the human cost of glory. Through a tapestry of perspectives, the novel centers the voices that history has long relegated to the margins.
It is a haunting exploration of power, loss, and the enduring strength of women caught in the gears of a war that was never truly theirs to command.
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Kindle: $0.00 Paperback: $10.03
What readers are saying
MaddalenaCWomen Telling Their Side of the Story of the Trojan War
"I have always loved the story of The Illiad and The Odyssey from childhood when I first encountered them in the Classics Illustrated comic books our father bought for us, and followed up as a teenager with the poems. In college Latin classes, we read the Aenead of Virgil, who was a later inspiration to the poet Dante, and was his companion through the Inferno. I finished this book in two sittings: couldn't put it down. Ms. Haynes has done a masterful job of telling the story from the points of view of the women who suffered on both sides of the story of the War. Her treatment of the conquered women of Troy is the most powerful and heartbreaking, reminding me of Michael Cacoyannis' film of Euripides', "The Trojan Women", which I will be re-watching. The stories of two women on opposite sides of the conflict stand out Two mothers, Hecabe, queen of a defeated, ravaged Troy and Clytemnestra, queen of Mycenae, wife of Agamemnon experience fierce grief for lovely innocent daughters IphigenIa and Polyxena slain as sacrifices to the gods. But for Hecabe, the revenge is for the last and youngest of her 50 sons traitorously surrendered to the Greeks by the very king she had paid to hide and protect him. Both women take revenge, Hecabe for the surrender to the Greeks of her last son Polydorus whom she had sent to Polymestor, King of Thrace, to be hidden. Oddly enough, her vengeance is aided by Odysseus king of Ithaca who is the enemy, but who seems sympathetic to her. Even in a story of such horrible bloodshed in war, Hacabe's vengeance on Polymestor was shocking to this reader. Clytemnestra, Queen of the blustering bully Agamemnon of Mycenae, bides her time, but takes her vengeance with the aid of his cousin Aegisthius who has become her lover for the murder/sacrifice of Iphigenia The only fault I find is with the overlong episodes told by Penelope. What she mostly does is retell her husband Odysseus' story, much of which she cannot possibly know. It would have been more effective if she had told her own story, and more about what does happen in the household after Odysseus reveals that he has returned, I always found the story of the fate of the little housemaids who had the misfortune to fall in love with some of the suitors unbearably poignant. Penelope's comment: she will have a problem finding replacements. She is one of the female characters who is truly powerless. Even the nymph Oenone, the first wife of faithless Paris revenges herself on him, when, wounded and bleeding, he seeks her aid. Nevertheless, Ms. Haynes has written a story of female strength in adversity. The women although some are highly placed in their cultures are powerless against the decisions of their men, but in their absence, many find their power; some find fury and their revenge with a power unexpected in women of their time. The gods, although present in the story, come across as petulant spoiled brats some of whom hatch plots against the very people who worship them, and that explains the story of the contest of three goddesses for the golden apple in the hands of Paris, spoiled prince of Troy, and the root of the Trojan War. The author has done extensive research and it shows in the narrations. ["
February 22, 2021 Verified Purchase
Michael DelaneyGood, not great
"I wanted to love this, because I love these types of stories that tell a retelling or a different point of view of Homers epic of The Iliad and The Odyssey, such as Madeline Miller’s, Circe and The Song of Achilles as well as Daniel Kelly’s, Fall of the Phoenix and A Hero’s Welcome. This however, takes a different approach, by telling the story through Calliope, the Greek muse of heroic poetry as she inspires Homer to tell additional tales of goddesses, amazons, Greek and Trojan women during the Trojan war. The thing I love the most, is that this isn’t a complete retelling, as it still keeps true to The Iliad and The Odyssey, while getting to see a different view of the Trojan war and how it affected the wives or lovers of some of the most famous men of the epic. This is definitely a breath of fresh air into one of the most famous stories ever written, because they deserved to have a story of their own as well. “When a war was ended, the men lost their lives. But the women lost everything else.” It tells the stories of some 20 different women, some get a single chapter and not a lot of depth, others get multiple and a far deeper story. All the stories were good and well written, but most of the smaller stories felt a bit unnecessary other than to say they got a voice in the novel. Those stories just didn’t give enough time to develop any kind of feeling towards the character so when their story was over, it was just, an “ok… on to the next” type of feeling. The author had a bunch of great ideas, but this could have been a lot longer and each of the parts expanded upon and given more time to grow, and I probably would’ve loved this a lot more. I also had a small issue with the authors narration, for most of the novel, it felt like she didn’t give any kind of emotion. She did a great job of differentiating her voices for the characters involved, but it just felt like something was missing from the performance. With that said, it was a great set of stories that the author created, so I would definitely recommend this as a read only over doing the audio or Whispersync. ["
July 26, 2022 Verified Purchase
KayAmazing Novel: One of the best I have ever read!
"I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. It pulled me in and I could not get it out of my mind after reading the first little bit. It would seem to be depressing but somehow it was not. Every one of the women had a story and they were all unique and heartbreaking. They truly spoke of the desperate need to struggle on in the face of the worst possible consequences. This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read, honestly! And the author really knows her subject well. She weaves in the different women’s perspectives to great effect! After reading it, I looked up the characters and their stories and Ms. Haynes did a spectacular job of making the bare facts feel real, like she had a fabulous view of these women and their histories and just wrote down what they did and what they thought! It was written in spare lyrical prose that was lovely. I actually read it twice in one month. ["
February 14, 2024 Verified Purchase
BeautyjunkieIt’s no Circe
"I think the fact this this came out after the acclaim of Circe definitely helped its reception. There are several different characters in this story. The chapters are broken up and alternate between their points of view, which helped move the story along and to get through. Overall I liked, not loved, the book but it was very straight forward. I read this right after Circe and it did not have any metaphor or poetry to it whatsoever like Circe did. There were some lines I had to read again to make sense of them. It didn’t seem like artistic license, it seemed like not the best writing. The story was good but the writing was basic and mediocre. ["
May 6, 2022 Verified Purchase
