A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After just having read her Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, there was nothing in this world that would prevent me from reading her other books.

This time it’s an actual novel featuring the women of and surrounding the time of the Iliad and Odyssey. It’s certainly not focus on a straight chronological telling, either. Instead, it’s a tale of the women in all these poems and histories and legends, each to their own place and told only as a scholar and a fan could tell it.

Hear the chorus. The chorus has come back around to tell their tale. It’s not about the men. It’s all about the women. The men are just plot points. :) Or not really, but the men are definitely not shown any mercy, and the chorus, the wonderful narration of omniscient first person, makes sure of it.

I have to admit that Haynes is doing a fantastic job of writing these legends in novel form and its speedy pace and little extrapolated filler is making me cheer. So many characters, so many great story points, and HOW they’re put together is pure charm.

This isn’t a long, drawn-out novelization. This is a light, spritely, or downright knife-in-the-heart tragic romp through the stories that made the old Greek legends more than scantily-clad Athenians or Spartans having self-absorbed adventures.

Totally worth the read.

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