Ithaca was not the book I was expecting at all but ended up loving it.

This isn't written like the typical Greek myth retelling, this is a slow, political read set in the world of mythology. Don't let this put you off, this book will have you hooked.
We follow Penelope, 18 years after Odysseus left for Troy but the twist is that it's told through Hera's perspective. I loved Hera's voice and opinions on events. I'm going to start the next one right away.

Thank you NetGalley for this e-arc.

Thank you NetGalley for an e-arc of this book. I have requested this because of the author. I love other works by Claire North and I really wanted to try this one. This is a mythology retelling and unfortunately, it was not for me. The writing is beautiful and I will definitely try more books by this author, but I have discovered that mythology retellings are just not for me.

I still highly recommend this for anyone that likes this genre.

I read House of Odysseus (which I rated 5 stars) before this book so I had very high hopes but unfortunately I just found this one boring. There was no compelling plot. It barely felt like there was a story being told. Hera’s narration was plain, unlike Aphrodite’s in House of Odysseus. She and Penelope didn’t have enough personality between them to fill a teaspoon.

Overall underwhelmed, but at least it shows a lot of growth as a writer between this book and House of Odysseus. I will still read whatever she puts out next.

I really struggled with this.
I had high hopes for a Penelopiad book to tell the story of Penelope as she holds things together while Odysseus is away well, but sadly this was not it.
I'll give it this, it started well and really caught my attention having Hera as the narrator rather than Penelope, which was something I wasn't expecting. It helped to avoid some pitfalls single POVs fall into, namely failure to gain insight into the mindset of other characters.

But as a result of this I found that we jumped about between minds quite a bit, and we never really engage that much with characters as a result, even our main FMCs!
The POV changes not just between mindsets but also narrative person, flicking between first, second and third person at the drop of a hat.
The writing itself and the descriptions do wonders to save this story, because it was obviously well researched and written. Though the use of modern words and phrases really threw me at times.

If you were hoping for a new Miller and Haynes and a powerful feminist retelling then I'm afraid this is not it.
Go pick up Clytemnestra instead!

I absolutely love a feminist retelling of a Greek myth and was super excited to read Penelope's story. I was surprised to find that it was told from Hera's perspective, but this soon made sense when I realized it gave the option to see other characters motivations somewhat.

The book started really slow and I actually almost stopped reading in the first third. There was a very formal reading style and a lot of characters with back stories, which made it complicated to keep up with and I really struggled to feel engaged.

Once the story really got started though, I enjoyed it more and there were moments of humour which I enjoyed, especially during the speech. I really liked the idea of the army of women preparing to fight and save their island and their lifestyle, but felt like it never really came to much.

I really liked the character of Penelope - her calm demeanor which covered a steel desire to survive and protect the women in her kingdom, her intelligence and patience. I'd have liked to have seen more from the perspective of other female characters, maybe some of the servants.

I enjoyed parts of the book, but on the whole this felt too long and like it was almost written by two different people.

This was a thoroughly entertaining and interesting read; quite possibly my favourite book of 2023 so far.
Absorbing, exciting, illuminating and riveting. It was a real page turner. And very funny in parts too.

I haven't read much Greek mythology so after my frantic Googling of all the characters at the beginning, I really started to enjoy this novel even if the plot was a bit meandering. It was funny at times and nice to see so many strong female characters. My only complaint would be there was a lot of characters to get round that weren't totally necessary to the plot.

I had such high hopes for this one as Greek Mythology is an area of literature I love to read about. The story is told from the POV of Hira which I found refreshing. It was great to get the birds eye view of everything that was going on and see the reactions of the Gods.

However I did end up DNF'ing this at 45%. At almost half way through I have lost count of the number of characters we have been introduced to. Whilst this story focuses on Penelope and I was interested to see how her story developed I didn't feel connected to any of the characters and often found myself lost with all the different stories we have been told.

I think that if the author had stuck with just Penelope's story and not recapped over the other mythology tales then this would have been a lot easier to follow and more captivating.

Fascinating retelling of the Odyssey from the point of view of Penelope. While Odysseus is away for 20 years fighting and coming back from the Trojan Way, Penelope rules Ithaca and tries to protect her people.

This is the book I've been waiting for! I've always wanted a story about what happened to Penelope while waiting for Odysseus to return, and this did not disappoint. Thank you for the ARC!

I absolutely loved this book!

I’m a fan of Mary Beard & Madeleine Miller so happily jumped into this and read it very quickly. Odysseus is still away from his kingdom of Ithaca after leaving many years ago to fight in the Trojan war. He has left behind his wife Penelope (who is Helen of Troy’s cousin) and their son Telemachus who was an infant when his father left & is now entering adulthood. Penelope has managed his affairs well, but has a problem, many suitors have arrived wanting her to choose one of them to marry as they believe Odysseus is dead & want to take over his kingdom. However Penelope knows that the fate of her son is put in jeopardy if she was to marry, and must distract them from forcing her to make any such decision.

I actually decided to go and see a local production of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad after finishing this book as I wasn’t ready to leave this world behind. I can’t wait for the next book & highly recommend Ithaca.

I'm a huge fan of Greek mythology but we've definitely had a recent uptick in published novels and not all of them are great. This is a solid offering but nothing startling.

Penelope has been left behind in Ithaca whilst her husband King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy. Told from Penelope's perspective of this time period I was completely gripped. I felt extremely cheated by the ending but knowing there is another novel in the series I will eagerly anticipate its release. Nothing else to say other than I loved it; 5 stars!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

I loved the Penelopiad, so I was really keen to read this. I really liked having the goddess narrating it as it gave us insight and a birds-eye view into the events in Ithica. The prose was great, and there were some really beautifully crafted passages.

This was a beautifully written book, that took the far more interesting angle of taking what was happening in the background of the Odyssey and bringing it to the light.

The absolute charm here came from Hera's narration - involved, funny, emotional - combining the authority of the Gods with the feeling of someone who is also used to wielding her power behind the back of her husband.

A very good read.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC*

A beautifully written book. I Really enjoyed reading this.

A perfect read for those interested in mythology and retellings.


Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read

I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Did not finish at about a third of the way through.
It's very, very rare that I abandon a book this early on but I simply couldn't persevere with this one.
It probably wasn't helped by the fact that I have recently read Circe by Madeline Miller, incredibly written and in a similar vein.
Ithaca's style is facile, flowery, and un-engaging. The plot is bogged down by irrelevant mythical detail and a confusing narrator and under-developed characters.
I feel bad for being so brutal but I am annoyed to have wasted time on this one.

Book was not for me. Did not finish - DNF. I’m not a fan of this authors writing style and won’t be continuing to read.

I love Greek retellings and was excited to read this one - I even waited to get my hands on a physical copy when it released locally, in South Africa. That being said, this wasn't as gripping as I would have hoped - it was slow, and at times, I struggled to connect with the characters.