The Bad Girls of Ancient Greece by Lizzy Tiffin offers a collection of short stories centred around the infamous women of ancient Greek history – the wayward wives, mad mothers, scandalous sisters, and bold damsels who left their mark on the ancient world. Tiffin delves into the myths and legends of these women, making ancient history accessible and engaging for modern readers.

Writing Style:
One of the standout aspects of Tiffin’s work is her ability to bring the expansive and often complicated world of ancient history to life in a way that doesn’t feel intimidating. Historical works can sometimes feel exclusive, but Tiffin breaks down these barriers as she delves into the myths and legends of these women, making ancient history accessible with her clear, critical analysis of ancient texts. She provides pronunciation guides at the start of each story, making it easier for readers to engage with the characters. However, a glossary for the lesser-known figures would have been helpful, as the multitude of uncommon names can be overwhelming.

Structure:
Tiffin does an excellent job of providing the historical context behind the myths, explaining how different accounts and translations over time have shaped and changed these stories. Her approach of selecting narratives that best complement each other, or simply the juiciest versions, works well and I also like the inclusion of alternate happenings in some of the stories. However, the brevity of the stories sometimes results in a loss of detail, making certain narratives feel a bit confusing, especially when characters reappear in later stories.

Humour and Tone:
Sadly the humour written into the narrations of the stories wasn’t for me! It often felt a little forced, and somewhat cringey in parts. I appreciate it was likely there to lighten the mood of some of these frankly shocking stories, so may land better with a slightly younger reader looking for a lighter approach to these stories.

Final Thoughts:
The Bad Girls of Ancient Greece is a great pick for readers looking to dip in and out of a book with short, engaging stories. While it may not be a book to read in one go, it’s perfect for those moments when you have just 5-10 minutes to spare. Despite some of the stories feeling a bit rushed and the humour not always hitting the mark, Lizzy Tiffin succeeds in making ancient Greek history accessible and entertaining for a modern audience. This collection is an intriguing introduction to the often-overlooked women of ancient Greece, offering a fresh perspective on their legendary tales.

A witty snapshot of the women of Ancient Greece which was informative if not also a little messy.

For me the stand out part of this book was simply the information it provided. As someone who is pretty familiar with the myth and legends of Ancient Greece (thank you university and Percy Jackson) even I was learning about new women from this influential era. Though the information we are given isn't in depth. I would have loved a more extensive look into some of these women as I found that even the most well known figures were kind of brushed over and it made me wonder what else was being missed about some of these women who often appear as footnotes to the male figures in their own story.

The overall organisation wasn't the most cohesive and I found that the overarching subheadings didn't really match some of the women. For example, a few women from the Damsel chapter didn't fit in my opinion. Also, as with some Greek Myths, there is a lot of overlap with these stories and I feel like it would have made more sense to group these women in a different way as throughout I felt like a warrior on great mission myself flip flopping between different Greek Island.

If you are a fan of Greek myth I would suggest this as a nice slow read where you keep coming back to for a few chapters at a time rather than a massive binge read.

This was an amazing book! Full of women throughout ancient history/mythology, it covers their stories from those making mistakes to those actively rebelling against society and/or the gods. I loved the way the sections were divided and felt it provided natural breaks throughout the story. I liked how short each chapter was, so it was concise but beautifully written, without having too much information, and I wish the book had been longer so I could have kept on reading! I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to get into mythology, focusing more on the women of the ancient world.

Whilst I think a very basic working knowledge of Greek Myths would be useful before reading this, I do think it's still pretty accessible if you have no prior knowledge (like me!).

This describes the badass women and their stories; stories which often get overlooked in favour of the men. Not all of them are nice, some of them are downright awful but they do all deserve the same recognition of their myths and stories as the likes of Zeus, Hercules and Hades (who honestly look boring in comparison).

It was an interesting and informative book, but I found the organisation of the stories a bit chaotic.
Sometimes the myths also seemed to me to be very male-centred, and the women were more the mothers of heroes than the protagonists. I understand that it is a matter of the sources of information and that many times women have gone down in history exclusively for being the wife of such and such a hero or the mother of such and such a demi-god, but there are times when I have lacked more myths, or stories. And sometimes I have had too many women, because in the end they remain just that, mentions in which they end up being the mother of one or the wife/lover of another, and are used as an excuse to tell myths starring men, instead of a story where they are the protagonists.

A sassy, modern and witty twist on mythology, think Stephen Fry but better.

I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling because it felt like a reclaiming of so many of the narratives I have heard before. There was a familiarity to it but also a real power that comes from giving them a bit of spice, a bit of humour and some fun!

Quick whistle stop tour of a very large collection of women from Ancient Greece. I think this is a great introduction for people wanting to dip their toe into the world of mythology.

I personally found that the narrative jumped back and forth in a way that limited my enjoyment of the stories. I do wish this had been more focused as it felt rather disjointed, but this is understandable because it is such a vast topic. I believe this would have benefited from being split into a series or specifically discussing a smaller number of the eight parts.

I think if you take this as a collection of very short bios then you should still find it entertaining. I loved the inclusion of a reading list at the end for those who want to delve deeper into this genre. If you are a lover of books on Greek mythology and Ancient Greece in general then I don’t think this one is for you. Definitely would recommend for someone just starting out in this area as the writing style is very accessible if a little disjointed at times.

A highlight of this text is the introduction by Lizzy Tiffin as she puts forward the statement that classical history shouldn’t feel like a closed club, but something accessible to all. Tiffin highlights how by making these stories more accessible and seeing them through a modern lens, it will help understand the origins.

Tiffin gives a brief run down of the very expansive historical context to these myths, stating that for multiple icons various different accounts can exist, often contradicting each other. That’s not even to mention all the different translations over the years, and how this has often changed the meaning — or opinions of certain characters — of texts! With all this briefly explained, Tiffin explains to her readers how her collection uses and falls within the canon — ‘this book tries to follow the narratives that best complement the stories beside one another. Or, honestly, whichever story is most interesting’.

I would like to applaud Tiffin on successfully completing her goal of making these stories accessible. Tiffin was able to sum up these very large tales within short tidbits, that were easy and interesting to read. The basic rundown on who these people were was consistently present, as well as Tiffin often suggesting the alternate tales that exist.

Another strength of Tiffin’s writing is that she did a great job at demonstrating how to critically read and analyse texts. She would present the information and then offer an alternative reading or “poke holes” in to the story, reading it for, for example, misogynistic trope it was. Tiffin also continuously pointed out the repeated tropes and how this played in to the poor depiction of women and offered an alternate reading to these women characters I.e., is she a monster or a victim? Are her monstrous acts really so monstrous in face of the treatment she received?

However, despite all these positives I did sometimes find this lacking. Often the stories could feel confusing, and I feel as if a lot of the clarity to the tales was lost by Tiffin trying to keep it short, or by saying “you’ll hear more about this later”.

This book also tried to be witty and humours and while this was fine the first few times, if albeit a little cringeworthy, as the book went on this became tiresome and full blown cringeworthy and I did not enjoy it and it did take away from the quality of the storytelling. Maybe it would appeal to younger readers to lighten the mood, I’m not sure, however I do know that I did not enjoy it.

I also appreciated the pronunciations of the title characters given at the start of each chapter, and I liked how this was exclusive to women. However a lot of the “side character” women didn’t have their names pronounced (sometimes either later on) and I felt that was a shame. The pronunciations of their names could’ve easily been in a smaller font, however to me that sort of defeats the purpose of this book?

This is definitely a book that has to be enjoyed in small doses. Trying to read all of it in a sitting is like one of the 12 labours itself. The who’s who and the who’s that all start to blend together and the book gets a little boring. Despite these being tales that have entertained for many, many years Tiffin can only rely on them to entertain for a short while — her writing is not captivating enough to keep full attention for long periods of time.

I do think this was mostly well written and fairly successful in what it set out to do, but on the whole, for me personally, this was just okay. I’d recommend it but it would not be my go to. I think this would be excellent for younger readers (although, if you know anything about mythology, you can imagine the extensive list of content warnings) and for anyone who is looking to get a brief — but somewhat analytical/critical — overview of these women in Greek Mythology.

Funny, sassy and brilliantly entertaining. A great new retelling of all the ‘bad girls’ of Ancient Greece, proving once again that these women have possibly just been misunderstood for so long

Thoroughly enjoyable, hilarious whizz through the incredible women who make up Greek mythology. Easy to dip in and out of, and genuinely laugh out loud writing. Thank you Lizzy Tiffin for introducing me to these women who I now want to know more about. I will eagerly look forward to whatever your next project will be and in the meantime recommend to all! 4.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this book! Bad Girls Of Ancient Greece gives the reader lots of short stories about the women in Greek Mythology - the strong, the confused and the misunderstood are all there. Written in a easy to read style, perfect to read in bulk or to dip in and out of. I liked that I knew the stories from the Greek God/male point of view, and this book now tells us all about the women. Not all are well behaved and something to aspire to, but all of the stories are entertaining!

How well do you know the women of Ancient Greece? Could you tell me about Calypso and Pythia? Lamia and The Graces? The likelihood is that, for the last fifteen years, retellings have been incredibly popular and you’ve picked up Song of Achilles and The Silence of the Girls. You know some of the stories incredibly well, but a few of the insatiable women, who made mythology what it is, have remained unknown. That’s why you need to read Lizzy Tiffin.

Not all in one go though. I found that each of the stories (around one to three pages) left me the second I turned the page. I couldn’t read it like I could read a Natalie Haynes or a Margaret Atwood. It’s more like a reference book, but with none of the fodder and all of the wit. Highly recommend for both those who have a long term love of Ancient Greece, and those who are new to this world.

Thank you very much to #netgalley and @harpernorthuk for this ARC and to @tiffinlizzy for taking the time to create such a stunning compendium!

I am a lover all myths and legends from around the world - even got a degree that included them! So I know the basis of the stories well, however the author has taken all these characters and tales we think we know so well and tipped them on their head.

Here the women from myth and pre-history get a fair shake of the stick. Grouped together in convenient groups like twisted sisters and Mad Mothers - we get a new view on Andromache, Hera, Aphrodite, Hestia et al. We see that even those portrayed as pious and dutiful could be sneaky, wily and downright nasty when they needed too. And those bad girls of history like Helen - always seen as the instigators of evils and flighty, dim-witted females at best - well they get to show another side of them.

History (and Myths) were written by the victors and men so we know we've had to take all the legends with a stiff pinch of salt (down with the Patriarchy and Misogyny!) but here we also get to take a pop at ourselves, to show that we understand that being a crap human is not determined by race, sex or religion - a$$holery is universal!

This would be a great introduction to myths for teenaged kids, learning about the different pantheons of gods and ages of Heroes (let's face it Heroines!). Snarkily funny and regularly breaks the "fourth wall".

Lizzie Tiffin has written a fantastic primer on the women of Greek mythology. Witty, snarky, very done with the patriarchy, I massively enjoyed my eARC of Bad Girls of Ancient Greece frequently snorting and sending my favourite quotes to my best friend who is still giggling at the understatement that Sisyphus was a "bit of a scallywag". Although I'm a proper nerd there were still some stories in here I hadn't heard or had only heard references too. It's great as a reference book, or introduction for teens, and genuinely funny. Each section is brilliantly broken down so you can skip right to your favourites!
Definitely one I'll be adding to the shelves of my greek mythology obsession.

This book is such a cool way to learn more about Greek mythology especially the women who may not be as revered as the male Greek gods, it was such a good read overall.

As someone who despised history at school I thought I would give this a go to try and learn in a different way. I really enjoyed this and felt like I learnt much more from this book then I did at school because I was able to immersive myself into the quirky and witty stories. This book is all about women empowerment and I’m here for it! Thank you to the author for making learning history such an enjoyable experience!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper North and the author Lizzy Tiffin for this ARC in return for an honest review.

I loved this concept. It was well written, humorous, and educational all at once. My one tiny thing would be the inaccuracies in pronunciation - a lot of them took away from the actual pronunciation by the greeks (I am greek!), and what we wish people today would use rather than the extremely westernised / English versions, as they are innacurate: for example, iphigenia is pronounced if-i-yen-ia, not if-eye-gen-ia. Our Y in Greek is in writing, translated to a G. But pronounced YG. Anyway thats me being nitpicky!

I liked this book and whizzed through it. I liked that it gave a different perspective on the powerful women from history.
It kept my interest & made me feel interested in detail that I wouldn't normally.
It was well written, with good detail.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Interestingly written! Often funny, whitty and gives a strong female narrative energy. I can tell a lot of research and understanding has gone into producing this book! Well done! It was executed well. I do feel like the book was a bit too long for me, personally. I would have preferred some of the articles to be more descriptive, rather than so informative. It was a little tricky remembering all of the character and keeping track of them. I don’t think that’s the writer fault, more so there are so many myths and unusual names it can be quite complexed. I will be sharing details of this book on publication day to highlight to my followers who would be interested in trying this out!

This is so much fun to read!!

I adore some feministic povs in my choice of books and this hits all the good spots!!

It’s fast paced, fun, accurate and perfect for all the percy jackson fans.