Troy is defeated, and the soldiers of Agamemnon are trapped by an onshore wind. The women of Troy are slaves, or like Briseis, pregnant with the child of Achilles, reluctant wives. Priam, killed by Pyrrhus in a botched way, lies rotting and dishonoured amongst the dunes. Which god has been offended that the Greeks will need to propitiate to go home? With Cassandra the priestess having been raped in the temple, it could even be all of them. Mainly told from the point of view of Briseis, this is a good sequel to the Silence of the Girls but I feel like it slightly suffers from middle-of-trilogy syndrome - a great read but not quite as brilliant as the first book.

Sent to delphi_reader who chose it from First Sentences VBB round 24.

The Women of Troy arrived safely in Delphi today. While the outline of the story is familiar to me, the perspective, book and author is new, so I'm intrigued.

This is a fun BookBox, full of surprises and interesting discoveries.
Thank you very much greenbadger!

First Sentence: Inside the horse's gut: heat, darkness, sweat, fear.

This was an enjoyable read if you don't take it too seriously!

It's the second part of a trilogy and at some points it was hard to catch some references in all of their dimensions, but overall it stands on its own, especially if one is more or less familiar with the Iliad and/or related myths. Besides, in the overall picture, not too much is happening. It begins with the fall of Troy and ends with the departure of the Greek ships from there.

Strictly speaking, some developments and the way things work are not realistic, as realistic as things can be in a myth anyway. Several scenes set by the author are too "artificial" and poingant. However, realistic or not, the world Pat Barker builds is interesting and at most times I wanted to read on.

The central heroine is supposed to be Briseis and the author tried to tell the story from the women's side, but in reality this couldn't have worked because women were not present everywhere or in various important events. Thus, some chapters are written with Briseis narrating and some in third person, mainly following Calchas and Neoptolemus/Pyrrhus, son of Achilles' characters.

"Real" events and people mix with the fictional ones to create interesting images, while something about the writing style makes the book flow despite the lack of a substantial plot. I enjoyed it despite its flaws. However, I think it is more of a transitional book between the first and the third and I would have appreciated it more if I had read the first in the series.

The Women of Troy got itchy feet again, so they are now going to meet the winner of the Mythology Sweeps- Round 20!
And then... Who knows?

Good luck little book and Don't forget to write your news from time to time!

Thank you, Delphi_Reader, for this wonderful choice! I recently (2020 recent to me) read A Thousand Ships, which was a reimagining/retelling of the fall of Troy. It was also from the women's perspective during and after. So, this one sounds like an interesting read for comparison.

Also, thank you for the Athena journal, matching postcards, and bookmark—they are all very beautiful!

The Mythology Sweeps is a fun one to win!