On the isle of Ithaca, Queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband, Odysseus, sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace – but this is shattered by the arrival of Orestes, king of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra. The worst part of finishing House of Odysseus is waiting until June 18, 2024, to find out how North wraps up this trilogy. There are a lot of questions to be answered: Will Odysseus really kill them all? Will Telemachus be there when it happens? But most importantly, who is North recruiting to do the narration? My money is on Athena, but she seems a little too no-nonsense to tell an interesting story; she is more of a how-to kind of narrator. I would kind of like to see Artemis, she is the kind of girl to put an arrow through your eye just for looking at her the wrong way or any way at all for that matter. She would tell a fun story. Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep war from Ithaca’s shores. Her only allies are Elektra and Helen of Troy, Menelaus’s enigmatic wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own. Penelope was the main star of the show but the author highlighted the women who were wronged, the women who outsmarted the men, and the women who bested men in a fight. Whilst I liked Penelope in the story of Ithaca, I fell completely and irrevocably in love with her in House of Odysseus. My Queen!

I know, I know, I also was among others who didn't enjoy the first book, as much as it deserved, but House of Odysseus filled all the previous weak points, I really liked this one! The characters are complex and striking from beginning to end. It is clear in the first chapter that everyone who has descended upon Ithaca to pursue Odysseus’s crown underestimates Penelope, who has been deftly running the Western Isles since Odysseus departed. This idea is a thread that runs through the book, and it surfaces when describing Penelope, her group of female soldiers, Ourania, and of course Helen herself. House of Odysseus has absolutely blown me away. I read Ithaca last year and thoroughly enjoyed it but I felt like it suffered from two things: slow pacing and a disconnect from the main characters of the story. This second volume of Claire North's Song of Penelope is at least as good as the first. I've been a fan since The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, but here her writing has matured to something extraordinary; poetic, earthy, profound, funny. Haunted by the Furies, Orestes seems to be going mad, giving Menelaus an easy excuse for dethroning him and taking over as king of kings. Penelope must find a way to keep Orestes and Menelaus apart to avoid a war and also keep Ithaca safe at the same time.

This story breathes to life an ancient myth and gives a proper voice to the women who stand defiant in a world ruled by cruel, ruthless men. I enjoyed The House of Odysseus even more than Ithaca, so of course I’m eagerly anticipating the final book in this amazing trilogy. I have a smile on my face after reading this brilliant book. Claire North made me laugh my head off at this excellent re-telling of the Penelopiad. I fell in love with North’s depiction of Hera and Penelope as they navigate Ithacan politics in Ithaca. And while I was rather sad Hera departed as a narrator, Aphrodite was such an incredible successor. Her perspective not only brought a deliciously scandalous perspective to Penelope’s love life, but it just felt right to have the goddess of love narrate the faithful queen’s next political adventure. 🕊️ Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep her home from being crushed by a war that stretches from Mycenae and Sparta to the summit of Mount Olympus itself. Her only allies are Elektra, desperate to protect her brother, and Helen of Troy, Menelaus' wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own.

Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope must find a way to keep her home from being crushed by the machinations of a battle that stretches from Mycenae and Sparta to the summit of Mount Olympus itself. Her only allies are Elektra, desperate to protect her brother, and Helen of Troy, Menelaus' wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own. Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the Furies circle him. His uncle, Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes’s throne – and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims. I love how each book is narrated from the perspective of a different goddess. Ithaca, told from Hera’s perspective, focused on Penelope as a mother and a queen. In House of Odysseus, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, lets us see Penelope as a woman, someone with passions and desires.

Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep war from Ithaca's shores. Her only allies are Elektra and Helen of Troy, Menelaus's enigmatic wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own. This time I find the characters most developed and fascinating, truth to be told, CN' Helen is the one that for so long I was looking forward to finding her in a retelling, Helen I always imagined in my mind, well down!

Imagine my surprise in finding out Ithaca was not a standalone novel, and the second book was available to read? My heart soared I was so excited and with good reason. This was a fantastic book, some of the best writing I’ve ever been privileged enough to read in regards to Greek myth retellings. Conjures up a world in which women, abandoned by their men, must weave their own destinies' The Times

In fact, the point of view of Aphrodite is one of my favourite aspects of this novel. It provides such an amusing, slightly sensual, and very sassy overtone. It helps that the writing is completely flawless, which is not a compliment I give away lightly. The plot itself gave me literal goosebumps!

Conjures up a world in which women, abandoned by their men, must weave their own destinies‘ The Times House of Odysseus is the brilliant continuation of the story of Penelope that began with the first novel, Ithaca. There’s a tone and flavor to the writing style that is so smart and clever and witty. It both left me laughing out loud and also slowing down to reread passages that were emotionally beautiful.First off, I liked Aphrodite as the narrator and her comments regarding some of the men, like Menelaus. I disliked Menelaus this entire book and loved how Penelope was able to handle herself throughout Menelaus taking over the palace and everything else that was happening. Her character really shown, and I love how it was repeated that the women of Ithaca ran the island while all the men were gone at war, so why shouldn't they still be badass after the war? I understood Claire North in The Songs of Penelope series, three women protected and loved by three goddesses as a narrator for each book.