I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would. For a book that allegedly ‘gives voice to women’ it spends a lot of time taking the power from Briseis and many chapters from a men’s perspective. The first half was slow and unengaging - and this was the part of the book that was predominantly Briseis.

For me, A Thousand Ships gave voice (and power) to women much more successfully. In this book Briseis passively accepts her fate as the property of men, accepts it and expects it for others.

Similarly, Barker completely ignores the well-documented relationship between Patroclus and Achilles. Not only ignores it, but has other male characters mock them for it. In Ancient Greece having male and female lovers was not shamed - Zeus himself made a mortal his immortal wine boy because he was so attracted to him. Placing modern, western expectations in this environment is a poor decision and seems to encapsulate how Barker missed the mark.

It was an okay read, but there’s better books out there. Personally I would recommend reading A Thousand Ships and Song of Achilles first. These books actually give a voice to the people they claim to without modern western views. I struggled through this one - I just hope that the second book can redeem the series.