Review: Clytemnestra’s Bind by Susan C Wilson

From one of Greek mythology's most reviled characters - Queen Clytemnestra, who challenged the absolute power of men - comes this fiery tale of power, family rivalry and a mother's burning love.

Reading this book was very much like being sold something I actually didn't much want.

Retelling such well-known stories is a risk, particularly because there are already so many variations of them and you can't predict which version a reader will be familiar with or prefer.

This is probably the most bland retelling of the Trojan war I've ever come across. As a character, Clytemnestra is non-existent, despite being both the protagonist and the narrator. She lacks all agency, depth, and personality, ultimately serving as little more than an observer giving an account of events she's not actually witnessing and complaining about how gross her husband/captor is.

That sounds harsh, but Wilson skirted the actual harshness of what happened to Clytemnestra which made her ordeal - and Clytemnestra's response to it - petty and superficial. Even the sacrifice of her favourite daughter seems to have little affect on her.

Clytemnestra's story is one of deep, raw emotions and torment. Not only did she suffer immensely at the hands of the family she would soon be absorbed into, but she had to witness the suffering that same family inflicted on the ones she loved most. I'd hoped to read Clytemnestra's experience, but instead it was the vague and slightly petulant monologue of an adolescent, not a powerful queen.