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Or, The Review of Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane.
First off, I'm going to say this: I have no issue with genderbending characters. Nor do I have any issue with Achilles being a trans woman.
The writing is competent, but the content is...rushed, overfull, and internally inconsistent. Okay. I will also admit here that I did not enjoy this and will not recommend it to anyone. Maybe I am the wrong kind of person - too old, too cis, too Classically educated, and yet, if a book that uses the Iliad as a framework does not hook someone who, you know, reads the Iliad for funsies, then that mark was missed by a hell of a lot.
( I'm going to put the bulk of the review here, because I suspect it will get quite ranty and not be terribly kind and also be very spoilery. )
When she hits the beats of the Iliad, the story isn't terrible. I found the combat scenes reasonably well written and I could follow the action. There isn't enough combat.
Look, a book where a trans Achilles exists is an interesting concept and there's a lot that could be done. This book isn't it. If she had, I dunno, used the Iliad as a loose framework, but filed off the serial numbers (renamed everyone and the locations) and turned it into a sword-and-sandals fantasy, I think it would have been much better for it.
Below is a snippet from my Discord rantings about this thing:
I've read three chapters and I've had to restrain myself from throwing the book MULTIPLE TIMES already.
It makes me so very angry.
I'm currently wondering what amount of witchcraft fuckery got this thing published. Because...wow, it is a book, that I am reading, while wondering why the hell this got past anyone with a lick of sense. So far, the musings of the poets on Helen's half-divine breasts (Apples of the Sun. FUCKING REALLY?!) really set the tone of this horror.
THAT WAS ON PAGE 18. GOD'S BALLS THIS BOOK.
TLDR; don't read this. It's homophobic and weirdly hetero-normative and rage-inducing. 0/10, would not recommend for anything that isn't fire-starter.
First off, I'm going to say this: I have no issue with genderbending characters. Nor do I have any issue with Achilles being a trans woman.
The writing is competent, but the content is...rushed, overfull, and internally inconsistent. Okay. I will also admit here that I did not enjoy this and will not recommend it to anyone. Maybe I am the wrong kind of person - too old, too cis, too Classically educated, and yet, if a book that uses the Iliad as a framework does not hook someone who, you know, reads the Iliad for funsies, then that mark was missed by a hell of a lot.
( I'm going to put the bulk of the review here, because I suspect it will get quite ranty and not be terribly kind and also be very spoilery. )
When she hits the beats of the Iliad, the story isn't terrible. I found the combat scenes reasonably well written and I could follow the action. There isn't enough combat.
Look, a book where a trans Achilles exists is an interesting concept and there's a lot that could be done. This book isn't it. If she had, I dunno, used the Iliad as a loose framework, but filed off the serial numbers (renamed everyone and the locations) and turned it into a sword-and-sandals fantasy, I think it would have been much better for it.
Below is a snippet from my Discord rantings about this thing:
I've read three chapters and I've had to restrain myself from throwing the book MULTIPLE TIMES already.
It makes me so very angry.
I'm currently wondering what amount of witchcraft fuckery got this thing published. Because...wow, it is a book, that I am reading, while wondering why the hell this got past anyone with a lick of sense. So far, the musings of the poets on Helen's half-divine breasts (Apples of the Sun. FUCKING REALLY?!) really set the tone of this horror.
THAT WAS ON PAGE 18. GOD'S BALLS THIS BOOK.
TLDR; don't read this. It's homophobic and weirdly hetero-normative and rage-inducing. 0/10, would not recommend for anything that isn't fire-starter.
