A Thousand Ships

A Novel

by Natalie Haynes

Hardcover, 368 pages

English language

Published Nov. 2, 2021 by HarperCollins Canada, Limited.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-306539-0

View on OpenLibrary

(18 reviews)

This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s. They have waited long enough for their turn . . .

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .

In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.

From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves, and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war.

A woman’s epic, powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships …

This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s. They have waited long enough for their turn . . .

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .

In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.

A woman’s epic, powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships puts the women, girls and goddesses at the center of the Western world’s great tale ever told.

6 editions

AndySoc1al reviewed A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Less than Epic

3 stars

While you'd think a retelling of the myths of the Trojan War from the perspective of the mostly-marginalized women would be compelling, this book falls short. There aren't many new perspectives that we couldn't have written in our heads, and there's no big subversion of any of the various stories. We get Ulysses, Achilles, Hector, Agamemnon, and all the rest, but it felt too much like all the previous iterations on the core tales. There are a few very good scenes, but not enough to overcome the sameness throughout.

wdhertog reviewed A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Review of 'A Thousand Ships' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Briljant om de klassieke verslagen van de Trojaanse oorlog en Odyssee vanuit vrouwelijk perspectief te zien. En hiermee doe ik dit boek eigenlijk nog te kort

patchworkbunny reviewed A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Review of 'A Thousand Ships' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The tale of the Trojan War has been told many times, the heros and gods taking the starring roles. But the women in the shadows had just as much impact of events, showed bravery beyond the battleground. It was a women's war and A Thousand Ships tells the story through their eyes.

These retellings of The Iliad are like catnip to me although, as Natalie Haynes points out in her author's note, the source material is actually a range of epic poems, not just Homer's. Unlike The Silence of the Girls, this follows a lot of characters rather than one, but shows how you can tell the story through the women's perspectives just as well.

It starts off with Calliope becoming exasperated with an unnamed poet. As a muse he expects her to inspire his stories, and she is trying to tell him the stories of the women, to convince him theirs are just as worthy as the men's.

Some of the women's appearances are brief yet show the impact of their actions on events. They suffer grief and do what they can to protect the ones they love. They are taken as trophies of war, or sacrificed to the gods.

I loved how it went back further than most stories to explain why and how the war started. Everyone knows the war was fought over Helen, the most beautiful woman in Troy. However Natalie tells the story of the golden apple, which I hadn't heard before, and the three goddesses making Paris choose who should get it. It goes even further, to the reason why a war is needed, the pain of Gaia dealing with overpopulation, and the goddess of strife coming up with a plan.

It is also interspersed with letters from Penelope to Odysseus, gradually getting more snarky as he fails to return home. Just how many things can go that wrong? Did he really need to spend so much time with a sorceress? I loved Penelope in this.

Because it follows so many characters, I'm not sure how well this would go down with people new to the story, but I highly recommend to Greek mythology nerds! Also if you loved The Song of Achilles or The Silence of the Girls, as you'd probably have enough background on the Trojan War to follow this.