Challenge Corner discussion

In this glittering, sapphic reimagining of Helen of Troy set in modern day mobster Greece, Helen is the daughter of a powerful crime lord and Paris is the woman hellbent on destroying her—if they don’t fall for each other first.

They’re thrown together in an opulent world of privilege, power, and cover-ups—and the closer they grow, the more the fragile balance of power in the world of crime lords begins to fray.

Because if Helen doesn’t choose to abandon her newfound connection with Paris and marry into the alliance her father arranged, they could all go to war.

And Helen and Paris might just be ready to let them.

Thanks Jessica for the reminder - I'll be starting this as soon as I can get my head together lol.

I'm actually going to start this one this week.

I have started it approximately 5 times... really struggling to read, so I'm going to leave it for a week or so and then get to it. (I was panicking and thought release day was 28th JUNE but feeling calmer about it now lol).

Hope you enjoy it - it's not the book, it's totally me.

I have started this (again) and will try and finish it - how did you get on Jessica?

ACT ONE: DEATHLESS GODS (view spoiler)[ After just trying to relax and read it without working out who equates to who in the Greek mythology, I think this is a beautifully written book! It's very sensual (I don't mean sexual, although I guess sex might become more prominent), particularly evocative of sense of smell - the way that Paris 'checks' whether Thea had anything to do with the hand grenade by the smell - it's gorgeous writing.

It's a nice set up; the gender reversal of Paris (I've given up trying to work out who all the other characters are as I said because I'm driving myself insane) makes it more interesting - for me. Always more interested in sapphic relationships lol.

The violence - not the actual violence of the bomb - but the violence in the description, how Paris is described as coiled etc is really... evocative.

(I'm so sorry for my lack of words - I'm really struggling with mental health stuff, so reading and writing are, um, difficult. My lack of eloquence can;t only be blamed on that, I'm just a bit rubbish. Sorry you're stuck with me for another buddy read Jessica, I seem to be repeating myself and going round in circles).

As for plot, I have no idea which of the queens it could've been yet - don't know enough about them. But I'm intrigued how Paris being Zerek/Helen's fixer is going to play out... with Paris wanting to kill Helen lol. Obviously, they're going to fall for each other (half have already and only a quarter in!), but I don't know have any idea how it will pan out. My brain won't compute. (hide spoiler)]

Oh crap, this comes out TOMORROW. I'm never going to be able to finish it in time :(

To end of chapter 16 (view spoiler)[ I'm still finding it hard to not try and make all of the connections between the Greek gods and Trojans and the current characters because I should know this stuff and I'm just being thick, and it's somewhat (or more than somewhat) getting in the way of me reading it).

OTHER than that, pretending this is just a 'normal' book...

OMG, when Zarek (got his name right this time) cut off Paris' finger, it was... brutal is an understatement. And Tommy had to actually KILL that guard for letting Helen out? This is such a f*cked up world, it's quite depressing. HOWEVER, the chemistry between our leads is enjoyable (I like how it suggests graphic-ness without actually having anything graphic as I'm not into sex scenes if you remember lol), so it works for me but might be a tease for other people.

Hopefully beginning to be able to tell the Queens apart, at least a bit. Their tattoos must be significant, but I don't have time at this point to go and look up the origin myths. (And I assume that 'Cass' who was killed at Troy was Cassandra... therefore this happens all after the war is over? But Helen is just getting engaged now - and who is Minos and is his brother? You see how I'm finding it hard to stay with the book I'm actually reading...)

I was surprised to find Lena is alive, and wondering who else knows... Helen obviously doesn't and I'm pretty sure Zarek doesn't - but who does? I'm unclear how far apart the islands are, but someone has to have seen Lena back at Troy, and someone has to be 'in on' her being alive unless she's living totally off grid or something, which doesn't seem to fit her mafia Queen identity.

They're about to meet Frona (symbol of a pomegranate which has me confused with Persephone, goddess of the underworld... unless that's who she is supposed to be?), and I think Paris is actually going to let Helen come along this time, as opposed to last time - that was... interesting ;) Tommy coming in on her tied up was CRINGEY (hide spoiler)]
I don't know why I'm writing so much when you might not even read this but there you go, I seem to be incapable of succinct-ness. Many apologies - that was a lot of words saying very little, as always.

ACT THREE: TORCH SONG (I somehow missed act two, oops) (view spoiler)[ Okay, I'm going to be honest this isn't the book I expected it to be. Basically, I saw sapphic Paris and Helen and thought great! I didn't really 'get' that this is essentially a mafia story with references draped over it (rather thinly), and I've never read a mafia story before and I'm not enjoying this. For such a short book, it seems to be taking me SO DAMN LONG to finish. (but I will, because stubbornness).

The writing is good, and the twists weren't ones I saw coming. And I do feel things for the characters - gah, TOMMY - but there's just... there's not enough exposition for me. There are some characters imported from the Iliad and put into this modern day mafia sh*tstorm and it doesn't work for me.

Um... I like the fact that the three Queens (who are still basically interchangeable in my head, even at this stage) probably (definitely? I'm not even sure!) knew about Lena being alive, and I didn't see it coming until only a short bit before that the original grenade was from Lena, not the Queens but... I also don't care that much? So much violence - a lot of it gratuitous.

Helen as a character is just majorly problematic for me - she's this stupid combination of innocent little girl/falling deeply in love with Paris/not understanding the magnitude of her father's power, but then she's been casually blowing stuff up throughout her 20s (and late teenage years I think)? It doesn't fit. The characterisation is all wrong. The only actually sympathetic character has been Tommy, tbh.

So... is Helen gonna try and completely obliterate Zarek? Is Paris still going to try and persuade her to leave? Seems like she's stuck on the power (in a way I don't find believable). I don't see how they could leave now anyway, even if Helen agreed to. (And I'm not sure I really care...)

(hide spoiler)]

I just need to finish this and be done with it. Not enjoying it. If you get to it, I hope you enjoy it more.

ACT FOUR: BURN THE SHIPS (view spoiler)[ Okay, that was some powerful writing - and I do feel for the characters, not only Paris and Helen, but it doesn't detract from all of the issues I have with the book as a whole. It's so frustrating! Also, the power in the writing is somewhat diminished by how many times Paris has had the power to make a different decision, and how many times this is repeated, almost ad nauseam...

I'm conflicted. It's better than it was, but if it takes to get to... 96% (!) to feel like I can start to get over the improbabilities etc, then is it a good book?

(Actually, the 'good' writing is way OTT - it feels like something I might have read on AO3 when I was a teenager. TOO MUCH ANGST can kill something, y'know? It's laid on a bit thick) (hide spoiler)]

Finished
(view spoiler)[

Um... nice and dramatic and all, what with Perce and Thea coming back in and 'It was never too late for us' (oh, the melodrama!), but... what?! I don't know a whole lot (I know nothing in fact) about bombs and this kind of violence, but this ending was unbelievable on a whole new level. How could they blow up all the Queens and survive? How could being drenched in gasoline and set on fire NOT kill you, even if you have a flame-retardant jacket gifted to you by a 'god'?

What a frustrating read. (hide spoiler)]