What's after the song of Achilles?

[Imsixtyandiknowit]

Just read this & loved it. What could I read next in the same vein - myths but told as believable fiction. Have read the Pat Barker trilogy (city of girls is it?) Which I also loved. Not a Stephen Fry fan, sorry!

Jennifer Saint - Elektra, Atalanta, Hera (I didn't enjoy as much as the others)
Claire North - The Last Song of Penelope (I believe this is the last of a trilogy but I haven't read the others)
Madeleine Miller - Circe
Elodie Harper - The Wolf Den trilogy

Ariadne by Jennifer saint was good

Circe too

natalie Haynes has written some but I can’t get on with her style somehow

I agree with Circe. I absolutely loved it. It completely changed my opinion about Odysseus.

Madeleine Miller - Circe

I have just read this and am looking for the next book- thanks for the recommendation.

I’ve just finished Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald, about Persephone, & enjoyed that.

hated Ariadne by Jennifer Saint - it felt too modern
Wolf Den trilogy is good (middle one is less good)
Circe is excellent

Circe by the same author, and the Wolf Den trilogy by Melodie Harper (not about myths but set in Ancient Rome)

The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood
A Thousand Ships - Natalie Haynes
Herc - Phoenicia Rogerson

Medea -Rosie Hewlett

I agree The Silence Of The Girls trilogy by Pat Barker was wonderful. Claire North's Ithaca trilogy is also excellent.

I found Madeleine Millar a bit lightweight in comparison.

Natalie Haynes A Thousand Ships and Children Of Jocasta are good. Jennifer Saint's Ariadne was a stronger book than most of hers.

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

In a similar vein:

The Red Tent is taken on the story of Dinah from the bible.

The Book of Longings, about an imagined wife of Jesus.

For similar ancient/unusual historical settings, I liked Dark Earth (set in abandoned post-Roman London), and Mere, which is set in Dark Ages Norfolk.

Looking here for any Divine Comedy puns - nope, nothing to see here, shutting the door quietly on my way out 🤫

I love all these ancient tales retold
with women at the centre-have read most of those mentioned & making a note of those I’ve not read yet.

I finished the Pat Barker trilogy a few days ago-(she’s such a fabulous writer) and have just downloaded the first of the Clare North trilogy, Ithaca (99p on kindle today)

I love the idea of the ancient stories being told from the women's pov but think that it's become such a popular genre that some dross is being published.

I love the books by Madeline Miller and Pat Barker but have read a couple that were written more in the style of lightweight beach reads - there are times when it's nice to relax with something really lightweight but it's not what I'm looking for in these stories.

I found the third of the Pat barker trilogy hard work despite loving the first two

I’ve tried to avoid Troy based stories since though and enjoyed Circe and Ariadne

i tried the Jocasta one mentioned above but I struggle more with the books where I already know the story and it does just feel like a retelling from a different pov. Whereas the Pat barker ones were much more the women’s stories that just happened to be at the same time as the men’s iyswim

Stone blind by Natalie Haynes (and great on audio if that is your thing)

What about the Troy trilogy by David Gemmell? They're a retelling of the Trojan war and some of my favourite books.

I love Greek mythology and was excited by the number of modern retellings. So I have read loads of them and my warning to you, OP, is that Madeline Miller is the very best in this genre. Some others are pretty good, but lots are terrible and absolutely no one in the genre writes as beautifully as MM does. So approach the others with lower expectations! Circe, by the same author is fabulous. I think Song of Achilles is better, but I enjoyed Circe more.

Of the others, Clytemenstra by Constanza Casati is pretty good. As is A thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes. The Pat Barker trilogy is above average - the first book is the best of the three. The next two are readable and enjoyable, but the prose is not as good and the quality of the writing really dips in my opinion.

I can’t in good conscience recommend any of the others I have read…

I’d recommend Clytemnestra as well, I really enjoyed it.

Absolutely loved these!

I liked Circe but found Elecktra a bit dull, struggling to finish Ithica despite a great version of Penelope. Ariadne was ok.