hard to rate this one since I read it rather piecemeal and I cant hold a coherent sense of it in my head

pros:
- the characters all have distinct personalities and dialogue, which is written well. Penelope is focused, hera is snippy, telemachus is foolish, etc. but they're all complex too. there were some nice additions to the canon, kenamon and teodora (or I didnt remember them anyway), and it was nice having some decent characters.
- there is dry humor, especially in here's perspective 
- I like the concept on focusing on outwardly quieter female power, and looking at hera and penelope, and the other women from a different angle than the mythology does.

cons:
- it did feel too slow a lot of the time, with a lot of meandering and introspection. 
- it was frustrating seeing telemachus ignore his mother repeatedly, and aspects of the myths play out, but that's not a book criticism, just that inevitable tragedy isnt rly my genre.

so overall, I appreciated the writing quality and definitely enjoyed meeting Claire North and hearing her discuss her work, but this wasnt quite my type of book, a bit too slow.