I really enjoyed the concept and the re-telling was interesting. Hearing Briseis's voice and her experiences were powerful and brought realism to the brutality of war, instead of the more romanticized views. The story and the writing for the most part were engaging, with a bluntness and honesty that I appreciated. The mixed emotions of the characters and the variety of personalities of the women were a real strength. This is a 4 star to me for 3 reasons: 1. I wanted this to be more about the women, to fully go in deep on the thoughts, feelings, and experiences not just viewing the world of men through their eyes, 2. every now and again a specific word choice (examples: would you look at the knockers on that? Oh c'mon. He worked up a big gob of phlegm) seemed way too modern even for a retelling and took me out of the story. And 3rd. the meanness/fatphobia the author directed to one of the characters, this is not something that can be described as the 'characters' thoughts or historically accurate, again it really took me out of the story. I think the editor should have caught these things, they are minor things but in such a great piece of work they really stand out as flaws and bring it down.