Daughter of Necessity, Marie Brennan
I don’t normally review short stories and such, but this one caught my eye and I love the cover, so why not? It’s available to read online, for free, here; it’s not a long read, not even really a retelling, but a glimpse behind the scenes. A clever take on a piece of mythology we often take at face value. It answers one simple question.
Why does Penelope weave and unpick a funeral shroud for her husband to delay the suitors?
She’s a clever woman, and this puts her in an active role, taking a hand in her own fate and even her husband and son’s fate. The passive woman of the Homeric epic steps aside to reveal a woman who takes her own fate into her hands.
It helps that the writing is lovely. I can’t pick out a single line or passage: it’s mostly simple, with some of the imagery and phrasing from translations of Homeric verse, maybe a bit of Ovid. It hits just the right note. I do kind of want more, just because I really like the way Brennan interprets the story.
Rating: 4/5
Sounds really cool. I’m going to read it. Thanks!
Thanks for dropping by!
Thanks for the rec!
Okay, that was amazing. Thanks for the point! 🙂
Wasn’t it? I love Marie Brennan’s work!
I saw this review when you posted it, and put the story on my reading list. Just got a chance to read it last night, and really enjoyed it! I think I’d like to put it on the list for the short story share at TAW. Thanks so much for sharing, I hadn’t read anything by her before.
Ooh, that would be good! I do like Marie Brennan’s work — I was ambivalent about A Natural History of Dragons, but fell in love with the later books.