Capture Hand Of Fire Developed By Judith Starkston Conveyed As Physical Book

been crazy about anything related to the Trojan War since I was a kid and this novel provided a wonderful way to immerse myself in that world.
Starkston's research is impeccable, and she really brings bronze age Asia Minor to life, The central character is Briseis, a young woman important to the plot of the Iliad, but as the protagonist of this story, a fully developed character in her own right.


The characterization was the strongest aspect of this book, Both Briseis and eventually Achilles are fully fleshed out, appealing, flawed and interesting, Many of the secondary characters are wonderfully drawn as well, I'm always thrilled when a wellknown tale is retold in a fresh, unpredictable way, I mean, we all know how this story ends and yet Starkston created a

unique twist that turned a tragic ending bittersweet,

My only complaint was the pacing, The first half is Briseis' life up until the time she's captured by the Greeks, As a result, her romance with Achilles felt rushed, and the last quarter of the book flew by, through plague, creepy Agamemnon, poor Patroklos, the showdown with Hector which happened entirely offscreen, unfortunately, and it was over all too quickly.
Having been an Achilles fangirl much of my life, I loved this nuanced, mystical portrayal of his nature and wanted much more,

Still, a very enjoyable read, I'll definitely look for more books by this author, A Novel of Briseis and the Trojan War
The Trojan War threatens Troys allies and the Greek supply raids spread, A young healing priestess, designated as future queen, must defend her city against both divine anger and invading Greeks, She finds strength in visions of a handsome warrior god will that be enough when the halfimmortal Achilles attacks Hand of Fire, a tale of resilience and hope, blends history and legend in the untold story of Achilless famous captive, Briseis.


SemiFinalist in the MM Bennett's Award for Historical Fiction,

"In Hand of Fire, Starkston's careful research brings ancient Greece and Troy to life with passion and grace, This haunting and insightful novel makes you ache for a mortal woman, Briseis, in love with a halfgod, Achilles, as she fights to make her own destiny in a world of capricious gods and warriors.
I devoured this pageturning escape from the modern world!" Rebecca Cantrell, New York Times bestselling author of The World Beneath, This book made me think a lot about the women and children shuffled about by the various factions in the Middle East, Set in the Hittite kingdom, the heroine of this novel is caught up in war, A young woman, caught up in forces beyond her control, she maintains her dignity and wins over her foe, What I particularly liked were Briseis's loyalty to family and the bonds she forged with a woman of a lower social class, This book has so many strengths, The Bronze Age setting comes vividly to life as Briseis steps out of the mists of legend, fiercely alive and compelling, And Starkston's complex depiction of the halfdivine hero Achilles makes the improbable attraction between the two completely believable,

I have the greatest admiration for the depth and breadth of Starkston's research, and enjoyed her very readable Author Notes as well as the additional material on her website.
The reader explores Bronze Age Troy and environs with every sense, participating in a fullyrealized world that is somehow as familiar as it is exotic,

The subsidiary characters are beautifully developed, Two were, I thought, especially vivid: Achilles's beloved friend Patroklos, and Briseis's elderly nurse Eurome, The kindly old nurse can be a stock character when the protagonist is a noblewoman, but Eurome is so much more than that she is brave, loving, funny, smart, resourceful, and absolutely threedimensional.
As for Patroklos, he is so deftly depicted that it's easy for the reader to see how he gains everyone's affection, from Achilles and Briseis to all the others in the encampment.


Starkston writes of the gods as her characters would have known them: real, and powerful, and involved in human affairs, Her depictions of Achilles's fully divine mother are nothing less than eerie,

Hand of Fire is a richly satisfying book, I've just ordered some copies for gifts, so I can share it with friends, Highly recommended!
What makes a good historical novel The writing, of course, has to be well done a good pace, that “page turner” quality where the reader is hooked into the story from the first paragraph to the last.
The plot has to keep going, no sagging bits in the middle where the reader starts skipping pages,
Characters Ah yes, good characters that are believable as real people even when they are clearly “made up”, They dont necessarily have to be likeable characters, the baddies can be just as entertaining as the goodies,
What else What about research A poor historical novel gets all the facts wrong, or so muddled so the background believability is ruined,
There also needs to be suspense, tragedy, maybe it can be a little bit sexy in places, Romance, hatreds, fights, tension.
A good historical novel leaps to life, it should be almost as if you have travelled back in time and you are watching the characters story unroll before your eyes.
You laugh, cry, get angry with them when they do, You ache to know what happens next

But what is the difference between a good historical novel and a brilliant one
I suggest you read Judith Starkstons Hand of Fire and youll discover the answer.
Starkston's debut novel "Hand of Fire" is a retelling of Homer's Iliad from an entirely different and female perspective, Here we hear of Achilles and the Trojan War through the eyes of Briseis, priestess of the healing goddess Kamrusepa and widow of the heir to the throne of Lyrnessos, which is sacked by Achilles and the Greeks.
Briseis becomes Achilles' prisoner and fights an attraction to the man who was responsible for the killing and plundering that destroyed her family and her city.
Once a prisoner and in love with the doomed hero, Briseis becomes a pawn in the larger struggle, caught between two warring powers, Achilles and Agamemnon.


Briseis is a minor character in the Iliad and fans of themovie "Troy" might remember her as Achilles' captive and lover in the movie, a girl of torn loyalties but still someone with a small role in the story.
Here, Starkston brings Briseis to life and gives her the credit she is due, We experience her thoughts, her dreams, her perspective on the killing, raping, and pillaging of the Trojan War, her relationships with her family, and her growing fear as she is pulled between Achilles and Agamemnon.
Starkston dusts off the classic and gives the readers a view through the eyes of a participant, one who played an integral role in the events but one who has been largely overlooked by historians and readers over the years.
We experience the events in ways that bind the reader to Briseis, a young woman in extraordinary circumstances but with more in common with modern women than one could imagine.


Starkston shows us the Trojan War in a whole new light, with a heroine that is fierce, brave, loyal, and intriguing, Everyone should experience the Trojan War through Briseis's eyes,
I thoroughly enjoyed Hand of Fire from start to end, Judith has tackled a difficult combination here, blending soundly researched historical fiction with mythic elements, In this she is placing herself solidly in the tradition of the Iliad, from which the basic setting of Achilles and Briseis comes, In the process Judith also pleasingly avoids the common approach of demythologising ancient material, The ambiguities and difficulties of a story integrating both humans and gods are welcomed rather than shirked,

One of the central questions here that stood out to me was whether it is possible to love someone who is more archetype than person.
In one sense such a love is larger than life and sweeps everything else aside: in another it is completely impossible, and doomed to disappointment on both sides.
That, for better or for worse, is where Briseis finds herself in relation to Achilles,

Religion and spirituality are key themes in the book, Briseis' world view, its habits of thought, and the rituals that attend it, are foundational to the story, and are well constructed and appropriate to her Bronze Age context.
I thoroughly enjoyed the blend of faith, doubt, superstition and logic that she displays, which will be recognisable to modern readers just as much as to her contemporaries.
Achilles is a step beyond such constraints, operating in a dimension of certainty most of us cannot, His passions are larger than ours, incomprehensibly so at times, and like a spiritual amphibian he moves comfortably in the liminal space between this world and the next, between the terra firma of his father, and his mother's measureless ocean.


As you can tell, Hand of Fire made a great impression on me, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to explore the tail end of the Bronze Age.
Read it either as soundly researched history or as an exploration of archetypes: either way it is compelling,/stars

Intro
I think I should add a "why I pick it" feature in these reviews, . . anyway: I picked this one up because, . I was looking for novels set in the Hittite empire and this one was one of the few hittitesrelated novels that came up and it's not even really hittite.
. . even if it seems that the writer is up with a series about Queen Puduhepa about which I am highly excited, I am not into Homer and his poems, not at all, I am not into ancient greek literature that much, actually, . . And above all, I am NOT into Achilles and everything about him I am team Hector by heart, sorry, . . So it feels a bit weird to me that I actually kinda liked this novel xD
It's an average novel, anyway, The Plot is good and solid although nothing amazing or super original, characters are kinda, . . already seen and unoriginal but enjoyable except for perhaps Achilles that, . . well, you'll see later, writing stile good but not exceptional, Average.
The interesting thing was that all the main characters who were not greek were of Hittite culture, mixed up with Mycenean culture, Interesting bit, and also very historically accurate,

The plot:
The book is narrated firsthand by Briseis, daughter of Glaukos, of Lyrnessos, somewhere near Troy er, wasn't her father supposed to be called Brises.
She's the daughter of the Healing Priestess of goddess Kamrusepa, and she takes her mother's place when she died in the first pages of the book.
She's also going to marry prince Mynes, the son of of the king of Lyrnessos, In a very unoriginal twist, this guy is a bad guytm, who forces himself on her and beats her everytime he can, . . untill Lyrnessos is attacked by Achilles and his men and Mynes gets killed, From here on, the story takes the known path, with Briseis captured and given to Achilles as a concubine, them falling in love, . and all that jazz. If you are familiar with the Iliad, you'll be familiar with the rest of the plot,

What I think about, . .

the plot
I liked the first part better than the second part, . . with that I mean that I liked the parts where Achilles was absend better than the rest of the book, The bits of Briseis' previous life were nice, although the whole plot was not very original I mean, first husband being violent and then meeting mr good guy rather remember me of several versions of Anne Neville's and Richard III's story.
The rest is a retelling of the iliad, . . and was average. Not bad, not strikingly good either,
the characters
Average, except for Achilles that was just, . . a Gary Stu. Which is what Achilles is supposed to be all the way, but he looked too, . . perfect, too fake, too mr dream guy in a stereotype, I didn't enjoy his character, . . it could have been played ten thousand times better, I think that even a wreck of a guy such as Mynes was a more interesting and deep character,
Briseis was your average strong willed main character, Not bad, but not very original either,
overall
Well the best word to describe the novel is "Average", Not bad, not strikingly good either, Enjoyable, nevertheless.
Was a bit disappointed in the ending, . it could have been developed a bit more, I was interested in knowing what happened after xD
Strong points
The setting and all the hittite references was very good.
The writer did her homework
Weak points
The novel is not so original, at the end of the day,

Recommended if
You are an Iliad freak and hunt down retellings of it like crazy

Avoid it if, .
you're not interested in the subject,
.