I was a little disappointed at first with House of Odysseus, the second book set in mythological Ithaca by Clare North. Ithaca had blown me away, and House of Odysseus just seemed to be more of the same, with even very similar plot hooks involving the same characters... But about a third into the book, things start to shift and you understand the similarities as they feed into the differences. Penelope is still caught between the rapacious suitors and the survival of her island kingdom, but the broader political struggle between Menelaus and Orestes invites itself on her tiny Island, and this time the stakes couldn't be higher... House of Odysseus is narrated by Aphrodite, where Ithaca was narrated by Hera (and I'm guessing the third book will be by Athena), and I noticed something really clever, which is that the focus of the narration is different because Aphrodite's interests are elsewhere. This second book is much more about relationships, love and seduction where the first one was about duty, family and the role of queens. I loved this second book, ultimately, as much as I enjoyed the first.
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