DamianMasq
02-26-2012, 05:23 PM
Hi, I've been looking for a book for ages and can not find it. It's a long shot that anyone here will know just the one I'm looking for, for one thing I cant remember the author's name, and for another I think I have the title wrong as well just from it having been many years since reading it.
The title I'm remembering is "Cassandra: Queen of Snakes", but of course I cant find it with that title so I must have misremembered it.
The book follows Cassandra (of mythology) through her normal human life; her time in Troy, ending up as a virgin priestess of Apollo, ending up having an affair with some noble dude and getting pregnant, (I seem to recall that a break in the temple wall was used for sneaking in and out for their affair?), having a daughter, and so on. The book focuses on Cassandra's life rather than the fall of Troy and the saga tied to that, there's no magic or monsters in the book and focuses on her as a normal woman with normal plights and problems, for the tone of the book's setting, with figures like Paris, Achilles, and so on being background characters that you hear of but don't really interact with, and the mythological aspects of Cassandra made or rationalized into events that are more realistic than fantastic.
I cant remember any specific passages from the book because it's been so long but I can recall at least one or two parts that may help someone identify the book if they've also read it; After the fall of Troy, with Cassandra enslaved, Agamemnon returns home from the siege and his wife is pissed about him shagging a bunch of slave girls. During the long voyage, Cassandra had Agamemnon's illegitimate child, and when Ag returns home, his wife kills him as per the legend, and asks Cassandra coldly if that is Agamemnon's child, and Cassandra answers no, this is my child, and is allowed to live. I know this is such a vague bit from the book, I wish I could remember more, but the best I can manage is something about her first child at Troy being physically assaulted alongside Cas during the sacking and killed by a soldier, or a bit where Helen, who is not a main character in the book, is on the walls of Troy and bares her breasts to the fighting armies below, apparently possessed by Aphrodite or some such. She's seen at a distance by Cassandra and some other temple maiden, who comment sarcastically to each other that Helen must really think well of her bosom if she thinks she can pull off channeling that goddess. (something like that)
Understandable if no one knows what book this is, but man I'd really love to find it again, I remember it being an amazing read for such a huge, thick book. Thanks for the effort in advance!
The title I'm remembering is "Cassandra: Queen of Snakes", but of course I cant find it with that title so I must have misremembered it.
The book follows Cassandra (of mythology) through her normal human life; her time in Troy, ending up as a virgin priestess of Apollo, ending up having an affair with some noble dude and getting pregnant, (I seem to recall that a break in the temple wall was used for sneaking in and out for their affair?), having a daughter, and so on. The book focuses on Cassandra's life rather than the fall of Troy and the saga tied to that, there's no magic or monsters in the book and focuses on her as a normal woman with normal plights and problems, for the tone of the book's setting, with figures like Paris, Achilles, and so on being background characters that you hear of but don't really interact with, and the mythological aspects of Cassandra made or rationalized into events that are more realistic than fantastic.
I cant remember any specific passages from the book because it's been so long but I can recall at least one or two parts that may help someone identify the book if they've also read it; After the fall of Troy, with Cassandra enslaved, Agamemnon returns home from the siege and his wife is pissed about him shagging a bunch of slave girls. During the long voyage, Cassandra had Agamemnon's illegitimate child, and when Ag returns home, his wife kills him as per the legend, and asks Cassandra coldly if that is Agamemnon's child, and Cassandra answers no, this is my child, and is allowed to live. I know this is such a vague bit from the book, I wish I could remember more, but the best I can manage is something about her first child at Troy being physically assaulted alongside Cas during the sacking and killed by a soldier, or a bit where Helen, who is not a main character in the book, is on the walls of Troy and bares her breasts to the fighting armies below, apparently possessed by Aphrodite or some such. She's seen at a distance by Cassandra and some other temple maiden, who comment sarcastically to each other that Helen must really think well of her bosom if she thinks she can pull off channeling that goddess. (something like that)
Understandable if no one knows what book this is, but man I'd really love to find it again, I remember it being an amazing read for such a huge, thick book. Thanks for the effort in advance!