A Song of War

A Novel of Troy

By: Kate Quinn, Eliza Knight, Stephanie Dray, Vicky Alvear, Ruth Downie, Simon Turney, Russell Whitfield, Stephanie Thornton, Libbie Hawker, Christian G. Cameron

Narrated by: Andrew Kingston, Saskia Maarleveld

Length: 18 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

A SONG OF WAR

Troy: city of gold, gatekeeper of the east, haven of the god-born and the lucky, a city destined to last a thousand years. But the Fates have other plans—the Fates, and a woman named Helen. In the shadow of Troy's gates, all must be reborn in the greatest war of the ancient world: slaves and queens, heroes and cowards, seers and kings . . . and these are their stories.

A young princess and an embittered prince join forces to prevent a fatal elopement.

A tormented seeress challenges the gods themselves to save her city from the impending disaster.

A tragedy-haunted king battles private demons and envious rivals as the siege grinds on.

A grizzled archer and a desperate Amazon risk their lives to avenge their dead.

A trickster conceives the greatest trick of all.

A goddess' son battles to save the spirit of Troy even as the walls are breached in fire and blood.

Seven authors bring to life the epic tale of the Trojan War: its heroes, its villains, its survivors, its dead. Who will lie forgotten in the embers, and who will rise to shape the bloody dawn of a new age?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Kate Quinn, Eliza Knight, Stephanie Dray, Vicky Alvear, Ruth Downie, Simon Turney, Russell Whitfield, Stephanie Thornton, Libbie Hawker, Christian G. Cameron (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

great performances

captivating story. well performed, including the voice of Odysseus sounding much like Sean Conery.

Great retelling and reading

This was a really well done book and production with some beautiful writing. However, part of why I bought it was because Christian Cameron was the author of one of the stories. However, in the audiobook it seems, his story was not included for some reason. so this is not an audio version of the print book.

Songs Of Troy

There’s been a glut of fantastic historical fiction anthologies released on audible lately. With contributions from authors like Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray, Eliza Knight, and many other talented writers, we’ve gotten fascinating and diverse takes on epic historical events like The French Revolution in “Ribbons Of Scarlet”, Boudica’s Rebellion in “A Year Of Ravens”, and the destruction of Pompeii in “A Day Of Fire”. That “epicness” is turned up to 11 here in this latest entry: “A Song Of War”.
Truly, what is more epic in western literature than the Trojan War? Who hasn’t heard of titanic figures like Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and Helen? Yet, with that familiarity comes a certain…staleness? It’s a story we in the west know from childhood and have seen a thousand times in a thousand different ways. Fortunately, the contributing authors have zoomed out a bit with the character point of views while also retaining focus in the story. Instead of the usual stories and perspectives of Achilles & Hector, Agamemnon & Menelaus, we get a look at the war from ancillary (though no less compelling or important) characters like Andromache, Helenus , Penthesilea, and Philoctetes, as well as many others. To be sure, the experiences and perspectives of familiar characters like Odysseus are featured. However, it’s because of these new voices and perspectives that “A Song Of War” works so well as a whole. And while it’s slightly jarring to see the newer takes on the Trojan faction, where they are just as duplicitous, fractious, and greedy as the Achaeans, it’s certainly well done and offers a fresh interpretation I’d never really seen done before,
It was the viewpoints of Helen and Cassandra that I feel are the best done however. This was the first time in my life where I understood and even sympathized with Helen’s motives for fleeing with Paris. She’s crafty and cynical, yet hopeful and hungry for freedom. While, it’s hard to condone her actions or admire her as a person, it’s equally easy to see how she could resent being traded and objectified her entire life, being adored yet ignored by all around her. Cassandra offered a tragic and enthralling, if somewhat unreliable, look at the war. After years of seeing Cassandra in media as the raving doomsayer, it was nice to get her perspective in a way that was handled with sympathy and depth. Every character was handled just so and it was refreshing and compelling from word one. We live in a time where new, interesting, and fresh takes on the Trojan war are in vogue and I’m happy to say that “A Song Of War” can take its place with the other remarkable reinterpretations of Greek mythology we’ve gotten in the last few years. Give “A Song Of War” a listen and don’t stop there.

If you enjoyed “A Song Of War” as much as I did and are looking for similar titles please check out the aforementioned “Ribbons of Scarlet”, “A Year Of Ravens”, and “A Day Of Fire”. You’ll also enjoy “A Thousand Ships” and “Stone Blind” by Natalie Haynes, “Circe” by Madeline Miller”, “Horses Of Fire” by A.D. Rhine, “Herc” by Phoenicia Rogerson, or the “Mythos” series by Stephen Fry.

Great story, great narrators!

Unique take on the story and characters. I really enjoyed it from start to finish.

fantastic job!

Amazing diversity! I fell in love with the characters and their perspectives. As always, I love to hear about Odysseus and his shenanigans. I loved how the story of Helenus developed and I added him to my list of favorites. ❣️

This story was excellent

I loved the narrators. I also loved the details on each character brought to life.

Holy Hera, this is a good tale

It is such a joy to be able to dispise and at the same time emphasise with the characters in this book.

particularly loved the part about Agamemnon and the psychology behind his decisions.

Basically, just a retelling of the Iliad, but with more character detail 

I did not like this book as much as the others in the series. I think the main reason for that is, there are no common people in this book. It is all kings or heroes. The characters are all from The Iliad only they are given more detail and more depth than what Homer gives them and that story the authors did a good job flushing out the characters. But the book was just a disappointment for me