Tag: The-Lost-Sisterhood • BookLikes

review 2018-09-08 00:00

I am delighted to write this review for The Lost Sisterhood. I do not know the author, nor am I affiliated with her in any way. I am writing this based on the assumption that enjoying fiction requires the "willing suspension of disbelief."

This highly original book is a totally improbable, well-written romp. The settings jump around the globe, and Fortier's descriptions are spot on. She is unafraid of tough and intelligent female characters, and The Lost Sisterhood is peppered with them. (On occasion, these characters DO make choices that made me groan and mutter, "she wouldn't do that." But that's a minor complaint.) The dynamics between the characters are believable, and Fortier's humor makes this read even more enjoyable. The chapters moving back and forth between the present and the ancient world could be a little confusing, but the author handles these transitions clearly.

If you enjoy archaeology and ancient history, if you are a fan of the late Barbara Mertz (AKA Elizabeth Peters), or if you're an armchair traveler who likes to explore the world with courageous, educated people running for their lives, this book might delight you.

Highly recommended.

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review 2014-06-03 00:00

The Lost Sisterhood

Emily S

Wow. There are really no words sufficient to describe how this book made me feel. I LOVED it. Absolutely loved it. I loved how Fortier entwined present and past and made it seamless. I loved getting both stories. It awakened a long-dormant fascination with the Amazons (now I'm ashamed that I let it slide) and made me determined to learn everything I could about them.

I loved Diana and Nick (oh, how I loved Nick!!). I loved how their relationship progressed. I loved that there was no insta-love going on, and really, once Diana got to know Nick, there was no love triangle either.

I can only imagine the amount of research that goes into a book like this, so many kudos to Anne Fortier for getting it so right. This is only Anne's second English-language book, but it's books like this and [b:Juliet|6718608|Juliet|Anne Fortier|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366399299s/6718608.jpg|6914700] that make her an auto-buy author for me.

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review 2014-05-14 00:00

The Lost Sisterhood

Abandoned by Booklikes

I have never read Anne Fortier's previous novel, Juliet. Apparently that was her re-imagining of the Juliet character from Romeo and Juliet. With her latest novel, "The Lost Sisterhood" she re-imagines a world in which the ancient Amazons existed.

This is novel is told from two points of view. The first point of view is set in modern times with Diana Morgan as the lead character in the narrative. Diana is a lecturer at Oxford who focuses on the Amazon mythology in her lectures. Though she is often ridiculed by other colleagues, Diana is trying to prove that the Amazons did exist. We found out through flashbacks (that were throughout this entire novel) that Diana's grandmother believed that she was an Amazon and disappeared one day when she was younger. Diana meets a mysterious man that lures her to North Africa on her quest to prove that the Amazon dis exist.

The second point of view is told from Myrina who lived in the Bronze Age. Myrina and her sister Lilli at a young age are forced to flee their village and go to a city to see about the moon goddess that their mother spoke of to them. We get to see Myrina and Lilli's travels and the people that they meet (some mentioned in Greek mythology) along the way.

The reason why I ended up giving this novel only three stars was that except for the points of view told from Myrina's character I did not really care for the rest of the novel. When the novel first began with Diana I thought that Ms. Fortier did a very good job of laying out that character and you get a very good idea of why she became fascinated and then obsessed with the Amazons. However, the modern portions of the novel quickly turned from Diana being brought in to find out more about the Amazons to a Indiana type jones adventure that quickly lost me.

It also didn't help that we have Diana dealing with a love triangle that was quickly telegraphed (at least to me) who was going to come out the winner in the end.

Additionally, there were way too many flashbacks of Diana remembering some event with her grandmother. It became too much since we also had Myrina's story to read as well.

Also, Diana herself as a character was utterly boring and seemed to not possess any type of common sense. It was just shocking to me how childish and at times dumb she would act.

Finally, the ending really did not make a lot of sense. I don't want to spoil to potential readers but to have the ending that occurred just strained any kinds of credibility. I like the idea of the Amazons but the way that the Amazon legends linked to the modern world portion of the novel I just rolled my eyes at...a lot.

The portions of the novel with Myrina were excellent and I think that Ms. Fortier does a good job of interweaving Greek mythology to her fictional world. Frankly I would have loved more details about Myrina and if the novel had consisted of just her this would have been a five star read for me.

I received this novel for free via the Amazon Vine Program.

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review 2014-05-04 00:00

The Lost Sisterhood

Constantly Moving the Bookmark

Diana Morgan lives a quiet life as an Oxford philologist but her personal passion is the legend of the Amazons. Her slightly off-kilter grandmother had always claimed she and Diana stemmed from a long line of strong Amazon women. So naturally, when her grandmother mysteriously disappeared Diana thought that finding the truth about the Amazons might somehow reunite them. Not being aware of her somewhat personal connection to the story her peers often ridicule her belief in the “myth”. Finances prevented Diana from going on any philological expeditions as much as her own shyness, but when she is offered the opportunity to decipher a possible Amazon artifact, Diana finally throws caution to the wind and follows the long forgotten trail.

With each discovery Diana makes about the legendary army of women warriors, the reader is also propelled, via a parallel story line, through the life of Myrina, an Algerian huntress. Could Myrina be the ancient (and first) Amazon Queen Diana has always hoped existed?

Ms. Fortier does a brilliant job of sharing the possible origins of the Amazon warriors. Taking the reader (in alternating chapters) through modern Europe, Greece and the Middle East as well as from ancient Algeria through Troy, Crete, Turkey and Germany. Even her liberties with the story of the beautiful Helen and Troy are plausible and interesting. As much as I enjoyed this book I can’t give it a higher number of stars because of my slight disappointment with the ending. Although wrapped up somewhat sufficiently it just … petered out? The story got a little confusing with the repeating names (the Amazons seem to like reusing their goddess names) and then off we went to the happily ever after.

Ms. Fortier’s first novel Juliet was one that ended up on my “Did Not Finish” pile. Despite that, I could not resist the lure of the Amazons. I was a little apprehensive about starting The Lost Sisterhood but am very happy I did. So much so that I may have to go back and give Juliet another chance.

review 2014-04-11 18:27

Loved the mythology part...

Susana "Lost in Fantasy Land"

Arc provided by Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine through Netgalley

This is a story that left me with mixed feelings: on one hand it develops a complex and rich story from ancient mythology; on the other hand, I found the characters and the initial pace of the adventure not very interesting.

Told in alternating points of views, this tale is divided between two very different chronological time phases:

• One takes place during the Bronze age. In it we follow the paths of two sisters, Myrina and Lilly, who after returning from a hunting expedition find most of their tribe decimated.

• The other one follows the life of Diana Morgan a philologist who is currently teaching at Oxford.

My first problem with the initial narrative is that, after a while of reading it, it became quite dull to follow.

The characters' development and consequent characterization is not this book's strong point. Instead they feel like the props against which the plot, _ the actual star _, develops itself.

Diana, who is supposed to be twenty eight years old, comes out as this naïve and easily infatuated girl. The _very teenage way_ she talks about her long time love interest seems quite at odds with the personality that she should have had for someone who against better judgement _when it comes to her career_ has decided to uncover the Amazons' history. Someone determined and focused.

On the other hand, _ also _ at the beginning, the historical pov didn't sound very credible due to the way the dialogue was written between the characters. The characters sounded too modern regarding their time frame.

I'm afraid that, although crucial to the story's development, the way Diana agrees to the professional proposition made to her was just another sign of her tstl personality...

Her job is at risk, and she just takes of like that? Photos can be photoshopped... just saying.

Diana's voyage marks another phase in the book. Yes, it becomes more action packed, in a Clive Cussler way... the thing is that, _once again _, since I didn't develop any attachment to the characters, were one of them to die, I couldn't care less.

The contemporary romance was very weak. There wasn't a growing sense of tension between the characters, nothing that indicated love or lust between them.

There was also the part where Diana's knight in shining armour joins her and her adventure colleagues, and starts behaving as if he owns her, when their relationship had never been more than that of colleagues.

And what does she do?

She finds it strange but doesn't say a word! How? This is the main problem with her!

It's like emotionally she doesn't react to the story, physically, yes. She reacts to dangers, she runs, she hides, the whole gamut... emotionally... she just keeps quiet.

She doesn't question people's attitudes. She doesn't find odd or very coincidental certain things and events...

she's a paper doll. Soulless.

Regarding the historical romance, it is better done than the contemporary, especially because Paris' personality beats all the other ones...

Regarding the unexpected turn of events that the author created... I have to say that I loved it! :)

Let's say that I found this much more believable than the "common acknowledged story" of Paris and Helena.

Basically the whole concept in which the author was able to interweave mythological characters and events in a completely different and original way, was just fabulous.

I would be reading a page, and then a character would pop up and I was like: Oh, here you are....

Lilly who is Myrina's sister, takes the role of "Cassandra"...

Paris himself, here takes the place of Hector...

Myrina, the Amazon Queen, plays Helena to her Paris..

Achilles here is just a Pirate...

Hercules only makes a brief appearance... and so on and on.

So if you're keen on "your" mythology following a certain determined path, you'll probably have a problem with this.

To me, this was the book's greatest asset!

As the author says:

"Some scholars will certainly disagree with my choices in describing the past— skepticism is, after all, a prerequisite of proper scholarship— but that doesn’t necessarily mean things could not have happened the way I depict them. It is my hope, of course, that inquisitive readers will use my book as a springboard for a dive into the many unsolved mysteries of the past and flock to the fields of history, philology, and archaeology, eager to help expand our knowledge of the ancient world."