Amazons. Oh my Amazons. I fully admit my fascination stems from that long ago viewing of the TV movie "Hercules and the Amazon Women". And having enjoyed Fortier's other novel, JULIET, I was eager to embark on this adventure through the past and present.

Told against two time periods--the life of Myrina, an Amazon "Queen" and Diana, an oxford lecturer on Amazons--THE LOST SISTERHOOD is more then just about the fabled warrior women, its also about shedding light on the truths of our own lives. Diana is motivated by memories of her grandmother, who claimed to be an Amazon and who disappeared when Diana was very young. Who were the Amazons? Did they still exist? Between myth, history and time what was the truth of the Amazon Nation?

Diana's story is nothing short of an Indiana Jones' adventure at times. Mysterious benefactor offering to whisk her away to validate all her dreams for a large sum of money. Threats and attacks from shadowy operatives. Tantalizing clues that may just be what she needs to find the truth. Jumping country to country, ancient historical site to ancient historical site in dusty caverns and tunnels. Dodging bullets, fake names, unexpected romance--truly this will lend itself well to a movie adaptation.

Myrina's story is no less eventful, but its a story of survival and freedom. As Diana is tracking Myrina's procession in the present, we follow her in the past and see just how hellish it was. Far from being a tribe of women who could defeat armies with their bare hands, Myrina's Sisters begin the book being sheltered Priestesses wanting only one thing--to avenge the wrong done to their Temple and get back their taken Sisters. The allies they gain, their victories and tragedies, are chronicled without an eye for future glory. They merely wanted a place to call their own, far from the greed and violence of men.

I was engrossed in both stories, but I found myself eagerly turning each page for more of Myrina's story. Fortier explains in her Author Notes that she took liberties with the legends and lore surrounding the Amazons, but she paints a realistic picture of the ancient world. Readers and writers know that stories are biased. Whether written by the victors to make their sacking of a temple seem to be righteous or by the victims to paint themselves as innocents who did nothing wrong, history is all about personal bias.

During Myrina's journeys she comes across many familiar mythological folks--Achilles, King Priam, Agamemnon, Helena, Paris, Hercules, Hippolyta...all very familiar to those with even a passing knowledge of Greek myths. Whether these figures were villians or heroes was in the eyes of the beholder and for Myrina they were more often trouble then anything else King Priam who's petty dispute with Agamemnon laid the foundations for war. Achilles and his men carelessly raiding town after town with little care for their "barbaric" culture. Helena who's spitefulness ignited the tinder for a war. Paris who's well meaning intentions and bravado led death to their doors.

This isn't to say that Myrina's sisters were not at fault--they made their own mistakes and had to pay their own consequences as time went on.

Diana's journey meanwhile echoed Myrina's quite a bit. She too was on a journey that quickly became motivated not by external needs, but my internals ones. She needed to see the quest to its end and along the way she too learned the importance between freedom, enslavement and what being an Amazon really meant. Its about choices in the end, something that Myrina's sisters fought hard for and something that Diana's grandmother wanted for her to know. ( )

It was almost impossible to put this book down! If you like Greek Mythology and the tale of the Amazons, you will love this story. It features a philologist named Diana who is asked to translate some ancient script which turns her down a long road of the mystery of Amazonian women! It also tells the story of Myrina and Lilli in ancient times and their journey to becoming Amazonian women. The two stories go back and forth and always leave you on a cliff hanger! I will admit, I'm not big into love stories overtaking storylines, and I was surprised that the two main characters in the present fell in love at all based on their disdain for one another. It has a lot of adventure and fun awaiting for you. ( )

The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier tells a story of mythological Amazons, and the modern-day Oxford philologist investigating them.

The present-day storyline involves a struggling philologist, her archeologist friend, ancient inscriptions from exotic temples in distant lands, an heirloom from a beloved grandmother, priceless artifacts, and several sets of mysterious millionaires. (Did I mention that the archeologist is a legit girl friend, with her own hobbies and career and actual shared interests with the heroine? A real friendship between intellectual women in a page-turning adventure!) As the classicists investigate mysterious clues, the ancient storyline follows female priestesses on their travels through the pre-classical world.

Read the rest here.
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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. ( )

Volkomen ongeloofwaardig verhaal over een filologe die min of meer ontvoerd wordt om een oud manuscript te ontcijferen, keer op keer naar verschillende landen. Ze wordt bestolen, achterna gezeten, wordt tegen haar zin verliefd.... het andere verhaal speelt in de tijd van Troje, met prins Paris en is een willekeurige en volgens mij niet helemaal kloppende mix van broeierige sensualiteit en historie. Kortom, ik heb het volgehouden tot de helft en het toen maar weggelegd. Zonde van tijd en energie. ( )