Rating: 
Summary: A great story
Review: I just loved this book! I have been a fan of Caroline B. Cooney's for years ever since I read Face on the Milk Carton and this is just another great story. I can see how her version of events may not follow with other peoples but who cares! That is why it's called fiction after all. The heroine is a wonderful person, I really cared about her. I loved the world Cooney put me in when reading this book and would recomend it to anyone who likes Cooney's work.
Rating: 
Summary: ~GREAT BOOK~
Review: I really enjoyed GODDESS OF YESTEREDAY because it was written in a form that really was interesting to me. I have not bothered to read The Illiad or The Odyssey because I was afraid they would be boring. But I found this book, and it had the type of story I was looking for. The Trojan War and what led to it, and Anaxandra's own life. She is around the same age as me, and although I could not excatly connect with her with her problems, I really enjoyed viewing this timeperiod through her eyes. It was not all poetic and boring as I thought all Greek books would be. This book is what I would recomend to those who like Greek myths and stories, and historical fiction.
Rating:
Summary: I coudn't put it down
Review: I usually find at least one thing wrong with each of the author's books, but Goddess of Yesterday was perfect. It tells the story of a young girl named Anaxandra, taken as a hostage to the island of Siphnos where she is a companion to the Princess Callisto. When war comes, she must pertend to be Callisto in order to save herself. Before the books is over, she has to pretend to be even more people. The villain is Helen of Troy, who I hated ( I mean that in a good way), but one of my favorite charaters was Paris, who was equally as mean as Helen. And the main character, Anaxandra, was so real.
Goddess of Yesterday was easy to undersaynd, good Historical fiction, detailed Greek Mythology, and very exciting. I couldn't put the book down, and I wish it had gone on longer. And, unlike a lot of Caroline B. Cooney's other books, the ending to Goddess of Yesterday was complete.
Rating:
Summary: Heartfelt
Review: Josh Aaby
This novel is an epic story based on a little girl taken from her family by a king and taken to his homeland. Throughout the novel the young girl, Anaxandra, begins her journey from the moment she steps onto her king's ship (she generally calls all of the kings she ends up living with her own), and her journey ends in a battle of great proportions.
Anaxandra spends most of the story under the name of a fallen princess -Callisto- who is murdered along with her family and kingdom by a band of pirates. She is rescued by another King and that is when the novel's pace begins to quicken and the reader is drawn into a world of love- for child, for man, and for god/goddesses- and also despair and disappointment.
The novel is set in the time of the Trojans and visits kingdoms including among others. This is a novel to be enjoyed by many people in various age groups in that it could be both a love story and an adventure. I would recommend this book to anyone willing to try something new, and who knows? Maybe somebody else will like it also. It was a big surprise to me that I found it so interesting.
Rating:
Summary: "Truly I have been Lucky in my Kings"
Review: There is a huge range of novels out there concerning the Trojan War and the men and women whose lives were changed by the great event - so many books in fact, that it is difficult to find one that doesn't feel stale and predictable (after all, no author can really make shocking twists and turns in a war whose outcome is already known). Like books concerning the King Arthur legends, the Trojan War as a subject for a book is rapidly becoming dull.So it is refreshing to find now and again a book that deals with this subject, and is actually *interesting*, suspenseful and surprisingly good. Such is Caroline B. Cooney's "Goddess of Yesterday". Although all of the mythological details and events of the War are correct (at least as far as I could see), the author brings new personalities to well-known characters, thoughtful insights on blasphemy and the nature of gods, and a likeable young heroine that blends so easily into the events leading up to the War that one might be surprised not to find her mentioned in ancient sources! Anaxandra is the beloved daughter of a chieftain father in a small rocky isle, taken away from her home and family as a tribute/hostage of King Nicander, who places her in his own household as a companion to his own crippled daughter Princess Callisto. Despite homesickness, Anaxandra adjust to her new life, only to have it shattered once more by pirates who plunder Siphnos. Thanks to an ingenious disguise, Anaxandra is the sole survivor, and when the ship bearing King Menelaus pulls in to investigate, she lies to ensure her future: telling the King of Sparta that she is the Princess Callisto. Under this new identity, she is taken to Sparta where she mingles with the family of the king: his beautiful but dangerous wife Helen, his cheerful daughter Hermione, his two elder sons, and baby Pleisthenes. It is there of course, that the inevitable happens: Prince Paris of Troy arrives in Sparta, and when Menelaus is called away to his grandfather's funeral, Paris and Helen set sail once more for Troy...taking baby Pleisthenes and Anaxandra (again under a false identity in a bid to save Hermione's life) with them... When retelling such a well-known story, it is impossible to change important events in the tale (scholars would get too stroppy), but the personalities of the people involved are always up for grabs. Cooney creates an interesting version of Helen, as a painfully beautiful demi-goddess, utterly cruel, cold, manipulating, and revelling in the blood of the soldiers who die for her sake. It's a shocking change from the usual somewhat reluctant follower of Paris, who would walk the walls in agony over the deaths below her. Hector and Andromache's characterisations I am less fond of: he's too heavy-set and gruff, and she's too frivolous and giggly. Cassandra, however is captured perfectly as the hysterical, but beloved princess in the tower, and Cooney instigates a very clever plot-twist in the details of her curse (that her prophesies are never believed), that caught me completely off-guard! There are a few details that bothered me: Anaxandra often beseeches the deity that gives name to the book: 'the goddess of yesterday', but who this figure actually is and how she fits into the pantheon of Greek gods remains unknown. The same complaint lies with the use of Medusa as a "good-luck charm", and did anyone else think that Anaxandra's romance with Euneas was a little abrupt? One horse ride and she's in love? Furthermore, there are alot of plot threads left hanging - does Anaxandra meet up with Euneas again? Cassandra hints that her parents are still looking for her - so does she ever meet them again? Does she have her revenge on the pirates of the twisted fish? And for someone who knows absolutely nothing about the Trojan War, they will be left dangling with absolutely no information on what happens to any of the characters - Cooney ends the book, so to speak, just when it seems like it's beginning. An epilogue fills in these blanks, but I would have liked to hear it from Anaxandra's point of view (plus Cooney forgets to mentions that Aretha is eventually rescued by her grandsons after the sack of Troy). But all in all, Caroline B. Cooney has written a clear, beautifully descriptive story of an engaging young woman caught up in events much larger than herself, as well as a reworking of the traditional myths, and a reasonably accurate depiction of ancient Greek life. In terms of novel based on this "Trojan genre", this one is one of the best.
Rating:
Summary: Goddess of Yesterday
Review: This is a beautifully written story about mythological Greece. The style is very compelling, written from a young girl's perspective.
Anaxandra lives happily on a small, unknown island, the favorite child of her father, a pirate. One day, King Nicander of Siphnos comes to take her away to be a companion to his crippled daughter, Callisto. Six years later, Siphnos is attacked by pirates, and Anaxandra is the sole survivor. When King Menelaus' ships land on the island to investigate what happened, Anaxandra is mistaken for Callisto-she does not correct the King of the mainland. Menelaus takes her back to Sparta, where the god-touched Helen knows she is not really Callisto. Before Helen can do anything, though, Prince Paris arrives from Troy. Struck by love, Helen helps Paris sack her own city while Menelaus is elsewhere. They sail off to Troy, and at the last minute Helen decides to take her daughter, Hermione, and her baby son, Pleis. When Hermione's nurse asks Anaxandra to step in as Hermione, Anaxandra once again has to change her identity. In Troy, they prepare for war, while Anaxandra discovers the delights of this god-swept land--riding horses and falling in love, among others. But the gods punish those who steal birthrights...will Anaxandra be able to please the gods and save herself?
This is a very uplifting story-I was actually in tears at the end from the sheer beauty of it. Anaxandra experiences so much pain, and through it all she keeps herself whole. Amazing.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: This is the best book! It gets you hooked and you can't stop. If you love: adventure,history,courage, or fate THIS is your book. Its about Anaxandra. She is taken from her island at the age of 6 to be a companion to princess Callisto, daughter of King Nicander. This wonderful book tells of her life with them and her many other get adventures in her life, which lead her to Troy, in the mist of the Trojan War! The book heats alittle throught the 5 chapter,after this you can't put it down. the ending is beound words. I stronly rege you to read this
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Summary: Hermiones review
Review: This story is told by Anaxandra, a sialors daughter who was tooken hostage at age six. She becomes the playmate of King Nicander's daughter Callisto. Six years later the island of Siphnos is ruined by pirates. Only Anaxandra lives by putting an octopus on her head and acting like Madusa. Nine days later King Menelaus arrives at Siphnos. Anaxandra claims to be Calliso and is taken to Sparta to once agian be a playmate for Menelaus' daughter Hermione. But Helen, Menelaus' wife sees through her but Menelaus don't believe her.
When Prince Paris of Troy visits Sparta to pay his pay blood respects to Appolo for stabbing a little boy he falls in love with Helen and Helen goes willingly to Troy and even gives Paris all of Sparta treasures. Once agian Aaxandra/Callisto must betray a princess, Hermione who does not want to go to Troy. She is saved by King Priam of Troy who will not let Helen harm her. But when war breaks out between troy and the Greeks Anaxandra must find a way out with Helens two year old son Pliesthens.
This is a very good book!!!!!
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