Liz's Updates

"Thank you to the publishers and Edelweiss for the ARC.

This novel is a retelling of the Theseus and the Minotaur myth from the perspective of Ariadne, princess of Crete and sister to the Minotaur, who helps Theseus conquer the labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur.

I will talk about events in the novel without spoilers aside from things that line up with the original myths and, thus, are not spoilers because you can look it up on Wikipedia or Theoi . com or if you truly want to know nothing about the events of the myth or this book, maybe skip my review.

I am a huge fan of Greek mythology and have been for years. The tale of Ariadne and Dionysus was always one of my favorites, so I leaped on this book the second I saw it, and though it started off strong, it was ultimately very disappointing to me.

I would not say this was a feminist retelling in any way, honestly, so I would warn others who might read it for such things (as it has been advertised as such) as Ariadne makes one decision in the beginning of the book and then becomes a brittle leaf in the wind, blowing which ever way at the mercy of the men around her.

The entire book felt like you were holding your breath, on the edge, waiting for something to happen, waiting for that moment to start caring for the characters or be stunned by an amazing plot point, just for none of that to occur.

There are alternate versions to the myth, and one I prefer to others, and this seems at first to follow my preferred ending, yet still ends tragically. When presented with such an option that would make an amazing novelization, Dionysus immortalizing Ariadne as he did his mother, to not use that inspiring, beautiful version seems like an immense waste to me. ESPECIALLY since this is marketed as feminist. Nothing says feminism quite like a needlessly tragic ending, am I right? (Heavy sarcasm) So of course I’m disappointed.

This retelling clearly flew through the base myth, Theseus and Ariadne fleeing Crete at 30%, Dionysus being introduced at about 40%, and so on, I had no idea how it was truly going to end and the ending that was given did not leave me feeling satisfied in the least and mostly left me wondering what even was the point of the novel other than “women suffer a lot��

Even though Ariadne does indeed become the wife of Dionysus and have children with him, the dynamic of their relationship doesn’t make any sense either. It was sweet in the beginning, but it soured due to the author’s choice of deciding to hide different aspects of Dionysus from Ariadne. Mainly just the author trying to come up with some sort of emotional conflict that didn’t need to happen, and would have been much more interesting to have the darker aspects of Dionysus shared and explored with Ariadne. Especially since classical art DEPICTS her participating in his rituals with the Maenads and Satyrs. So the characterization was dull and off-putting, which is something I never could have imagined for the god of wine, revelry, ritual madness, and religious ecstasy.

Phaedra, Ariadne’s younger sister, was also given a perspective throughout the novel and explored her life.... and you’d never guess how that ends *heavy sarcastic tone and pointed look*

The retelling of the myth fell just short of where it should have, changing the last bit of Ariadne’s “ending�� with a lackluster and hopeless tragedy and no falling action aside from a very short epilogue that did nothing for me because I was furious at the chapter prior. The last bit of the myth could have been fulfilled with the epilogue so it could have ended on a much better note, but the author chose not to do it for reasons unbeknownst to me.

As other reviewers have pointed out, retellings are usually supposed to build upon the base myth and add things to better the story and fully flesh it out, not recount them step by step, which is what the author did, and it led to the story falling extremely flat and having no feeling behind it.

Another issue I had: with the timeline of other heroes, speaking of Heracles in Theseus�� past because he was Theseus�� mentor, and then later introducing Perseus, who was not described as old as far as I can remember, knowing Perseus is actually Heracles�� GREAT GRANDFATHER doesn’t make any sense. It’s Ancient Greece so I’m going to assume that Perseus should be dead if Heracles was in his prime before Theseus even met Ariadne (so probably like 15+ years in the past at that point)

Though the ending fell extremely flat to me and was ultimately disappointing, the writing itself wasn’t completely terrible, (it certainly wasn’t great, and to compare this book to Madeline Miller is hubris and punishable by the gods) and the first half as it followed the myth was alright. Ariadne’s viewpoints of how unfair it is that gods always target women for the acts of men are really the only thing that would be considered “feminist.�� So that saves this book from having a one star rating, but it’s still a 1.5, and because it has been my most disappointing read of the year, and still inspires rage whenever I think about this book, I’m rounding it down to one star, as it deserves.

It’s just really a shame because as much as I dislike “and they lived happily ever after�� because I don’t mind a bit of pain, I REALLY don’t like to read about all women needlessly suffering at the hands of or because of men and that being the only message I take away from this novel when it was advertised as a “brilliant feminist debut�� and WHEN THERE WAS AN AMAZING ALTERNATIVE WITHIN ESTABLISHED MYTHOLOGY.

Unfortunately, this retelling was completely unimaginative and lacked any kind of vision that would do these characters justice. I would heavily warn against reading this book and any retelling the author does in the future.

The UK edition is gorgeous, but better as a decoration, and not to read. I wish I hadn’t read this book and was blissfully unaware of its terrible contents.

All I can say now is that Ariadne (and Phaedra, and Pasiphae) deserved so much better."