Scan barcode
alexis_baldwin92's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
nicoles_reading_corner's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Child death
read42024's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, and Murder
Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy
acrosstheskyinstars's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. I'm the first person to love a feminist myth retelling. The point of view shifting so frequently hindered the book in my opinion. It made it hard for me to feel truly connected to any of the characters. Don't get me wrong. I love a Greek tragedy, which this certainly is and I knew that going in. But the tone of this book was very dark, so definitely be warned that the subject matter is heavy. I preferred the book Ariadne by Jennifer Saint and Ariadne Unraveled by Zenobia Neil. Both of those were 5 star reads for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
01_in_emilyon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Child death
h_sloan's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Rape, and Sexual assault
elysareadsitall's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"Phaedra" was a difficult read, but I'm glad to have read it. The Night Chorus of women in the story was heartbreaking and fascinating, and they were my favorite part of the book. This book follows Phaedra as Theseus kills her brother the minotaur, runs off with her sister, returns without her, marries Phaedra, takes her to Athens, and leaves her in the dangerous court alone. Phaedra is then raped by Theseus's son Hippolytus, and his trial follows.
The story dives headfirst into the politics of Athens and women's bodies. It's infuriating and hard to read, but it's realistic and important too. The prose is stark and driving. The book was quick to read and difficult to put down. Because it's a well-known myth, I knew what was going to happen, but I kept reading with hope and a need to know how Shepperson would wrap up the story.
The story is told in several perspectives. The characters Shepperson chose were confusing to me at first, but their parts in the story became clear quickly and made perfect sense. I liked the variety of perspectives because it showed how the ripple effects spread wide. Besides the Night Chorus, I was most drawn to Phaedra's perspective because she changes the most over the story and has a lot of inner turmoil.
The story dives headfirst into the politics of Athens and women's bodies. It's infuriating and hard to read, but it's realistic and important too. The prose is stark and driving. The book was quick to read and difficult to put down. Because it's a well-known myth, I knew what was going to happen, but I kept reading with hope and a need to know how Shepperson would wrap up the story.
The story is told in several perspectives. The characters Shepperson chose were confusing to me at first, but their parts in the story became clear quickly and made perfect sense. I liked the variety of perspectives because it showed how the ripple effects spread wide. Besides the Night Chorus, I was most drawn to Phaedra's perspective because she changes the most over the story and has a lot of inner turmoil.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Suicide
jmdeal's review against another edition
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual assault
coffeekitaab's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was a pretty heavy read...
I haven't read Greek mythology since school and have always wanted to read more as an adult. This has been the first opportunity I had in a long time and I found I was still as interested and had never come across the story of Theseus, Phaedra and Hippolytus.
Trigger warnings should be checked.
I really enjoyed the story being told from the perspective of the female characters, and the author did well to commit to the different narratives. I do feel it was weak for a novel that is set out as a "feminist retelling". The characters are helpless before the dominating males and, even the goddesses seem subjected to their violence and treachery. I felt uncomfortable at how explicit the description of male harassment, violence etc was so trigger warnings flagged here.
My only other gripe is at times there was an assumption that the reader was well versed on the different myths which left the writing hanging to your the reader's imagination. Of course that does not work unless you know the tales, so I lost myself in these moments and found it a bit frustrating. This was a 3.5* for me.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I haven't read Greek mythology since school and have always wanted to read more as an adult. This has been the first opportunity I had in a long time and I found I was still as interested and had never come across the story of Theseus, Phaedra and Hippolytus.
Trigger warnings should be checked.
I really enjoyed the story being told from the perspective of the female characters, and the author did well to commit to the different narratives. I do feel it was weak for a novel that is set out as a "feminist retelling". The characters are helpless before the dominating males and, even the goddesses seem subjected to their violence and treachery. I felt uncomfortable at how explicit the description of male harassment, violence etc was so trigger warnings flagged here.
My only other gripe is at times there was an assumption that the reader was well versed on the different myths which left the writing hanging to your the reader's imagination. Of course that does not work unless you know the tales, so I lost myself in these moments and found it a bit frustrating. This was a 3.5* for me.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
house_of_hannah's review against another edition
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Thank you so much to Alcove Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.
I actually did not realize this is considered an adult book until after I finished it. Based on the writing this 100% comes off as YA. Re-reading the description of the book, I definitely see why this would be considered adult, but I feel that the description gives false expectations for the book. Saying that Phaedra, "sparks an overdue reckoning" is misleading, as the very opposite happens...and then the book ends.
I was really looking forward to reading a story from Phaedra's POV, but instead we must also read the POV's of a multitude of other characters. Out of 56 chapters in this book, only 17 are Phaedra. There are characters that really added nothing to the story, and I found myself bored while waiting for it to return to Phaedra's point-of-view.
Speaking of the cast of the characters, everyone comes off as quite one-dimensional. We are only ever shown one aspect of their personality, so everytime that character pops up that is the only thing ever discussed about them. For Phaedra it's painting, Hippolytus is riding horses, Theseus is democracy, Medea her children, etc. We never really explore deeper as to who these characters are.
Unfortunately, I also found the plot to be lacking. Once Phaedra is in Athens she rarely leaves her rooms, so huge amounts of time pass by without anything happening. A good majority of the book is simply conversations that Phaedra has with a few characters in her bedroom. As the book revolves around one event, there isn't anything else that happens that is really of any interest.
Which brings me to the main topic of this story: rape. The description of this book makes it seem like the oppressed women are going to be heard, and perhaps get some justice, but that doesn't happen. Almost every page of this book talks about the brutalization of women. Every man is a rapist, and every woman has been raped. I was expecting some sort of uprising, or mass court hearing where women were going to tell their stories, be heard, and gain back some power for themselves. Yet Phaedra is the only one to speak. The other women remain nameless voices in the night.
With how this book ends I honestly do not understand the purpose of it. I get that this is a Greek tragedy, but with minimal plot and no character growth I am struggling to care. We simply stayed surface level on a topic that should have been delved into so much deeper. There were sparks in the beginning that led me to believe we would be heading for some serious and well needed discussions, but it just never happened.
Here are those quotes:
"It was not until ten summers later, when Theseus was to come to Crete, seeking power beyond what we could give him, that I was to learn the truth: that any man can throw words up into the air, and it is women who must pay when those words land."
"I know that history will judge me, but history is written by men."
Such promise ! Overall this is an unsatisfying story that really should have gone all in if it was going to deal with such a serious topic. I was looking for Phaedra's perspective in a feminist retelling, but instead got multiple perspectives on how large and annoying a table was.
I actually did not realize this is considered an adult book until after I finished it. Based on the writing this 100% comes off as YA. Re-reading the description of the book, I definitely see why this would be considered adult, but I feel that the description gives false expectations for the book. Saying that Phaedra, "sparks an overdue reckoning" is misleading, as the very opposite happens...and then the book ends.
I was really looking forward to reading a story from Phaedra's POV, but instead we must also read the POV's of a multitude of other characters. Out of 56 chapters in this book, only 17 are Phaedra. There are characters that really added nothing to the story, and I found myself bored while waiting for it to return to Phaedra's point-of-view.
Speaking of the cast of the characters, everyone comes off as quite one-dimensional. We are only ever shown one aspect of their personality, so everytime that character pops up that is the only thing ever discussed about them. For Phaedra it's painting, Hippolytus is riding horses, Theseus is democracy, Medea her children, etc. We never really explore deeper as to who these characters are.
Unfortunately, I also found the plot to be lacking. Once Phaedra is in Athens she rarely leaves her rooms, so huge amounts of time pass by without anything happening. A good majority of the book is simply conversations that Phaedra has with a few characters in her bedroom. As the book revolves around one event, there isn't anything else that happens that is really of any interest.
Which brings me to the main topic of this story: rape. The description of this book makes it seem like the oppressed women are going to be heard, and perhaps get some justice, but that doesn't happen. Almost every page of this book talks about the brutalization of women. Every man is a rapist, and every woman has been raped. I was expecting some sort of uprising, or mass court hearing where women were going to tell their stories, be heard, and gain back some power for themselves. Yet Phaedra is the only one to speak. The other women remain nameless voices in the night.
With how this book ends I honestly do not understand the purpose of it. I get that this is a Greek tragedy, but with minimal plot and no character growth I am struggling to care. We simply stayed surface level on a topic that should have been delved into so much deeper. There were sparks in the beginning that led me to believe we would be heading for some serious and well needed discussions, but it just never happened.
Here are those quotes:
"It was not until ten summers later, when Theseus was to come to Crete, seeking power beyond what we could give him, that I was to learn the truth: that any man can throw words up into the air, and it is women who must pay when those words land."
"I know that history will judge me, but history is written by men."
Such promise ! Overall this is an unsatisfying story that really should have gone all in if it was going to deal with such a serious topic. I was looking for Phaedra's perspective in a feminist retelling, but instead got multiple perspectives on how large and annoying a table was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Confinement, Incest, and Grief
Minor: Pedophilia, Slavery, Xenophobia, Vomit, Abortion, and War