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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
bubblegirl858's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-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? Yes
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. I have been on a Greek mythology retelling reading kick and I thought this book would be the perfect fit. It was not. Knowing the myth does not make this book any easier to read, in fact it only makes you want to scream when events play out exactly as you knew they would but now, NOW you can see the actual (imagined) impact they had on women in the story which only made me angrier. Every single character is unlikable. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Not a single redeeming quality to be found in any male character and not a single likeable character trait in any female character. One of the things that irked me the most about this book was that they CONSTANTLY reminded you how plain Phaedra was. Anytime a new character interacted with her: "Oh that is too bad she is so plain." "Well, she isn't a great beauty" and so on and so forth. That was the only way to describe her. I completely understand the constant reminders that she is a child, because she is, but the constant reminder of how ugly she is compared to other women was so off putting. For a proclaimed "feminist novel", I expected a lot better than what was given. Also, can we talk about how every Greek mythology retelling book is compared to Madeline Miller (just like this book was)? This book's writing was scores below Madeline Miller and just plain boring at times. The Night Chorus was interesting, and I might have enjoyed it if I listened to the audiobook. In writing, it looks super disjointed and is confusing a lot of times. The only redeeming aspect of the book was getting to see Phaedra take revenge on her rapist because let's be honest, any person who has been raped wishes they could deal out justice to the person who harmed them in the same fashion. Knowing that she was like 6-7 months pregnant when she did it makes it that much more of an accomplishment. That was the only high point of the book. Her death at her own hands doesn't even feel like her own choice at the end due to her being backed into that corner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Sexism, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
kari_f's review against another edition
3.0
“Justice is sometimes a mistreated woman. What should happen isn’t always what does happen.”
Sometimes there is so much injustice in a novel that I have to read in short spurts to keep myself from getting upset and worked up about it. Especially when that injustice mirrors the real world, whether in the past or present.
This is exactly that kind of book. Over and over and over, women are brutalized and mistreated and ignored and silenced. They are objects to own rather than humans with autonomy and value. They exist only to serve cruel men. So while I get the point of the message, decrying this sort of mentality, I’ll admit this was a really hard book to read.
I enjoyed the different perspectives and points of view throughout the book, especially seeing how twisted the accounts become with all of the court gossip and political spinning. The world building left a bit to be desired, and for readers that are new to Greek mythology, I think this would hinder some of their understanding of place and character.
Overall I felt that the plights of females were compelling, and the events tragic, but I didn’t enjoy the book enough to revisit it in the future.
“If they are the heroes, does that make us the heroines? We keep going, we persevere, we ask for nothing, and we get even less. Where are our stories?”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Kidnapping