Reviews

Psyche and eros

Thanks to Ann at Random Things Book Tours for the arc

This was a highly bouncy tale that was a lot of pleasure to read.

There is a healthy dose of historical detail and a generous interpretation of ancient sources.
This is the book for you if you want a captivating tale that neatly incorporates Greek myth while still retaining its own flair and individuality. I didn't get the impression that this book was trying to be an exact replica of the original story; instead, it took its own unique journey, preserving enough threads of Greek mythology to feel grounded while also becoming fascinating and exciting.

I thought the characterisation in this novel was excellent: we were told just enough about each character to keep us engaged without getting bogged down in personal information. The two points of view were quite well written, with both characters' voices sounding distinct and constant throughout.

#RandomThingsBookTours #BlogReview #greekmytholgyretelling #greekgods

henrybenry's review against another edition

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2.0

This feels like a first draft of a book that did not go through an editor; ruined a lovely myth

cassreadsforever's review against another edition

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Thank you so much to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of “Psyche & Eros” by Luna McNamara in exchange for an honest review. All of the following opinions are formulated on my own. Any quotes in this review should be cross-referenced with the final copy for any possible edits.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My review:
I was so excited to get approved for this because I love retellings of Psyche and Eros. We always get Hades and Persephone. Psyche and Eros is actually my preferred greek retelling! For those of you who are familiar with the myth, this story does stray from it though I enjoyed that. I did like how the author made Psyche a warrior. The writing was wonderful.

If you liked the following, you will probably like this book:
- Ithica
- Lore
- Any other Greek retellings leaning on the romance side

cnorris235's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm going to start by saying I feel this is more of a reimagining than a retelling of the original story, as the author admits to changing some of the original story line and blurring fairytale with Greek mythology.

Overall I'm a big fan of Greek mythology and I love reading new interpretations of old stories. I really loved that this novel incorporated many different gods/goddesses on a timeline I'm familiar with in history (the Trojan War). Psyche is the princess of Mycenae and Eros the god of desire is "cursed" by one of his own arrows. Eros falls hopelessly in love with Psyche and brings her to his magical seaside home, only Psyche can never see his face or Eros will be ripped away from her forever. Psyche learns she is expecting and decides she must see his face. Psyche takes a lamp into their bedroom while Eros is sleeping, and almost instantly he is ripped away into the unknown, their house falling into ruin around her. Psyche must now figure out how to find her way back to her love.

I enjoyed this novel, however it isn't for everyone. It's told as a story from both Psyche and Eros' perspective, almost as if they are in the far away future looking back on these events that happened. There are also parts of the story that seemed slow and unnecessary, hence the docked star. I also thought it would be more of a romance that it was.

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