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icy_queen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and War
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Rape
pagesofplatypus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
My favorite part of the book that I was not expecting was seeing chapters from Phaedra's point of view. She offers a good foil for Ariadne and readers definitely grimace as they watch Phaedra's tragic fate unfold.
I was not very familiar with Ariadne nor her story before this book but Saint did a wonderful job traveling through Ariadne's life from childhood to adulthood. I loved the early chapters. The atmosphere was very engrossing and enveloping. I especially enjoyed seeing Ariadne's interactions with Daedalus who was the only one who truly understood her. And Asterion. Asterion, the infamous Minotaur, will always be a favorite tragic character of mine and Saint brings even more of a doomed arc to the Minotaur.
Themes of feminism, fate, power, and autonomy are all explored. Feminine rage is also at the forefront as Ariadne considers her life and everything that contributed to it. Some of it felt heavy handed and a little repetitive in certain parts (especially as Ariadne is alone on Naxus) in my opinion. But I still think it's important to portray.
Overall, I enjoyed the writing style but like I said some parts just felt very repetitive to me.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
makaylastep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and War
nicolewhopickedthisbook's review against another edition
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War
saskiajva's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and War
author2223's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Misogyny, and Suicide
Moderate: Rape
mirandahems's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
leweylibrary's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
But seriously, I really enjoyed this one, especially the relationship between Ariadne and her sister. I do kind of wish it would've slowed down a bit once they were separated and given some more detail on what their lives were like, especially the sister. And my goodness what a depressing ending lol.
Quotes:
- What I did not know was that I had hit upon a truth of womanhood: however blameless a life we led, the passions and the greed of men could bring us to ruin, and there was nothing we could do. (12)
- No longer was my world one of brave heroes; I was learning all too swiftly the women's pain that throbbed unspoken through the tales of their feats. (13)
- I only knew Medusa as a monster. I had not thought she had ever been anything else. The stories of Perseus did not allow for a Medusa with a story of her own. (13)
- I would be Medusa, if it came to it, I resolved. If the gods held me accountable one day for the sins of someone else, if they came for me to punish a man's actions, I would not hide away like Pasiphae. I would wear that coronet of snakes, and the world would shrink from me instead. (14)
- What the gods liked was ferocity, savagery, the snarl and the bite and the fear. Always, always the fear, the naked edge of it behind the smoke, rising from the altars, the high note of it in the muttered prayers and praise we sent heavenward, the deep, primal taste of it when we raised the knife above the sacrificial offering.
Our fear. That was how the gods grew great. (17) - Theseus had not left me because I was at fault or because I did not matter. He had left because, to him, nothing mattered at all. Beyond the cold pursuit of his own fame. I would not let a man who knew the value of nothing. Make me doubt the value of myself. (179)
- "I want no gift that I give you to be so transient. And so I took it from your head, where it can only look a doll in comparison to your radiance, and I put it somewhere it will shine forever."
... In the eternity of night, I saw the brand new pinpricks of light that shone in a sweeping arc. The luster of my crown was now a fiery illumination against the darkness.
"Just as you will never lose me, you will never lose your crown," his arms wrapped tightly around me. "Your coronet will guide sailors to safety through the labyrinth of the treacherous seas. Women will look to it for a sign of comfort, a light in the darkness. Children will whisper their wishes to it before they close their eyes to dream. It will stay there, fast and true, for all of time." (187) - As If we hadn't learned from living with our shattered mother and her monstrous spawn that all the women can do in this world is take what she wants from it and crush those who would stand in her way before they break her into fragments like Pasiphae. (233)
- The price we paid for the resentment, the lust, and the greed of arrogant men was our pain, shining and bright like the blade of a newly honed knife. Dionysus had once seemed to me the best of them all, but I saw him now for what he was, no different from the mightiest of the gods. Or the basest of men. (299)
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Pregnancy
kelkelkelkelly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Moderate: Gore and Misogyny
pkc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol