Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Ariadna

Updated review (July 2024):

Rating: 4/5 stars

Ariadne is a princess of Crete when she helps Theseus defeat the minotaur, setting in motion a series of events that will alter the rest of her life.

This was a reread for me, and I really enjoyed it both times! In my first read, I remember disliking the ending, and this time around I understand it more but still find it abysmally sad, hence my rating remaining at 4 stars. That said, the writing here is impeccable, and I love the story structure and alternating chapters from Ariadne and Phaedra’s perspectives. I also feel like this is told in a very approachable way and is easy to understand even without much background context.

This is also super fast paced (I listened to the audiobook in just a couple sittings) and Ariadne is a top tier heroine for me. Thoroughly enjoyed, and a fantastic July pick from my book club!

CW: Death, including animal and child death; sexual violence/mentions of assault; suicide; misogyny/sexism; pregnancy/motherhood

Original rating (August 2021): 4/5 stars

Content Warnings

krmreads2024's review against another edition

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hopeful sad tense 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? No

3.5

If you are into Greek mythology and fantasy than this book is perfect for you. It is a refreshing retelling of the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. I thought the characters, especially Ariadne and Phaedra, were interesting to follow. This genre is not my favourite so I found it hard to become absorbed in the story as much, but that’s just me.

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annasbookjournal's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

A bit of a harsh review, but here goes.

As soon as I finished this book, I wanted to have nothing to do with it anymore and it took me a bit to write a review about it.

The writing and the choices in the depiction of Ariadne were really disappointing for me. In an interview, Jennifer Saint talks about how passionate and angry Ariadne was in a source that Saint read, and how powerful her voice was, but I don’t see that at all in this book. I feel like many of the deep emotions that Ariadne would have felt were breezed over in a page and never talked about.

Like when Phaedra committed suicide, Ariadne’s grief is never ever talked about: she literally just goes back to how her life was and even says that it was EASY to do so. That is not the sisterly love that I would like to read in a feminist book.

The way that Ariadne was depicted in the beginning of the book in particular made me question if this was the best way to retell the myth: her character is described as a horny girl who just wants to do first Theseus and then Dionysus. I feel like there was no depth to her whatsoever and that’s really disappointing. The point of a retelling (especially from a feminist POV) is to show that the women were more than pawns, that they had emotions of their own and that they weren’t stupid like the ancient people thought. We, on the other side, are handed a horny girl who can’t even come up with a plan on her own and has to depend on Theseus and Daedalus. WTF.

I believe that the only good points from this book are the descriptions of the hard moments of pregnancy that Phaedra goes through.

I also found myself countless times feeling like the choice of vocabulary was very modern, even though the setting for the scenes were ancient royal Greeks.

I don’t think I’m going to read any of Saint’s other mythological retellings after this.

Content Warnings

noragoudie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book is my favorite of the two I have read by Jennifer Saint, but it falls into the same traps. Once again, the prose is beautiful and the backdrop and immersion into Greek mythology is masterfully done. However, strong female characters are built up only to make foolish decisions that feel neither intriguing nor thought provoking. So much potential, but the execution leaves something to be desired.

Content Warnings

tmholsman_1994's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I really wanted to like this book because I love Greek mythology, but I honestly did not like it. I found it a little hard to get into at first and then I started to enjoy it, but then when I looked up the myth of Ariadne I started to not really enjoy this version of the myth. It doesn't really divert from the original myth, which is fine, but sometimes I want something more than just reading a 300 page book telling me about what happened to her. I liked the detail we got about what happened to her on Naxos before Dionysus came back to his island, but in my opinion I would have rather had a modern retelling than just the myth told over.

Content Warnings

hannah_hodges's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Reading this book made me update my content warnings afterwards haha! I enjoyed learning about the two sisters and the heroes/gods they were tangled up with. This isn’t a comment on the writing style, as I thought Saint told the story well, but reading Ariadne and Phaedra’s story and seeing it unravel was a bit like watching a car crash - horrifying but you can’t really look away. I thought the experience of Postpartum Depression was very well written, especially in contrast to the other character’s experience of motherhood. I raced through reading this book and I think it was good to stretch outside my comfort zone and read a sad/emotional/dark book (not my vibe at all lol) but I’ll be paying more attention to content warnings and mood in the future!

Content Warnings

kfergy's review against another edition

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dark relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Enjoyable read - definitely a good fit for those familiar with Greek mythology and always wanted a bit more context to the parables. Good reflection upon traditional femininity and independence, though the ending doesn't necessarily leave you inspired (it's not supposed to)

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