Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Lies We Sing to the Sea

As a story, on its own, exciting and thrilling. But as I'm not able to overlook the fact the author has called it a retelling without even reading the original story it is meant to portray, unfortunately I can not rate this better than 2,5 stars.

I'm personally not a fan of time jumps too much and the way flashbacks to memories or stories told were written, I got confused many times when we jumped from an orally told story to a memory instead.

I'm not very knowledgeable in greek mythology, so I'm not able to give an opinion on how accurate those parts of the story are.

I was happy to see Leto gather herself in the end, it frustrated me how flaky she was with going through with things she seemed to be so incredibly set on. But that's also just.. humanity.

Honestly Mathias might have been my favorite character in all this. He truly wanted the best and tried to do all he knew to be able to. I love and hate his ending, I just want him to have everything good in the world!

This is a heavy read for all the grief and especially the pain women go through (of course girls are the ones cursed and at the mercy of men, as it has gone throughout so much of history).

The ending was predictable, but in my opinion it was in a nice way and didn't ruin the book for me. Some things still felt left unanswered in the end, but at least most of it was a somewhat satisfying ending.

So in short: As a story, it's a great one with such grief and also some joy sprinkled in. In context of it supposedly being a retelling, ehhhh... It's a heavy read when you wish so much better for women in general.

I really liked the romances, but there were so many things that frustrated me within them. I understand Melantho's grief over her past lovers, but babygirl, you are allowed to love again. They are gone, taken from you, it's not like you're cheating.
Leto on the other hand... how easily do you forget Melantho as soon as you set your eyes (and lips) on the prince?

Content Warnings

kanadrallegria's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

klbreyfogle's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.75

It’s pretty good, I do enjoy queer Greek mythology stories. That said I also like a happy ending and this one was bittersweet enough that if I’d known the end I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. It’s probably better than a 3.75 but I docked it points for making me sad.

Plus, I prefer stories that have a more creative answer than making the boy commit suicide because it’s his duty.

Content Warnings

kxl_knight's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Highly reminiscent of song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller. A great beach read!

Content Warnings

julia1205's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

Content Warnings

gondorgirl's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

bluebreex's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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? Yes

4.0

A solid debut! I am always easily drawn into mythology retellings and inspired stories, and this book was no exception. The characters were lovable and witty - I felt like cheering them on the whole time even when I had a good idea of how this book was going to end.

Would recommend to anyone with a love for mythology and mystery.

Content Warnings

More...