Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

188 reviews

queerbookworm's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

This book is so emotional and thought provoking. I'm writing this review just after finishing reading so I haven't really sat with it for long but I thought it was beautiful. A lot happens in this book, Ariadne is from a family with quite a few associated myths, and even though I have read all of them several times it felt brand new. 

This book focuses on two perspectives not often cared for in Greek mythology, that of humans and that of women. If you are a fan of these myths I can guarantee that this book will at least change how you think about the myths recounted in this book, but it may change how you view Greek mythology as a whole. I wholeheartedly recommend it. It is beautiful written and, if you're an audiobook listener, the narrator does a fantastic job of making you feel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, and Blood

Nothing that you wouldn't get out of a regular Greek mythology book

emoryjoy's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I would like to give the caveat that I was listening to this as an audiobook and had it at double speed by the end. This quite nearly was a DNF. 

I'm not sure if the story took liberties with the myth or was just much more in depth than I knew about. Either way, it absolutely nailed the Greek Tragedy vibe and was gruesome in that very specific way that myths often are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

alli_e_oop's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

nightlight_reader's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

3.0

I should’ve just DNF’d this, but it’s really that the style didn’t vibe for me. It was slow and I just could never quite tell where we were going and felt like the synopsis didn’t tell me just how much we were going to cover. Some of this is due to my lack of knowledge of this specific chunk of Greek mythology, but like this was a ride I don’t think I would’ve signed up for had I known it would cover Ariadne’s entire life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

kimblah's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I want to start my review by saying that before this book, my most recent reading of Greek mythology would have I guess been probably in college but I can’t remember it, so I’ll rephrase — my most recent & memorable reading of anything Greek mythology was in middle school. I do not remember much other than some names, maybe some of the things the gods/goddesses were gods of? NOT MUCH. 

So, with that in mind — Ariadne is King Minos’ daughter. I really enjoyed all of the little tidbits of Greek mythology that Ariadne recounted as we start this journey with her. She sets the scene for how women have constantly been on the shit-end of the stick with Medusa’s backstory (blew my mind) & told us about a few of Zeus’ lovers & how they’d become Hera’s unfortunate victims. I was kind of appalled, but not really. Typical. 

Oh, and her own mother, Pasiphae’s story? Ya know— the birth of the Minotaur? LAWD. By this point I’m not even that far into the book, but I’m like man, Greek mythology is fucked up because shewieee. 

Anyways. Ariadne helps Theseus defeat her brother, the Minotaur, and then plans to run off with Theseus to be his wife. All will be happily ever after of course. Clearly that’s what happens to all these Greek women, obviously. 

Well, that’s not exactly what happens. But I don’t know how much other people know, so I don’t want to give anything else away. I enjoyed Dionysus’ character, and while I really wanted to like Phaedra I had a hard time doing so. 

I took away half a star for the end. For pretty much everything that happens in Part IV of the book. Well, not the entirety of Part IV, but quite a bit of it. I was mad and sad and jaw dropped. 

I will read more Greek mythology retellings I think. I did enjoy this one a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Rape

Dionysus (God of wine) is heavily involved Animal sacrifices discussed & described Quite a bit of blood

thalia16's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Rape, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

reachmars's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Even though it's just a straightforward retelling of the myths, it was very engaging. Especially as someone who didn't know a lot about this specific story going into it, I couldn't put it down. It's a story that makes it make sense that it would survive thousands of years of oral tradition.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and War

bxnny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Stalking and Death of parent

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I sobbed a lot and loved it. Loving learning about all the women in mythology.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

shadereads's review

It really wasn’t what I wanted out of a retelling of this myth. Ariadne feels like she has no agency, and everything seems to be told second hand. Phaedra has more agency than our main character, but I can’t help but wonder how much we’d miss out on page in her chapters from this point too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and War