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aliyahoff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Moderate: Mental illness and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Murder, and War
moh_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
My largest struggle with the book is that the main women in it feel very passive. At times, Ariadne comes across as unrealistically naive in a way that the author justifies due to large passages of time that the reader has not been present for. There were times where I felt like both sisters had been portrayed as smarter earlier in the book, only to have their words and actions later greatly discredit their intelligence, life experiences, and their prior characterization!
This book made me appreciate Clytmenestra more as a novel that truly gave its main female character agency and intellect while still operating within the limits of myth. This wasn't quite it for me, but I did finish it in one sitting.
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, and Pregnancy
bellerina2000's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Incest and Suicide
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
colorcrystals'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
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Suicide
Minor: Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
lilybarna'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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Sexual assault
kylosten's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, and Violence
amandatheactivist's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Sexual assault
misplacedselchie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
After his escape, Ariadne flees with him and he leaves her stranded to die in Naxos, whereupon Dionysus finds her. They end up falling in love and getting married. Slowly she finds him becoming more like the Olympians he had previously mocked and it puts a strain on their relationship.
Phaedra ends up being sent to Athens to create peace between their kingdoms and she married Theseus. She, however, has no trust of the hero. Slowly she inserts herself into the politics of the day and helps to make Athens great.
Both sisters find themselves in strained relationships as they get to make their way in a world that doesn't always allow women to take any sort of lead. And as Phaedra becomes more frustrated with Theseus and Dionysus more obsessed with his cult and argument with his brother Perseus, both groups are on a trajectory for pain.
Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide
sarahsbooklife'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
3.75
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
agnela's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
The book had a gorgeous cover. The translation had some wobbling with genders and adjectives, although the prose was pretty. But the characters needed so much more polishing and building.
It's not a feminist story if you tell tragic life of a woman from her own perspective. It's not a feminist story to say men use women's labour and have them to point it out themselves. It just means it's female centric, told from a females perspective.
It got better to the end, maybe last 30%, where both women have a bit more agency and clear motivations rather than being naive horny girls or trying to survive. I loved Pheadra's point of view, you can at least tell the girls had different interests and passions. I was rooting for Pheadra to get more involved with ruling the kingdom, but I guess all those lessons and experiences tought her nothing. It's funny how both sister's stories involve being horny, Ariadne starts and Pheadra ends with it. No yes I know Pheadra just wanted to run away, but I don't really believe it. She had already visited Ariadne and Naxos where women could run away, and she didn't even love her children much, which I love by the way. Being a woman and being able to have a baby doesn't mean you want to, will be a good mom, or have to. Not to mention the trauma they experienced in their own home might have heavily contributed to how Pheadra felt about motherhood.
Overall I'm really disappointed. I saw this writer had a book about my beloved Hera and i will not be reading that because I know there will be only suffering and agony for my goddess, and I do not deserve to read about it and neither she deserves it to be write about her.
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War