A review by piratesandprophecy
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
4.0
pasiphae. semele. medusa. now a hundred grieving mothers. 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.
i seriously don’t even know where to start? as with every greek mythology retelling i’ve read, i have a lot of fond and conflicting thoughts about ariadne. i find these retellings really difficult to rate a lot of the time, because i always throughly enjoy them but it’s hard to fit stories like this one into just ‘this star rating or that one’.
i’m glad that this book felt like circe in the sense that it didn’t just follow a portion of ariadne and phaedra’s lives, but the majority of them instead. the minotaur really only took up the first 25% of this book, and i liked the way their stories were expanded upon. getting to hear their stories and see their perspectives rather than the men around them was refreshing and i LOVED the notes of feminism in this book, but it was a very faithful retelling overall. not much reimagining was done, if that’s the kind of myth retelling that you like then this one probably won’t be your favourite. it’s a faithful retelling from a new perspective, but not much of the content of the myths was altered in any way, which i honestly kind of liked about it. there were so many moments i underlined that hit so hard on some of the fears and struggles of womanhood, especially in a setting where women are fairly helpless to the whims and vices of the men around them and often fall victim to the vengeance of the gods for crimes and slights committed by men, or to the deprivatities of said gods and men. i loved that aspect of it— the fact that it brought to to light how unjust it is that these women have to suffer so much as pawns in the games of those who hold more power than they do.
in terms of writing, i’ve seen jennifer saint’s prose compared a lot to madeline miller’s. while there are definitely some similarities between their writing styles i feel like madeline miller’s is just… more?? more lush, more descriptive, etc. saint’s prose was HIGHLY enjoyable and i have absolutely nothing against it, some kickass quotes and very memorable and impactful passages lay ensconced in this little tome and her and the way she uses words is breathtaking in its own way, but i think i still prefer madeline miller’s writing in the end. something about her style just hits different for me.
one of the things i found most interesting in ariadne is the relationship between she and dionysus, and dionysus’ character in general honestly. i loved that she depicted him as sort of a being caught halfway between the man he could have been and the god he truly is— how there were moments of a very human tenderness and depth of feeling from him, and then that olympian coldness and vanity would shine through and break the illusion. it kind of lulled you for a while and then you remember ‘oh shit, this guy is still a very powerful, very dangerous and fickle god’. i also loved the stark contrast between ariadne and phaedra. their perspectives never seemed to blur together at all because they’re such distinct characters. their dynamic as sisters was complex and difficult because of how opposite they were, and i loved both of them for different reasons. their characterization was one of the greatest strengths of this book in my opinion.
i seriously don’t even know where to start? as with every greek mythology retelling i’ve read, i have a lot of fond and conflicting thoughts about ariadne. i find these retellings really difficult to rate a lot of the time, because i always throughly enjoy them but it’s hard to fit stories like this one into just ‘this star rating or that one’.
i’m glad that this book felt like circe in the sense that it didn’t just follow a portion of ariadne and phaedra’s lives, but the majority of them instead. the minotaur really only took up the first 25% of this book, and i liked the way their stories were expanded upon. getting to hear their stories and see their perspectives rather than the men around them was refreshing and i LOVED the notes of feminism in this book, but it was a very faithful retelling overall. not much reimagining was done, if that’s the kind of myth retelling that you like then this one probably won’t be your favourite. it’s a faithful retelling from a new perspective, but not much of the content of the myths was altered in any way, which i honestly kind of liked about it. there were so many moments i underlined that hit so hard on some of the fears and struggles of womanhood, especially in a setting where women are fairly helpless to the whims and vices of the men around them and often fall victim to the vengeance of the gods for crimes and slights committed by men, or to the deprivatities of said gods and men. i loved that aspect of it— the fact that it brought to to light how unjust it is that these women have to suffer so much as pawns in the games of those who hold more power than they do.
in terms of writing, i’ve seen jennifer saint’s prose compared a lot to madeline miller’s. while there are definitely some similarities between their writing styles i feel like madeline miller’s is just… more?? more lush, more descriptive, etc. saint’s prose was HIGHLY enjoyable and i have absolutely nothing against it, some kickass quotes and very memorable and impactful passages lay ensconced in this little tome and her and the way she uses words is breathtaking in its own way, but i think i still prefer madeline miller’s writing in the end. something about her style just hits different for me.
one of the things i found most interesting in ariadne is the relationship between she and dionysus, and dionysus’ character in general honestly. i loved that she depicted him as sort of a being caught halfway between the man he could have been and the god he truly is— how there were moments of a very human tenderness and depth of feeling from him, and then that olympian coldness and vanity would shine through and break the illusion. it kind of lulled you for a while and then you remember ‘oh shit, this guy is still a very powerful, very dangerous and fickle god’. i also loved the stark contrast between ariadne and phaedra. their perspectives never seemed to blur together at all because they’re such distinct characters. their dynamic as sisters was complex and difficult because of how opposite they were, and i loved both of them for different reasons. their characterization was one of the greatest strengths of this book in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Suicide, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, and Abandonment