A review by bookishwondergoth
Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Listen, I hate to be dragging down this author’s Goodreads rating any further than it already is. It seems like the majority of 1 star reviews on here are review bombs without having read the book. I, on the other hand, have read the book, and there was so much wrong with it I don’t really know where to start.
1) Suspension of disbelief. There were so many instances where I was required, as a reader, to simply accept that something ridiculous had happened. Protagonist Leto makes a series of increasingly nonsensical decisions and then is never questioned or suspected by anyone around her. How did 2 women with no sailing experience crew a Grecian boat to Ithaca without raising eyebrows? How can a small city manage to sacrifice 12 girls every year for centuries without having significant impact on that town’s population?
2) Poorly researched. Apparently this book is set in Ancient Greece, but only the occasional name of an item of clothing or references to the Greek Gods and Odysseus tells you this.
3) Poorly executed. Why does one of the characters fall in love with the person who killed them? Why does everyone fall in love so quickly? All these things needed far more nuance and greater explanation.
4) Pacing. All over the place. The opening and ending are the best parts of this book. Everything else is a meandering, boring mess.
5) Cheating bisexual trope. This book is marketed as a sapphic book, but one of the characters is bi and in a love triangle with a man who she doesn’t tell her girlfriend about. I hate it here. I gave her the benefit of the doubt when it was all just still flirting, but nope, things didn’t stop there. This trope needs to die or at the very least directly addressed if you’re going to keep it in.
The beginning of the book was brutal and I really liked how things were resolved at the end of the book. I will at least give the book credit there where it’s due.
Overall, not the book for me. I read it as part of the Illumicrate March readalong and finished it only because I was enjoying the lively discussion so much. If you like juvenilely-written stories loosely inspired by Greek myths and packed full of YA tropes like love triangles, angry girls and rash choices, this is the book for you.
1) Suspension of disbelief. There were so many instances where I was required, as a reader, to simply accept that something ridiculous had happened. Protagonist Leto makes a series of increasingly nonsensical decisions and then is never questioned or suspected by anyone around her. How did 2 women with no sailing experience crew a Grecian boat to Ithaca without raising eyebrows? How can a small city manage to sacrifice 12 girls every year for centuries without having significant impact on that town’s population?
2) Poorly researched. Apparently this book is set in Ancient Greece, but only the occasional name of an item of clothing or references to the Greek Gods and Odysseus tells you this.
3) Poorly executed. Why does one of the characters fall in love with the person who killed them? Why does everyone fall in love so quickly? All these things needed far more nuance and greater explanation.
4) Pacing. All over the place. The opening and ending are the best parts of this book. Everything else is a meandering, boring mess.
5) Cheating bisexual trope. This book is marketed as a sapphic book, but one of the characters is bi and in a love triangle with a man who she doesn’t tell her girlfriend about. I hate it here. I gave her the benefit of the doubt when it was all just still flirting, but nope, things didn’t stop there. This trope needs to die or at the very least directly addressed if you’re going to keep it in.
The beginning of the book was brutal and I really liked how things were resolved at the end of the book. I will at least give the book credit there where it’s due.
Overall, not the book for me. I read it as part of the Illumicrate March readalong and finished it only because I was enjoying the lively discussion so much. If you like juvenilely-written stories loosely inspired by Greek myths and packed full of YA tropes like love triangles, angry girls and rash choices, this is the book for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Violence, and Biphobia
Moderate: Rape, Body horror, and Sexual assault