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A review by annasbookjournal
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
A bit of a harsh review, but here goes.
As soon as I finished this book, I wanted to have nothing to do with it anymore and it took me a bit to write a review about it.
The writing and the choices in the depiction of Ariadne were really disappointing for me. In an interview, Jennifer Saint talks about how passionate and angry Ariadne was in a source that Saint read, and how powerful her voice was, but I don’t see that at all in this book. I feel like many of the deep emotions that Ariadne would have felt were breezed over in a page and never talked about.
The way that Ariadne was depicted in the beginning of the book in particular made me question if this was the best way to retell the myth: her character is described as a horny girl who just wants to do first Theseus and then Dionysus. I feel like there was no depth to her whatsoever and that’s really disappointing. The point of a retelling (especially from a feminist POV) is to show that the women were more than pawns, that they had emotions of their own and that they weren’t stupid like the ancient people thought. We, on the other side, are handed a horny girl who can’t even come up with a plan on her own and has to depend on Theseus and Daedalus. WTF.
I believe that the only good points from this book are the descriptions of the hard moments of pregnancy that Phaedra goes through.
I also found myself countless times feeling like the choice of vocabulary was very modern, even though the setting for the scenes were ancient royal Greeks.
I don’t think I’m going to read any of Saint’s other mythological retellings after this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, and Suicide