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A review by katrina_ingram
Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
I picked up this book expecting a feminist retelling of a Greek myth or story but it’s not what it is. If I’d read a couple of the reviews I wouldn’t have even picked this up, I see the author admitted to not having read the odyssey before and as a historian it bothers me that you would set a book in a world without doing research. While I understand that authors take inspiration for their stories from many places, and could have been inspired by Percy Jackson or other retellings already in circulation I can’t fathom why you would write a book and market it as a retelling without having read the original. But while this is annoying it’s more poor advertising than anything else because it’s not a retelling.
When reading the likes of Circe, song of Achilles, and Ariadne I enjoyed recognising the story but seeing it from a different viewpoint, and the elements I didn’t recognise I could find with a quick google search. When I was trying to find elements of this story I was coming up empty, yes the 12 hanged maids was in the Odyssey but the rest seems to be an invention by the author. So what I read wasn’t so far a retelling but a fantasy set in Ancient Greece and inspired by a small section of the odyssey. It also doesn’t seem to be feminist, it’s told from the perspective of 2 of the hanged women and we find out that as punishment for killing the 12 maids ithica has to … kill more women? Like what? I don’t know whether the author came up with this herself or maybe she’s just not explained it well enough but it makes no sense to me
The writing was flowery and fitting with the style of book and the narration was great but it wasn’t enough to keep me invested
When reading the likes of Circe, song of Achilles, and Ariadne I enjoyed recognising the story but seeing it from a different viewpoint, and the elements I didn’t recognise I could find with a quick google search. When I was trying to find elements of this story I was coming up empty, yes the 12 hanged maids was in the Odyssey but the rest seems to be an invention by the author. So what I read wasn’t so far a retelling but a fantasy set in Ancient Greece and inspired by a small section of the odyssey. It also doesn’t seem to be feminist, it’s told from the perspective of 2 of the hanged women and we find out that as punishment for killing the 12 maids ithica has to … kill more women? Like what? I don’t know whether the author came up with this herself or maybe she’s just not explained it well enough but it makes no sense to me
The writing was flowery and fitting with the style of book and the narration was great but it wasn’t enough to keep me invested