hardcover, 320 pages
Published May 4, 2021 by Flatiron Books.
Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice.
When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. But will Ariadne’s decision ensure her happy ending? And what of Phaedra, the beloved younger sister she leaves behind?
This is my second time reading a "retelling" of greek mythology from the caracter's point of view, the first time being Miller's famous "Circe". It is difficult not to compare the two and in this comparison, Jennifer Saints book comes out a bit less elegant and poetic in the writing. It was still a nice read.
Despite the focus allegedly being on them, Ariadne and Phaedra are given no real personality outside of 3 men in their lives, and never have any hobbies, ambitions, or friends. They sort of care about each other when they remember the other exists but aren't concerned at all about their mother. In this book, men are all Evil (unless raised by a group of pure selfless women) and all women are passive victims. At least Hera gets to be an actively petty goddess (though even that's because of Zeus' wrongdoings), though the other goddesses who are petty and cruel in original mythology have been totally removed from the story. (ampelos just tripped)
Dionysus is ridiculously written, with no regard for the actual duality of his personality in antiquity. The author also clearly doesn't understand animal sacrifices in ancient Greece, evidently thinking the whole point is "gods love cruelty mwa ha …
This is a pretty straight retelling of Ariadne and her sister Phaedra's stories. It was just lacking a little oompf, maybe because Ariadne always seems on the edge of the myths, some of them just being relayed to her by others.
