Reviews - Ariane | The StoryGraph

15.5k reviews for:

Ariane

Jennifer Saint

3.77 AVERAGE

ambergamgee's review against another edition

2.5

mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

dessiec's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ciara_seesseas's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

jpoe_16's review against another edition

2.5

emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I wanted to like this book, but in the end I didn’t find any of the characters fleshed out enough for me to really care about them. Ariadne shows barely any agency over her life, and I am baffled by the choice the author made by

choosing the version of the myth where Ariadne is turned to stone instead of being deified by Dionysus.

For a book that was heavily advertised as feminist, it did not feel feminist at all. It starts with the anecdote that

all women suffer because of men and you can’t do anything about it, and it ends the same way too.

I wanted a lot more from this book that I simply did not get.

mcc's review against another edition

4.0

OK so I know feminist re-tellings of Greek myths has become very overdone, but this was only my 3rd into this genre (Song of Achilles and Circe). And while I haven't explored them all, my guess is that this one is one of the better done ones.

As someone who got through the American education system learning very, very little of Greek myths (yes with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts), I'm finding this format way more engaging as it tells things from the women's point of view. My biggest complaint around the general genre of trying to tell old stories from a modern feminist point of view is when they try to change the story to make women have more agency than they actually did. I appreciated that Saint did NOT do that with this story and indeed the frustration of being completely at the whim of men and gods was part of the central narrative.

I also really like how she showed Phaedra's downfall through her sister's loving eyes as she is a woman who does exercise some agency, but in a completely disastrous and difficult to relate to circumstance.