Reviews with content warning for Grief - Pandora

ngl as an archeology graduate the description of how the pithos was dated was... something.
taking a sample from the vase to do a 'stratigraphy analysis'? a stratigraphy analysis on an out-of-context vase?? and then to be like "it predates history itself"??? yeah bs.

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molly_greenshields's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Susan Stokes-Chapman certainly brings something different to the Greek retelling trend with Pandora, blending mythology with historical realism in this Georgian-style mystery. The characters were complex, the plot was fun and I found myself not wanting to put the book down once I reached the last hundred or so pages (I will never be recovered enough to talk about Hermes). Having said that, I don't think it really needed to be 400 pages long in the first place: the prose was dense and relatively slow-moving for the most part and... there just wasn't the same lyrical beauty of Circe or Ariadne (sorry). All in all though, this was a fun read and a rather refreshing take on what's fast-becoming an over-saturated genre.

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gondorgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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currant7's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

POV: third person

Main characters: Pandora Blake and Edward Lawrence

Pandora (Dora for short) is an orphaned girl whose uncle (Hezekiah) took her under his care and continued with their family business of selling antiques. She aspires to continue with the antique shop and add her jewelry design drawings to the business. Little does she know that her uncle had other things in mind when a precious cargo arrived at their shop one fateful day that would affect Dora and the people around her.

The world-building was sufficient and suitable. The places, people, and clothing depicted the 1780s well. There was enough research on antiquities and the society that governs them.

The characters were relatable, and the connection between Dora and Edward (Lawrence) - their shared trauma and thus their attraction was subtle but fitted perfectly.

This book is more character-driven than a plot one. Things moved more because each character's actions later constituted dire consequences - i.e., Uncle Hezekiah's injury and bad luck.

Overall, I found Pandora slower than expected, but I understood the reason for this much better after everything. There were many clues and hints sprinkled throughout the book that later culminated in an ending I did not see coming. Granted that it seems so "lucky" for Dora, BUT I get it. The twists and revelations were executed well at the end. Sometimes, bad things do come back to "bite back" the evil ones. I appreciate how much research the author did to create the story, and it made me love the book a lot more! (Please read through the author's notes at the end of the book, and you will see why.)

Recommended for its:

myths and mythology reimagination
mystery and intrigue

Trigger Warning: death of a beloved animal, parents, and sibling, child abuse, domestic violence/abuse

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nicoles_reading_corner's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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ballgownsandbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This... was an interesting one. It was definitely a compelling read, more and more so as it went along; the historical setting was delightfully detailed (disturbingly graphic at times, even); the writing itself was good; and Dora was easy to root for!

However - I'm not sure I can quite say I loved it. One one level, I think this book was just trying to do too much. The Author's Note says it was born out of several separate ideas that Susan Stokes-Chapman decided to put together, and I think it shows. This book is over 400 pages - it's not short - so it really shouldn't feel rushed or underdeveloped! But, several of the elements felt oddly disjointed or abrupt.

The romance, in particular, felt incredibly rushed and came totally out of nowhere: I spent almost the whole book convinced they were just going to end up as friends, and would have been completely satisfied with that - so the last-minute escalation (and a steep escalation at that) that showed up with no warning at all threw me completely off, which is not what you want at the 92%-mark!

Edward's backstory, while alluded to vaguely at several points, also felt underdeveloped and like it was just glossed over, shoehorned in at the end just for the sake of it, without the appropriate weight for the subject matter. I also felt quite removed from Edward himself, and couldn't fully get behind his perspective, and most of the side characters were pretty one-note too.

The mystery of the box, and the slight speculative element around whether or not myths and Greek gods actually exist, could have been really interesting, and there were really interesting seeds there - but unfortunately, I think overall that thread is let down by the number of other things happening around it, which stop it from being explored as fully as it could have been. The ambiguity of the ending also feels more 'unfinished' than 'deliberate choice'.

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jamieleepilk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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