Reviews with content warning for Rape - Ariadne: Princesa. Irmã de um monstro. Amante de deuses e heróis.

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Ariadne: Princesa. Irmã de um monstro. Amante de deuses e heróis. by Jennifer Saint

384 reviews

ka_ke's review against another edition

1.0

emotional relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Ariadne does not live up to the hype. It’s not only slow paced, but it’s too slowly paced in my opinion. I found it very difficult to maintain my interest and the characters seemed undeveloped.

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kam_3_12's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

heuteschongekurtet's review against another edition

3.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

biancasbooknook's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

the beginning was super slow and i had a hard time getting into it, but the pacing eventually picked up. this is a “feminist” retelling of theseus & the minotaur in ariadne and phaedra’s perspectives, but there was nothing empowering at all. ariadne’s character was very flat, and she did not act on her strong feelings about women having to bear the consequences of men’s foolish actions until the final chapters. the author also did not go in depth on phaedra’s death, and it was kinda just thrown into the story. overall, this didn’t bring much to the table as it just felt like i was reading the original myth, just from a different perspective.

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blaubeerskruemelchen's review against another edition

3.0

informative sad

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

The writing is nice and "lyrical". At times it feels like the author is trying to shove as many greek myths down your throat as humanly possible. Or maybe it's just me... but I never had a guy tell me how he was received on a first date. On top of that it gets a bit mansplainy at times, since all the myths are fed to us through conversation between characters. "Now I will tell you xy"... -.-
All in all a bit much. First it was kinda cool and good exposition, but it soon became a page filler, that didn't feel connected to the story...

The main character was quiet insufferable to me at times.
I'm not sure, if I'd call it a "feminist retelling"... It is told through the eyes of Ariadne, which could count as feminist, but she's described almost the same way she would be through male eyes. ("weak" -> e.g. unable to defy her father, "hyper emotional", etc.) + the book goes to great lengths to tell us how shes totally not on board with how women are treated by the gods and how it's all so unfair and she wont do it and wont let it happen to herself, "she is determined to set her own fate"... but does she though???

maybe on the last few pages... it takes her literally the hole book to take action...

But then again: a strong female character doesn't need to be strong in muscle or emotional cold, etc. normally I enjoy reading a strong female character who doesn't just slay her way to the top, but makes a comfortable living against the odds, with the little power she is given. But I didn't see that in Ariadne... as I said: shes pretty much the cliché of a damsel in distress and its not that pleasant to read her thoughts... Great! Now I know that she actually is as naive as the men around her believed her to be.
BUT... Don't we all act this stupid sometimes? Especially with first loves... I don't know... Maybe she enrages me like that because I can't be sure if I'd done anything different in her position... I hope I would've... Can't be sure though.
Her little sister is fine I guess... Great start, didn't like the way she developed.

She is quite the opposite of her sister at times, but her character arc pretty much ends where Ariadnes started. So yeah. People in love are fools, I guess?

The hole "feminist retelling" feels a bit like a publicity thing. But who am I to judge whats feminist and what is not?

I don't like how motherhood is portrayed.

Ariadne is just popping out one child after the other in family bliss while Phaedra despises her children... First I thought she had postpartum depression and was really excited to have this topic addressed here, but then it just went on and on and by now, I'm pretty sure Phaedra just hates being a mother. Which is totally fine of course, no one has to like being a parent especially in times without birth control etc. My problem lies in the contrast with her sister: one loves being a mother and flourishes in it, the other can't seem to love her children and hates tending to them. It's just not that easy. I'm pretty sure that no one loves their child each and every moment of their lives... No matter how much you love them, at times they are the devil them selves and throwing them out the window seems like the best idea you ever had. But you don't do it, and it passes and you love them and enjoy watching them grow up.
This contrast between the sisters relationship with motherhood is amplified by the time they get to talk about it: Ariadne gets about a page of: oh her life is great and she loves her husband and her children and being a mother. While Phaedras misery is described for two? chapters I think. Ariadne's side of the story lacks nuance.

I think motherhood is a bit more nuanced than this portrayal, which is a shame since it is an important part of the story I read.

One thing I thought genius:
The author incorporates the different versions of Ariadne's myth, by letting different characters tell a different story of the same event.

Oh... and I was quite enraged when I realized that I had confused Ariadne with Medea... That one's on me I guess ^-^;

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shiltebeitel20's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

afi_whatafireads's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A heartbreaking retelling that focuses on the strength of women and the after-effects of actions of men for the women. A tale of old but spun in a way that caught my heart and made me just emphatized with each and every woman in this book.

“these men, these gods who toyed with our lives and cast us aside when we had been of use to them, who laughed at our suffering or forgot our existence altogether.”

Personal Ratings: 3.85🌟

I would say that I had mixed feelings during the start of the book. I felt that it was more on a retelling that we are somewhat used too, but the plot picked up after the second part of the book and it focused on the nuances of the women. Its sometimes the small acts that matters rather than big gestures to prove a woman's worth and it had definitely portrayed here in this book.

Short Summary
Ariadne was the son of Minos and the keyholder to the Labyrinth. When she was shown with love from Theseus, the prince of Athens in sacrifice, she gave up everything for him. This is a story of two women in particular, of sisterhood , motherhood and mostly, on a woman's sacrifice.

Personal Thoughts
If you come in this book expecting it would be a character driven book? Chuck those expectations away as this book is plot driven and it focuses on the events and the after-effects and consequences from each person's actions in the book. In this case, there were 4 parts to the book and each part is distinctive in a sense shows how Ariadne's growth as a girl to a woman and a portrayal of two situation of sisters.

Honestly, reading this book had made me become a man hater. The way each events that had happened and the effects of each incident, is always due to a man's doing which results in the women getting punished for it. The tales of Medusa and her hair, r*ped by the Gods but punished instead and lived her life in peril till her death. The tale of Pasiphae and how she had bored a son that was not a human, stripped of her youth and life due to the incompetence of a husband. The tale of Phaedra, cheated off her entire childhood and mostly of Ariadne, who had believed in a man and was at last left astray.

“The price we paid for the resentment, the lust, and the greed of arrogant men was our pain, shining and bright like the blade of a newly honed knife.”

Although I feel that I would like the book to have more of the depth of the characters and more of a retelling of sorts, I still feel that this book was moving in its own sense. There will be instances that we will get angry and frustrated on the actions of the women in here, but at the same time, in a time where misogyny dominates (even until now), its hard to judge their actions and therefore I emphatize wholeheartedly. Its not a read for everyone, but the writing style is quite straightforward in a sense, that if you feel like reading something more of the history of the Labyrinth and Ariadne's journey, this is the book for you! Overall for me, it was a read that teared me up at the last part but also made me rethink about a lot of things. Definitely a book that can be discussed in a book club!

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renfdes's review against another edition

4.5

Content Warnings

ronahhornerhack's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional medium-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: Complicated

Content Warnings

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was overall really good. It has beautiful writing and vulnerable characters. The retelling of the original story was very well done in my opinion. However, there were some issues I found. First, it was very slow paced and kinda hard to get into. I struggled to want to read this book everyday which prolonged the reading process. This was my main issue and the others were very small. Overall, the greek tragedies were absolutely heartbreaking which shows how phenomenal the writing is that I felt pain from the hardships. This is what really made the book for me. I would recommend this book 100%, just chug through the beginning lol.

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