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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i think my main takeaway after finishing this book is - i can appreciate the message it was trying to convey, it just didn't grip me as much as i would have liked.
i really enjoyed the narration style, getting alternating chapters from heracles and from hera, and i also really enjoyed the narrative voice each POV had (especially hera - i found myself chuckling quite a lot while reading from her perspective).
this book is definitely a lot cozier than most of the mythology retellings i've either read or are on my radar, but john wiswell still discusses some heavier topics (the loss of a child, taking responsibility for your actions, for example).
i really enjoyed the narration style, getting alternating chapters from heracles and from hera, and i also really enjoyed the narrative voice each POV had (especially hera - i found myself chuckling quite a lot while reading from her perspective).
this book is definitely a lot cozier than most of the mythology retellings i've either read or are on my radar, but john wiswell still discusses some heavier topics (the loss of a child, taking responsibility for your actions, for example).
adventurous
dark
emotional
Hera is enraged over yet another demigod sired by Zeus, and has declared that she will do anything to bring him down. In order to placate the goddess, the child’s mother has named him “Hera’s glory” and has taught Heracles to worship Hera in everything he does. But his ardent devotion just inflames her anger instead of appeasing her. She eventually sends a Fury to drive him mad so that he will destroy himself, but he ends up killing his beloved sons instead. Destroyed by what he has done, he goes to find which god sent the Fury so that he can have his revenge. Asking for Hera’s guidance, she directs him on a monster-hunting quest to find his answers. But he sees too much of himself in these monsters and can’t bring himself to hurt them. So he ends up befriending them instead. Hera worries that when he learns the truth, that he will storm Olympos. But will their eventual confrontation bring a different kind of change in both of them.
This was a really imaginative and engaging re-imagining of the Heracles labors, where instead of “hero kills monsters,” he befriends them as he works through his own grief. It’s a different view of Greek mythology, one that is more concerned with healing mental traumas, addressing unhealthy relationships, and creating found family. I really enjoyed this re-imaging of this story, and feel like the author really captured the nuances of Hera well (which she’s often portrayed as a very one-dimensional character). Some minor issues as I feel it wobbles a little towards the end, but overall very excellent.
Content warning: child death/child loss, difficult births.
This was a really imaginative and engaging re-imagining of the Heracles labors, where instead of “hero kills monsters,” he befriends them as he works through his own grief. It’s a different view of Greek mythology, one that is more concerned with healing mental traumas, addressing unhealthy relationships, and creating found family. I really enjoyed this re-imaging of this story, and feel like the author really captured the nuances of Hera well (which she’s often portrayed as a very one-dimensional character). Some minor issues as I feel it wobbles a little towards the end, but overall very excellent.
Content warning: child death/child loss, difficult births.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wonderful Heracles retelling. Please read!!!!!
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An exercise in dramatic irony and radical empathy. And, as with all John Wiswell books, a smattering of body horror. This book also has lots of little deep cuts to history and mythology sprinkled throughout and sometimes feels too clever by half but in an enjoyable way. Only 3 stars because at certain points the book felt a little repetitive, but was otherwise great.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The full story of Hercules’s twelve labors is rarely included in modern adaptations—I suppose murdering your own children in a fit of madness and then slaying a bunch of monsters in penance was a bit too grim for Disney. But John Wiswell (whose debut Someone You Can Build a Nest In blew me away last year) masterfully tackles this complicated legend in his new novel Wearing the Lion, which came out last month. If you love Greek myth reimaginings like Madeline Miller’s Circe that take on new perspectives and turn classic stories on their heads, you don’t want to miss this one!
See my full review: https://www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-wearing-the-lion-mythical-monsters-and-found-family/
See my full review: https://www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-wearing-the-lion-mythical-monsters-and-found-family/
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book had me glued to reading it. Heracles is an absolutely lovely human being that made my heart hurt, and this is the first time I’ve seen Hera get clear motivations and character growth. I also wasn’t expecting to see Ares as a devoted son and sympathetic character.
I always love a story that makes the actions of gods make sense and plays with myths. This sort of story makes it seem like we’ve been watching the original myth through a distorted window pane, and are now seeing not only the myth with more clear character motivations, but also seeing where the myths we have today could have been distorted from this story into what we know now.
The delight of a retelling is seeing all the puzzle pieces fit together in different ways, and this book does it wonderfully.
I always love a story that makes the actions of gods make sense and plays with myths. This sort of story makes it seem like we’ve been watching the original myth through a distorted window pane, and are now seeing not only the myth with more clear character motivations, but also seeing where the myths we have today could have been distorted from this story into what we know now.
The delight of a retelling is seeing all the puzzle pieces fit together in different ways, and this book does it wonderfully.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury