Reviews - The Palace of Eros

684 reviews for:

The Palace of Eros

Caro De Robertis

3.89 AVERAGE

orchidd's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i feel like this novel was one extended metaphor that could've been much shorter than it was. themes included

queer shame (loving in the dark versus 'coming into (coming out) of the light)
fetishization of queer bodies and sapphic love (
bargain with zeus in which he watches eros have sex in exchange for her being able to shapeshift her sex at will
)
queer futurity/hope (dreaming of better worlds)
equality in relationships/women's empowerment/freedom (in contrast to being shackled under patriarchy & men, who are basically all horrible in this book except hephaestus)
colonialism, to some extent (psyche is of a culture that was conquered by the greeks)
the spirituality/divinity in female pleasure
fluidity of lesbian genders (
eros shapeshifting, but also psyche and eros wanting to be both wife and husband, discussion of expanding existing words vs making new ones)

i appreciate what this book does re: queer topics, but i also found myself bored in the middle as eros and psyche had sex yet again, or psyche had another infuriatingly long conversation with her sisters. there's also a lot of inner narration, like characters saying "i thought" or "i felt," which makes the book feel heavyhanded at times. also, greek mythiology literally has an intersex character in the form of hermaphroditus, so why was he/they not mentioned? in spite of all this, though, i did enjoy listening to the audiobook and think this is one of the better mythology retellings i've read

leeballard's review against another edition

5.0

the lyrical prose, the queer intimacy, the larger than life scenes playing in my head as i raced through reading this one. a stunning love story from beginning to end. an expansive conversation on gender and body. no other way i want to read a mythological retelling.

the13thmagdalena's review against another edition

5.0

hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

multiplelizards's review against another edition

5.0

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This novel is truly a love letter to the LGBTQIA+ community. Absolutely beautiful retelling of a classic myth.

ersatzpenguin's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful sad 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

annsophia's review against another edition

2.25

This was an interesting book, and I wanted to enjoy it more than I did. It had all the ingredients I usually like - Greek mythology with a twist, familiar mythological characters, and a sapphic love story. But it felt half-baked. The Greek mythology never felt grounded enough to be believable, and while a lot happened plot-wise, much of it didn’t make sense.

It seemed like the real focus wasn’t the mythology but the sapphic love and acceptance at its core, which I do appreciate. I’m sure this book will resonate with a lot of readers. It just didn’t click for me. I probably wouldn’t read this author again, but books like this still matter.