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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
It’s more of a 2.5. It was okay. It was honestly exactly like the myth with no originality. There was no twist or personality given to it the same way that A Song of Achilles and Circe had. I was quite bored throughout this whole book. It was definitely like pulling teeth just to read this book. I’m a big Greek mythology lover, I even did the actual myth of Medea as my director’s notebook, but this book was just not it. Why write a book if you’re not gonna put some personality into it? This book seemed more of taking the myth of Ariadne and her sister and putting it into modern words, rather than giving it a modern twist. Would not recommend this book. There are better retellings of Greek mythology.
2.5 rounded up to 3 stars. the book starts off strong but the end is jarring as Saint chooses to twist the end to the myth of Ariadne and Dionysus in which she has the least agency. Shame since the myths of Ariadne are the strongest lent to finish interpretation. Would rank higher except it's just one sad tale after another of predetermined terrible fate for the women of Greece.
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
emotional
sad
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
adventurous
challenging
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
There was a unique take on the romance between dionysus and ariadne that was interesting. Overall fun and fast read
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
where do i even start. i think first things first if reading abt suicide/somewhat grotesquely described sacrificial rites weirds you out/is not your thing, don’t bother picking this one up. the shift at the end is a dramatic and sudden one and it’s not worth it tbh.
the characters were basically the same i just couldn’t stand one of them. it started changing pov’s every few chapters like a fourth of the way in and there was no shift. they felt like the had the exact same inner monologues, one of them was just ridiculously whiney. i’m not sure if i was supposed to feel any amount of sympathy for her, but i certainly didn’t. for it being written in first person, they didn’t feel like two separate people, if that makes sense.
this book was trying SO HARD to be tragic. if she had just written the story it would’ve been tragic enough, but it seemed like she was trying to shove it in your face how tragic it was. there was no faith in the readers to discern the tragedy of it all. i think we were told at least once a chapter how horrible the gods are. we could’ve figured that one out organically. there was just no depth.
i’m not entirely sure what the goal of this is. it usually feels like when modern authors rewrite a greek myth (typically a tragic one) they have a reason. you HAVE to have a reason bc mythology is so saturated and already so rewritten there has to be a reason for yours to be different/worth reading. i just didn’t feel like this book had a purpose or a reason. at first i thought it was to tell ariadne’s story, take the story of the minotaur back and make it her story. but i don’t think it did that; i don’t think that was the purpose to begin with.
all that to say, yeah it did make me cry at the end.
the characters were basically the same i just couldn’t stand one of them. it started changing pov’s every few chapters like a fourth of the way in and there was no shift. they felt like the had the exact same inner monologues, one of them was just ridiculously whiney. i’m not sure if i was supposed to feel any amount of sympathy for her, but i certainly didn’t. for it being written in first person, they didn’t feel like two separate people, if that makes sense.
this book was trying SO HARD to be tragic. if she had just written the story it would’ve been tragic enough, but it seemed like she was trying to shove it in your face how tragic it was. there was no faith in the readers to discern the tragedy of it all. i think we were told at least once a chapter how horrible the gods are. we could’ve figured that one out organically. there was just no depth.
i’m not entirely sure what the goal of this is. it usually feels like when modern authors rewrite a greek myth (typically a tragic one) they have a reason. you HAVE to have a reason bc mythology is so saturated and already so rewritten there has to be a reason for yours to be different/worth reading. i just didn’t feel like this book had a purpose or a reason. at first i thought it was to tell ariadne’s story, take the story of the minotaur back and make it her story. but i don’t think it did that; i don’t think that was the purpose to begin with.
all that to say, yeah it did make me cry at the end.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
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:
No
This book further fuelled my hatred of men