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shrikebait's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This is a retelling of Eurydice and Orpheus as queer, polyamorous college students. I enjoyed the LGBTQ+ and alt rep throughout.
I found some of the backstory difficult to follow as the book assumes readers are familiar with Greek myths. I would definitely appreciate more context, particularly for the Odyssey references.
There are also many, many musician name-drops. A few would be fine, but they are so frequent that I felt alienated when I kept having to look up references.
The characters did not resonate with me. In my opinion, the college-aged characters are immature, with almost middle-school-level reasoning. I would love to see Eurydice mature, especially in the Afterlife. When she "has done nothing but the correct things" and just happens to be "a special case," it feels like she takes a passive role instead of actively growing as a person.
Kurella has promising and creative ideas in this book that could shine with more workshopping. As is, this book was not a hit for me.
Thank you so much to Lethe Press for the chance to read this book for free. I'm leaving this review of my own accord.
I found some of the backstory difficult to follow as the book assumes readers are familiar with Greek myths. I would definitely appreciate more context, particularly for the Odyssey references.
There are also many, many musician name-drops. A few would be fine, but they are so frequent that I felt alienated when I kept having to look up references.
The characters did not resonate with me. In my opinion, the college-aged characters are immature, with almost middle-school-level reasoning. I would love to see Eurydice mature, especially in the Afterlife. When she "has done nothing but the correct things" and just happens to be "a special case," it feels like she takes a passive role instead of actively growing as a person.
Kurella has promising and creative ideas in this book that could shine with more workshopping. As is, this book was not a hit for me.
Thank you so much to Lethe Press for the chance to read this book for free. I'm leaving this review of my own accord.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Death, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, and Blood
mary_soon_lee's review
3.0
This novella is one of five nominated for this year's Nebula Award. It's a modern-day queer reworking of Orpheus and Eurydice that alternates between Eurydice's narration and Hades's. The updating of the myth is cleverly done and I enjoyed Hades. Yet I didn't find this compelling.
Perhaps the Nebula nomination worked against it in this instance, setting my hopes too high? While I liked Eurydice and wished things would end well for her, I didn't feel drawn to the story.
Three out of five stygian stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
Perhaps the Nebula nomination worked against it in this instance, setting my hopes too high? While I liked Eurydice and wished things would end well for her, I didn't feel drawn to the story.
Spoiler
Orpheus and Aristaeus were intentionally unlikable, which made scenes with them somewhat unpleasant reading for me. Here's to all the good guys: Andi, Penelope, Hector, Eurydice.Three out of five stygian stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
samwreads's review
2.0
I found this to be a sweet, tender little novella with memorable characters and some nice mythological references. However, the plot (as much as there was one) didn't do too much for me, and I found the underworld/afterlife to be a bit boring even. As far as recent Orpheus/Eurydice retellings, I preferred Catheryne M. Valente's "L'Esprit de L'Escalier," which portrays a post-rescue Eurydice pining to return to the afterlife, and compared to this novella is both more melancholic and humorous, which I thought worked better tonally. This novella is primarily about music (lots of music! This was fun), friendship, college, and queer/poly relationships, which I found to be tonally strange when combined with greek mythology/afterlife, but I can definitely see it working for others.
dexterous_totalus's review
3.0
It was okay, I guess? I just felt there was not much plot here. A lot of the characters were underdeveloped plus their motivations were vague. I am a bit confused.
Full review on the blog: https://dexteroustotalus.wordpress.com/2022/10/02/i-never-liked-you-anyway-by-jordan-kurella/
Full review on the blog: https://dexteroustotalus.wordpress.com/2022/10/02/i-never-liked-you-anyway-by-jordan-kurella/
howard's review
4.0
this was wonderful. i picked it up because i'm super hadestown pilled and it did not disappoint (although it was very different). i really liked the choice to make half the narration from hades' pov. the balance between past and present chapters was perfect. i got very invested in this version of eurydice. seeing her be manipulated and toyed with by this version's fuckface orpheus made the ending where she is finally able to assert her own will even sweeter. i loved the queer love in this story and the remixed ending where eurydice is able to move on in a different way. definitely recommend to otherswho like queer punk retellings of "classic" myths. i definitely suggest brushing up on penelope from the odyssey before picking this up as she plays a major role. i didn't know anything about her and i think i still got on okay but it would probably be better to have a but of background knowledge.
emhoardsbooks's review
dark
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I couldn't put down this unique Eurydice and Orpheus retelling. I really enjoyed the short chapters that alternated between third/first person POV and different timelines. The overall voice of the storytelling had just the right amount of humor as well. There was also so much queer rep!
The only drawback for me was that sometimes I noticed a few inconsistencies and a lot of weird spelling errors. I know the book is being redistributed by a new publisher so I wonder if they'll have fixed those errors before publication. Overall it wasn't enough to detract too much from my enjoyment of the story and I'd still recommend this to anyone interesting in mythology retellings.
The only drawback for me was that sometimes I noticed a few inconsistencies and a lot of weird spelling errors. I know the book is being redistributed by a new publisher so I wonder if they'll have fixed those errors before publication. Overall it wasn't enough to detract too much from my enjoyment of the story and I'd still recommend this to anyone interesting in mythology retellings.
reasie's review
5.0
A rock-and-roll retelling of Eurydice from the point of view of the kids who were much cooler than you in college, with an underworld that is also rather like college and a very laid-back Hades who has a strong relationship with Persephone. Glad those two kids worked it out.
rkstumblingbear's review
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
emjayreads's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75