Reviews with content warning for Child death - Lies We Sing to the Sea

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Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

21 reviews

scary_blue92's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow! Just wow! I'm ashamed that this has sat on my TBR for almost 2 years because wow! An emotional roller coaster through my favourite myths that just about finished me off by the end

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Writing: 4⭐️/5

The writing in this story was clear and poetic. At times, I really did love the beauty of the words and how the story was unravelling carefully. I think Underwood writes very cleanly and epically, which served this Greek-myth-inspired story well. The shifting character POVs served the story well, though I do wish each character had a more defined voice during their own section.

Characters: 3⭐️/5

The characters in the story were clear and relatively strong. Or, at least, the main characters – our narrators – were. The side characters felt much more wishy-washy, their personalities left unexplored and undeveloped until the climax of the story, which then felt far too late. Despite our three main characters being clear in their characteristics, they also didn’t develop much throughout the story. The plot took the centrefold of the story, and the characters simply continued along their paths.

Plot: 3.25⭐️/5

I did enjoy reading the story, as the plot felt clear and decided. However, at many points, the plot’s pacing felt incredibly off. I wondered at the stretched out timeline between Menthalo and Leto’s training to the condensed timeline of them returning to Ithaca and crashing into Mathias’ life. Since the timeline felt rushed, many of the plot points felt rushed. Personally, while I enjoyed both of the love stories in the novel, I wondered whether they could have been handled a bit better to make it feel more respectful. I love a good poly relationship, but – while Menthalo and Mathias ended up respecting each other – one was left in the dark about the other, and Menthalo herself never seemed to be settled with the fact that Leto also loved Mathias.

Who Should Read This Book?

Fans of Greek Mythology looking for something inspired by it; readers looking for a tragedy that isn’t hopeless; those who like LGBTQIA stories;

Content Warnings?

Blood, death, hangings, drowning, murder, injury, injury detail, fire, rape, sexual assault, sexual content, sacrifices, misogyny, sexism, gaslighting, abuse, suicide, suicidal thoughts, depression, classism,

Post-Reading Rating: 3.25⭐️/5

I liked the ending, but I wanted a bit more from the lead up into it.

Final Rating: 3.25⭐️/5 (3.38)

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sandymaple's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I don't understand why this was marketed as a retelling of the Odyssey - it is not. I thought the writing style was quite beautiful, but to be honest, I did not like much else. There was insufficient character development, I didn't like any of the characters, the premise of the curse was not clearly explained, the ending was drawn out, there was way less mythology than I expected, the love triangle was completely awkward and felt forced... I am stubborn and wanted to get to the end, but this easily could have been a DNF for me.

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hevlav's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

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corabookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Every year in Ithaca, 12 girls are hung and dropped into the sea to satisfy Poseidon. Except, this year, one survives. Leto wakes on an island and meets the mysterious Melantho, a girl who tells her that to end Poseidon's wrath, they must kill Ithaca's prince.

I really enjoyed this book! The plot was a beautiful combination of curse-breaking and assassination attempts and romance, and the writing was really gorgeous. My only real problems were that 1) the plot and pacing got a little tedious at times, as it would kinda loop around and repeat and drag at a few points and 2) (slight spoilers!) I do feel like it perpetrated the whole bisexuals-are-cheaters narrative as the main character holds a relationship with both Melantho and Mathias without either of them knowing. I know other people had issues with the historical accuracy of this book, but honestly if you go into it just expecting a fun fantasy novel, there's nothing that really sticks out or ruins the story or anything. And all the controversy about the author never having read the Odyssey is pointless. This is NOT a retelling of the Odyssey. It takes one element of the end of the story and spins a new tale that takes place centuries later. (I also really did like this spin on said element of the Odyssey.)

All in all, this book wasn't perfect, but I really liked it! If you like Greek Mythology-inspired stories and retellings, you should check this one out!

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katie0528's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Leto is born on Ithaca, home of the famed Greek hero Odysseus. However, hundreds of years earlier, Odysseus offended the god Poseidon by executing his wife's Penelope's maids. Poseidon curses the land, creating a yearly tradition where the people of Ithaca sacrifice 12 more young women. Leto, is unfortunately one. After her violent execution, Leto wakes up on an island, home to the mysterious Melantho, a girl who died much the same way as Leto. Melantho reveals that the only way to break the curse is to kill the prince of Ithaca, Mattias, so the two girls disguise themselves as Matrias' betrothed and her maid. Unfortunately, killing a prince is easier said than done, particularly when he's handsome, charming, and also desperately wanting to break the curse.

I spent the whole book hoping this would turn into a throuple situation, but alas I was disappointed.

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lesemaus2303's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved every bit of it!
Almost didn't want to finish it because i didn't want the story to end. Emotional and so thrilling.

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chase0w0's review against another edition

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miiiid

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thebookishbugg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I couldn't put this book down. It swept me in from page one and next thing I know it's 11:00 p.m., I've read 200 pages in one sitting, and my heart aches.

The ending made me bawl my eyes out.

Don't know how I'm going to find something to read after this, it's going to pale in comparison.

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pencilspeaker's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is definitely NOT a retelling of the Odyssee, rather (just) a "what if I take one side character from this myth, put them in a YA love triangle, use ancient Ithaca as a backdrop and see what happens".
There were some plot holes and inaccuracies, but I enjoyed the prose. The book kept me entertained; at times I was unable to put it down.
Leto is a really cool protagonist, I like that often times we only know what she knows. I really hate Mathias tho

like how can you fall in love with him after he had you executed

and the whole sapphic/bi romance arc was poorly executed

(I was here for the sapphic couple that was advertised, and have a lot of anger for the trope of the bisexual who cannot choose and cheats on both of the people they're (supposedly) in love with)

.
The plot of the curse was really interesting, but I do have a lot of questions that remain unanswered, because they were apparently solved off-page (hello, what happened to Adrasteia? Where did Selene get her information?). The ending was written beautifully (apart from that jump-scare-y Sex scene, wholly unnecessary at that point), however

can I for once have a happy ending in sapphic fantasy please?!

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