Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

69 reviews

saskiajva's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

3.0

Definitely read content warnings for this! This book was odd. I felt like it spent a lot of time detailing unimportant things and then sailed through important bits i  wish had been more detailed, so it’s hard to say if not much happens or if a lot happened. Ariadne is a timid, fretful character which was frustrating and hard to like or relate to at times. The ending is one of the darkest things I’ve ever read, but isn’t given too much detail so it loses some punch there which is not a bad thing. I wanted to love this book, but it isn’t my thing. But I can see why others like it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Child death, Murder, Sexism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Infidelity, War, and Suicidal thoughts

colorcrystals's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Suicide, Misogyny, Animal death, Death, and Infidelity

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Child death, Rape, and Death of parent

lisamsalgado's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Suicide

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Grief

agnela's review against another edition

sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I wanted to dnf this so hard! There was a time in my life where I would have loved this, but now I want to read about powerful characters, about joy and life and becoming better. But this story just told you a story about wronged women and men who messed it up for them. I understand it's ancient Greek culture thing, but damn, we, now, can tell those same stories in a better way, we can imagine these characters taking different choices, even if they end up in the same places. We can give them healing and humanity. Plus we can give them a better ending, because now we know there are more endings and more tellings of their stories. It's so not feminist at all. Ariadne makes a few decisions in her whole life, and that's how the story moves. I think she has made maybe 3 or 4 choices, and the plot then just deals with it. 
The book had a gorgeous cover. The translation had some wobbling with genders and adjectives, although the prose was pretty. But the characters needed so much more polishing and building. 
It's not a feminist story if you tell tragic life of a woman from her own perspective. It's not a feminist story to say men use women's labour and have them to point it out themselves. It just means it's female centric, told from a females perspective. 
It got better to the end, maybe last 30%, where both women have a bit more agency and clear motivations rather than being naive horny girls or trying to survive. I loved Pheadra's point of view, you can at least tell the girls had different interests and passions. I was rooting for Pheadra to get more involved with ruling the kingdom, but I guess all those lessons and experiences tought her nothing. It's funny how both sister's stories involve being horny, Ariadne starts and Pheadra ends with it. No yes I know Pheadra just wanted to run away, but I don't really believe it. She had already visited Ariadne and Naxos where women could run away, and she didn't even love her children much, which I love by the way. Being a woman and being able to have a baby doesn't mean you want to, will be a good mom, or have to. Not to mention the trauma they experienced in their own home might have heavily contributed to how Pheadra felt about motherhood. 
Overall I'm really disappointed. I saw this writer had a book about my beloved Hera and i will not be reading that because I know there will be only suffering and agony for my goddess, and I do not deserve to read about it and neither she deserves it to be write about her.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Mental illness, Animal death, Violence, Sexual violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Pregnancy, War, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Grief, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

rtorrey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Incest, Death, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

ibjilln's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Body horror, Gore, Vomit, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Incest, Misogyny, Suicide, War, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

in_the_woods___'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Rape, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Child death

stormeno's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Death, Sexual harassment, Child death, Sexual content, Abandonment, Gore, and Suicide

Minor: Incest, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted sad slow-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book! I listened to the audiobook and I thought it was really good. This story is a simple retelling of some women of Greek mythology, and I kept having to stop myself mid book so I wouldn’t go check Wikipedia for what happened to these characters before I read it in this book. It was intriguing and had some strong themes throughout; it definitely had a moral to the story and gave me some things to think about, but it was a little shallow in its storytelling. Like others have mentioned, it didn’t show much, only told you straight out what happened. But I enjoyed listening to it and want to dive back into Greek mythologies and retellings! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Alcohol, Gore, Suicide, Child death, Blood, Grief, Animal cruelty, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Miscarriage and Cursing

camiclarkbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

Jennifer Saint’s “Ariadne” is a beautiful retelling of the Ariadne myth. 

The pacing is slow but steady, enough to keep the reader’s engaged but calm while the tense parts of the myth are spread out. 

The ending of “Ariadne” was not one that I was familiar with but suited this interpretation nicely. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Suicide, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death, Abandonment, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Vomit, War, and Animal cruelty