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emmatooth 's review for:
Orphia and Eurydicius
by Elyse John
Thanks to NetGalley and HaperCollins for the ARC!! From the first line of this book, I was hooked: “I sharpened my sword with poetry and hardened my arm with the memory of lyre strings.”
Orphia and Eurydicius is a gender-flipped retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, one of my personal favorite Greek myths. Orphia is the daughter of the god Apollo and the muse Calliope. A warrior-turned-poet, she strives to tell the stories of women, from Medusa and Hera to the washerwomen of the Whispering Isle. She meets Eurydicius, a gentle shield-maker, and the rest is history.
First, the writing in this book is beautiful. It made the scenery of Mount Parnassus and the Whispering Isle come to life. I also enjoyed how the author positioned Orphia as a multifaceted woman, it felt very real and relatable to me. Orphia desires to hone her craft and gain fame through her work, and is strong enough to lift grown men and beat renowned warriors in duel. She is also open to love, and eventually uses her love for Eurydicius as inspiration for her poetry, which makes her work even more powerful. She doesn’t have to choose between fame and love, she is able to find a way to have both.
I loved her relationship with Eurydicius, and thought that the representation of their unique gender roles within their relationship was powerful. Orphia’s grief over Eurydicius’ death (spoiler if you don’t already know the Orpheus myth) also touched me deeply. I was brought to tears and the way she grieved also felt very relatable.
I wish we had gotten to know Eurydicius a bit more. Sometimes it seemed like he was just there as a foil to Orphia, and we didn’t get to know much about his history or what Orphia saw in him other than his support of her and her craft.
The only other thing that kept me from giving this book 5 stars was that sometimes the writing felt a little bit heavy-handed in its theme of telling women’s stories. It was repeated time and time again that Orphia wanted to tell women’s stories, and some of the twists were easy to predict because of that repetition. And when Orphia came up with a poem about a woman, we only got a stanza or so. I feel like I missed some of the impact of Orphia’s work because the author described her mission more than actually sharing what she had come up with. In the same vein, I felt that some of the female characters in the story were a bit underdeveloped, though I understand that the side characters weren’t the point of the story.
Overall, this was a great read! I loved the emphasis on female agency, the writing style, and of course, the twist on one of my favorite Greek myths. 4 stars!
Orphia and Eurydicius is a gender-flipped retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, one of my personal favorite Greek myths. Orphia is the daughter of the god Apollo and the muse Calliope. A warrior-turned-poet, she strives to tell the stories of women, from Medusa and Hera to the washerwomen of the Whispering Isle. She meets Eurydicius, a gentle shield-maker, and the rest is history.
First, the writing in this book is beautiful. It made the scenery of Mount Parnassus and the Whispering Isle come to life. I also enjoyed how the author positioned Orphia as a multifaceted woman, it felt very real and relatable to me. Orphia desires to hone her craft and gain fame through her work, and is strong enough to lift grown men and beat renowned warriors in duel. She is also open to love, and eventually uses her love for Eurydicius as inspiration for her poetry, which makes her work even more powerful. She doesn’t have to choose between fame and love, she is able to find a way to have both.
I loved her relationship with Eurydicius, and thought that the representation of their unique gender roles within their relationship was powerful. Orphia’s grief over Eurydicius’ death (spoiler if you don’t already know the Orpheus myth) also touched me deeply. I was brought to tears and the way she grieved also felt very relatable.
I wish we had gotten to know Eurydicius a bit more. Sometimes it seemed like he was just there as a foil to Orphia, and we didn’t get to know much about his history or what Orphia saw in him other than his support of her and her craft.
The only other thing that kept me from giving this book 5 stars was that sometimes the writing felt a little bit heavy-handed in its theme of telling women’s stories. It was repeated time and time again that Orphia wanted to tell women’s stories, and some of the twists were easy to predict because of that repetition. And when Orphia came up with a poem about a woman, we only got a stanza or so. I feel like I missed some of the impact of Orphia’s work because the author described her mission more than actually sharing what she had come up with. In the same vein, I felt that some of the female characters in the story were a bit underdeveloped, though I understand that the side characters weren’t the point of the story.
Overall, this was a great read! I loved the emphasis on female agency, the writing style, and of course, the twist on one of my favorite Greek myths. 4 stars!