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A review by helena_blythe
Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman
4.0
The second of the Hades and Persephone themed books I read dealt with an actual Hades and Persephone, the immortals, in ancient times. Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman takes the traditional myth apart and reconstructs one of the most crucial parts of the myth: Persephone’s abduction. How different would their story be if she had been a willing companion instead of a vulnerable victim?
Hades is most definitely a presence in this story, much more than his equivalent in Abandon. He is very much the distant and powerful Lord of the Dead, pleased to see the ranks of dead spirits increase when famine descends as part of Demeter’s despair. Yet he is also vulnerable and besotted as he woos and wins Persephone.
The Underworld in this book is presented as a place one could actually imagine feeling at home in (if you can get used to the river Lethe and a giant three-headed dog) and was beautifully described. Persephone’s struggle with the idea of being a Queen, with what that entails, and with how much of it is really her (or how much she wants to allow it to change her), is presented in a way that felt realistic and which escaped being whiny or ungrateful. I also appreciated the way her loyalty and attraction to Hades builds, rather than simply being something that occurs with lightning-quick spontaneity.
In this story, we are once again in a first person narrative, seeing things through the protagonist’s eyes. Though she’s still considered a child by her mother who is ever eager to keep men out of their safe, uncomplicated world, she is a clearly a grown young woman in her narrative. She does experience a learning curve as she falls in love and figures out the drama occurring around her, but readers are thankfully spared the all-too-common teen angst narrative we so often see in YA books.
Radiant Darkness is a ‘clean’ book with hardly a curse from start to finish, and barely even reaches the need to fade to black. There is longing and passion, but attraction is not the entirety of the story. For all that, though, it doesn't lack passion.
Of the four Hades and Persephone books I read, this one was my favorite as it stuck closely to the myth and, with the one major change of having Hades swoop down in his black chariot to woo Persephone rather than to abduct her, re-imagined the myth entirely. This was good,solid storytelling. Radiant Darkness is a stand alone novel, rather than the first of a trilogy – rather unusual in YA these days.
Hades is most definitely a presence in this story, much more than his equivalent in Abandon. He is very much the distant and powerful Lord of the Dead, pleased to see the ranks of dead spirits increase when famine descends as part of Demeter’s despair. Yet he is also vulnerable and besotted as he woos and wins Persephone.
The Underworld in this book is presented as a place one could actually imagine feeling at home in (if you can get used to the river Lethe and a giant three-headed dog) and was beautifully described. Persephone’s struggle with the idea of being a Queen, with what that entails, and with how much of it is really her (or how much she wants to allow it to change her), is presented in a way that felt realistic and which escaped being whiny or ungrateful. I also appreciated the way her loyalty and attraction to Hades builds, rather than simply being something that occurs with lightning-quick spontaneity.
In this story, we are once again in a first person narrative, seeing things through the protagonist’s eyes. Though she’s still considered a child by her mother who is ever eager to keep men out of their safe, uncomplicated world, she is a clearly a grown young woman in her narrative. She does experience a learning curve as she falls in love and figures out the drama occurring around her, but readers are thankfully spared the all-too-common teen angst narrative we so often see in YA books.
Radiant Darkness is a ‘clean’ book with hardly a curse from start to finish, and barely even reaches the need to fade to black. There is longing and passion, but attraction is not the entirety of the story. For all that, though, it doesn't lack passion.
Of the four Hades and Persephone books I read, this one was my favorite as it stuck closely to the myth and, with the one major change of having Hades swoop down in his black chariot to woo Persephone rather than to abduct her, re-imagined the myth entirely. This was good,solid storytelling. Radiant Darkness is a stand alone novel, rather than the first of a trilogy – rather unusual in YA these days.