A review by reka111
Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

You will be a great lover, not a great hero, Prometheus told me once. He was wrong. I would be both.

Gods, this book means so much to me, my soul, my heart, everything I need in life, and more. I'm not lying if I said I absolutely loved it, it was just perfect. Those who know me know that the myth of Psyche and Eros is not far from me, it is one of my all-time favourites, which is probably the closest to me, so there was no question that I would read this. 

Psyche was a very likeable and well-developed character, a true representative of the human soul and perseverance. I liked that we got insight into the story from her perspective, and we could read about her feelings, her thoughts, her most cherished secrets, in short, we became equal to her. Eros was a more complex character and perhaps, one of the most complicated of all, but I don't say that to any negative effect, he was everything I imagined him to be; dangerous, mystical, persistent, cruel (if necessary) and maybe a little insecure. All in all, I really liked the characters and the details that made them so real. Among the smaller characters, I would probably like to highlight Hecate, who was always in the corner of my heart — the goddess with three faces — but now she has sneaked into my heart even more, her unconditional help, her patience, and her character herself all embodied what I had imagined of her. Demeter and Atlanta (the former for much less time) were mother figures to her, helping her through her deepest points of Psyche and for that, I can't be grateful enough, I loved them very, very much. And then there's Gaia, Zephyrus and Eris, who have been key to all of this all along, and even when everything seemed lost, they came and called their souls to fight for them one last time. 

Psyche and Eros represent a kind of love that human reason cannot comprehend, they are perfect for each other from head to toe, their souls sing to each other, and they are mirror images of each other — two halves of a whole part. I love it so much, so much how they slowly fall in love, and then, even when everything collapses between them after a betrayal, they struggle to find their way back to each other. 

The plot itself was understandable and ran along two threads, which was very strange at first — I'm not really used to this — but I identified with it surprisingly easily. The book covers a complete lifetime — literally — so I was a bit frustrated by the pace and time leaps, but pleasantly disappointed because none of them were unbearable. The ending was beautifully closed, just as it was supposed to. I needed this, so much so that I can't put it into words, it's the story of Eros and Psyche that I can never get tired of, even though I hear other versions and revellings about it. They say there are three types of love, that I believe and know because I love this book wildly with all of them.