A review by coffee_on_the_pages
Hera by Jennifer Saint

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

3.5

Jennifer Saint is a fantastic writer of Greek mythology retellings and this does not disappoint. This book was like a Greek mythology overview  starting with the fall of Cronos all the way through to the fall of the gods all from the POV of Hera, queen of the gods and wife of Zeus. Dipping in and out of so many myths from the really well known ones like Heracles, and Medusa, and into some of the lesser known ones the reader gets a bit of a Greek mythology 101. For me personally it helped me much better understand the chronological order of my favourite Greek myths.

Hera isn't exactly a likeable character, she is, what she always has been, vindictive, jealous, and petty but this book gives a better understanding of why she is this way and although I definitely did not agree with her actions I could at least emphasise with her. I did find it a little repetitive, Zeus does something bad, Hera lashes out at some poor victim of her husband.

While I enjoyed the story and the narrator her pronunciations of some names and places really took me out of the story at times and it took me a little minute to figure out who was who. I am not sure if she was perhaps pronouncing them the correct Greek way and my knowledge of the pronunciations is just wrong in which case I retract this statement.

Overall a really good retelling, it isn't my favourite by Jennifer Saint but it certainly wasn't a bad read and I would recommend to anyone who loves a good retelling.
Thank you Netgalley and Headline Audio for an arc copy of this audiobook.
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