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agathe_athena 's review for:
Wearing the Lion
by John Wiswell
adventurous
dark
emotional
Hera is enraged over yet another demigod sired by Zeus, and has declared that she will do anything to bring him down. In order to placate the goddess, the child’s mother has named him “Hera’s glory” and has taught Heracles to worship Hera in everything he does. But his ardent devotion just inflames her anger instead of appeasing her. She eventually sends a Fury to drive him mad so that he will destroy himself, but he ends up killing his beloved sons instead. Destroyed by what he has done, he goes to find which god sent the Fury so that he can have his revenge. Asking for Hera’s guidance, she directs him on a monster-hunting quest to find his answers. But he sees too much of himself in these monsters and can’t bring himself to hurt them. So he ends up befriending them instead. Hera worries that when he learns the truth, that he will storm Olympos. But will their eventual confrontation bring a different kind of change in both of them.
This was a really imaginative and engaging re-imagining of the Heracles labors, where instead of “hero kills monsters,” he befriends them as he works through his own grief. It’s a different view of Greek mythology, one that is more concerned with healing mental traumas, addressing unhealthy relationships, and creating found family. I really enjoyed this re-imaging of this story, and feel like the author really captured the nuances of Hera well (which she’s often portrayed as a very one-dimensional character). Some minor issues as I feel it wobbles a little towards the end, but overall very excellent.
Content warning: child death/child loss, difficult births.
This was a really imaginative and engaging re-imagining of the Heracles labors, where instead of “hero kills monsters,” he befriends them as he works through his own grief. It’s a different view of Greek mythology, one that is more concerned with healing mental traumas, addressing unhealthy relationships, and creating found family. I really enjoyed this re-imaging of this story, and feel like the author really captured the nuances of Hera well (which she’s often portrayed as a very one-dimensional character). Some minor issues as I feel it wobbles a little towards the end, but overall very excellent.
Content warning: child death/child loss, difficult births.