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A review by shay_talksbooks
Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
2.0
Lies We Sing to the Sea follows the story of Leto; one of 12 girls that are sacrificed in Ithaca each year for Poseidon. However, death isn't what Leto thought it would be and she awakes on an island with a girl able to command the seas, and a plan to break the curse.
I found it really hard to rate this book, and I've changed my rating on it a handful of times already - but I think I've settled on 2 for now.
Let's start by saying that this isn't really a retelling, but more of a continuation of the Oddessey and what happened after Odysseus returns. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good one. There were quite a few plot holes, and many moments where I questioned whether the author knew the original myth she was adding on to, or if she'd just skimmed some notes and picked a few names/moments she liked the sound of and found a way to shove them into the story.
The whole book was also far too long; it was so, so slow and almost 500 pages of nothing really happening for the majority of it. It's not until the last 50 pages or so that anything occurs, but I did enjoy the ending, and that redeemed 1 star from me for a book I was so close to DNFing most of the way through.
Thelove triangle was completely unnecessary and took centre stage in the book, above the actual plot. It was pitched as a sapphic fantasy romance mythology retelling, but it was more like a badly-represented bisexual romance (with a main character who just couldn't choose, ugh) romance novel with a few names from mythology chucked in.
I found it really hard to rate this book, and I've changed my rating on it a handful of times already - but I think I've settled on 2 for now.
Let's start by saying that this isn't really a retelling, but more of a continuation of the Oddessey and what happened after Odysseus returns. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good one. There were quite a few plot holes, and many moments where I questioned whether the author knew the original myth she was adding on to, or if she'd just skimmed some notes and picked a few names/moments she liked the sound of and found a way to shove them into the story.
The whole book was also far too long; it was so, so slow and almost 500 pages of nothing really happening for the majority of it. It's not until the last 50 pages or so that anything occurs, but I did enjoy the ending, and that redeemed 1 star from me for a book I was so close to DNFing most of the way through.
The
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Rape