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A review by daiinty
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
5.0
“I would be Medusa, if it came to it, I resolved. If the gods held me accountable one day for the sins of someone else, if they came for me to punish a man’s actions, I would not hide away like Pasiphae. I would wear that coronet of snakes, and the world would shrink from me instead.” – j.s.
i love a greek mythology retelling, especially when voices are given to the women in these myths who are typically kept silent. i really appreciated how the central thread saint kept bringing us back to through ariadne was the fact that it was always women who would pay the price for men’s actions.
*spoilers ahead*
for this reason, i found it really interesting that when ariadne unfortunately became one of those women who paid the price for her husband’s wrath saint decided instead of having dionysus rescue her from the underworld and deify her, he made her into a constellation.
this diversion though makes sense, though, with the characterization we get of ariadne throughout the book. namely, her anger towards the careless wrath of gods. i don’t know if becoming a deity – one of the beings who were the cause of her family’s suffering and the suffering of so many other mortals – is something she would appreciate.
this was a book i just couldn’t put down. if i wasn’t so busy with moving i probably would have finished it it a day. i think the only complaint i had was the excess of purple prose at the beginning of the novel, but seeing that dissipated also coincided with ariadne maturing as she aged, so maybe that was intention. i don’t know. 10/10 would recommend for greek mythos fans.
i love a greek mythology retelling, especially when voices are given to the women in these myths who are typically kept silent. i really appreciated how the central thread saint kept bringing us back to through ariadne was the fact that it was always women who would pay the price for men’s actions.
*spoilers ahead*
for this reason, i found it really interesting that when ariadne unfortunately became one of those women who paid the price for her husband’s wrath saint decided instead of having dionysus rescue her from the underworld and deify her, he made her into a constellation.
this diversion though makes sense, though, with the characterization we get of ariadne throughout the book. namely, her anger towards the careless wrath of gods. i don’t know if becoming a deity – one of the beings who were the cause of her family’s suffering and the suffering of so many other mortals – is something she would appreciate.
this was a book i just couldn’t put down. if i wasn’t so busy with moving i probably would have finished it it a day. i think the only complaint i had was the excess of purple prose at the beginning of the novel, but seeing that dissipated also coincided with ariadne maturing as she aged, so maybe that was intention. i don’t know. 10/10 would recommend for greek mythos fans.