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ebbisi 's review for:
Wrath Goddess Sing
by Maya Deane
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
When I was in high school, my ancient Greek teacher told us to watch Troy and to write down the mistakes that we were able to spot. They were a lot, but Achilles at least had blond hair. This book screwed up even that.
First of all, I find this novel very disrespectful to Greek mythology and ancient cultures (I studied ancient Greek for five years and I know I'm acting as a gatekeeper). Even after reading a few pages, it becomes clear that the author did poor researches as regards ancient Greece (I'm not an expert of ancient Egypt or the Hittite Empire, so I'm not able to judge how they have been portrayed in this book). For example, the author translates "faggot" with "proktos", "porni" and "malaka" (she only uses the transcriptions in Latin alphabet), which correspond to πρωκτκός, πόρνη and μαλακός, η, ον:
- πρωκτκός means "anus" and as an insult it can be translated with "asshole", not "faggot";
- πόρνη is a specific kind of woman prostitute (it doesn't mean "faggot" and the right transcription is "porne")
- μαλακός, η, ον can mean "faggot", but it's not its first meaning. Moreover, the declination is wrong, since in ancient Greek μαλακά (malaka) can only be referred to plural neutral substantives in nominative and in accusative (in English, it's like using "it" for a person).
Furthermore, most of the Greek sentences in this book are in modern Greek and not in ancient Greek (I'm not saying that the author should have use Homeric language variant, but at least try to open an ancient Greek dictionary).
In addition to that, the author twisted Greek mythology to an impossible extent and I was forced to consider this book a fantasy with the same names of the characters of the Iliad (her interview available as a podcast on Ancient History Fangirl's Spotify is an aberration full of misconceptions and historical mistakes /plus: she never quotes her sources/). But I was disappointed anyway.
As a trans man, I didn't appreciate Achilles' story arc (I wasn't convinced by the idea of a transgender Achilles in the first instance, but what's the point of transforming her in a cis-woman by divine intervention after a few chapters? Was this novel supposed to tell the story of a trans-woman, wasn't it?) and the other characters were terrible mary sues. The plot is inconsistent most of the time and the writing style is nothing special (even childish in some paragraphs).
In conclusion, if you're looking for a bold and heartbreaking retelling, this book it's not for you. But, if you're in the mood for something full of what the f**cks and trash, be "Wrath goddess sing"s guest!
First of all, I find this novel very disrespectful to Greek mythology and ancient cultures (I studied ancient Greek for five years and I know I'm acting as a gatekeeper). Even after reading a few pages, it becomes clear that the author did poor researches as regards ancient Greece (I'm not an expert of ancient Egypt or the Hittite Empire, so I'm not able to judge how they have been portrayed in this book). For example, the author translates "faggot" with "proktos", "porni" and "malaka" (she only uses the transcriptions in Latin alphabet), which correspond to πρωκτκός, πόρνη and μαλακός, η, ον:
- πρωκτκός means "anus" and as an insult it can be translated with "asshole", not "faggot";
- πόρνη is a specific kind of woman prostitute (it doesn't mean "faggot" and the right transcription is "porne")
- μαλακός, η, ον can mean "faggot", but it's not its first meaning. Moreover, the declination is wrong, since in ancient Greek μαλακά (malaka) can only be referred to plural neutral substantives in nominative and in accusative (in English, it's like using "it" for a person).
Furthermore, most of the Greek sentences in this book are in modern Greek and not in ancient Greek (I'm not saying that the author should have use Homeric language variant, but at least try to open an ancient Greek dictionary).
In addition to that, the author twisted Greek mythology to an impossible extent and I was forced to consider this book a fantasy with the same names of the characters of the Iliad (her interview available as a podcast on Ancient History Fangirl's Spotify is an aberration full of misconceptions and historical mistakes /plus: she never quotes her sources/). But I was disappointed anyway.
As a trans man, I didn't appreciate Achilles' story arc (I wasn't convinced by the idea of a transgender Achilles in the first instance, but what's the point of transforming her in a cis-woman by divine intervention after a few chapters? Was this novel supposed to tell the story of a trans-woman, wasn't it?) and the other characters were terrible mary sues. The plot is inconsistent most of the time and the writing style is nothing special (even childish in some paragraphs).
In conclusion, if you're looking for a bold and heartbreaking retelling, this book it's not for you. But, if you're in the mood for something full of what the f**cks and trash, be "Wrath goddess sing"s guest!