A review by catastra
The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer

2.0

This book could have been amazing, but what killed it for me was the characterization of Hades. Or rather, the re-characterization. The whole reason I read this was because of the gender-swapped Hades and femme relationship, so that wasn't the issue. The issue was Hades being so... un-Hades. Instead of a strong, brooding ruler of the underworld, we get a kind, meek shadow of a goddess who virtually has no personality, much like Persephone. I would have LOVED if this was a retelling of the known myth of Hades and Persephone, with the abduction and all that, where the two characters slowly fall for each other, Hades tricks Persephone into eating pomegranate seeds, and the characters explore the aftermath of that. It was a missed opportunity for conflicting romance, but that's just my opinion. I don't typically read books where romance is the central point, so I'm not a fan of ooshie-gooshie perfect cuteness.

Apart from the overuse of commas, the technical writing aspect wasn't that bad. It was a quick read. There just wasn't a whole lot of plot.