A review by readingtothesea
Ich, Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Very thought provoking. The book deals with the pov of women in Greek mythology. Especially them having to suffer under men‘s actions. It tells Ariadnes myth, but from her perspective since usually she is only mentioned briefly for helping Theseus.

But tbh, you probably have to like and know something about Greek mythology to enjoy the book, since there are some „side quests“ of different myths, that are mentioned. For example, Ariadne mentions Medusa‘s tale, but to understand the impact that it has (especially for the feminist tone), you should have heard of her story before. 
The feminist tone is rather subtle, not as prominent as it could be, if you ask me. It either works via the stories of women in Greek mythology that she mentions, as prior mentioned, or via thoughts that Ariadne has or unfair things that happen to her or other women in the story.

Although, I found both Ariadne’s and Phaedra‘s deaths rather random. They should have been more impactful. The strong and stubborn Phaedra suddenly taking her life, just because she had been rejected? She has gotten over more in her life. I do understand, that it wasn’t only the one sided love but more things that add up to that, but still, it doesn’t match her character, if you ask me.  Ariadne‘a death had the potential to have an impact, if it would have been described and interpreted more. For example it being an image: Her dying, to safe the other women (Maenaden), to prevent the consequences of men’s emotional and egoistic actions. Especially since she had criticized prior, that women are the ones that have to suffer. But this chance wasn’t used, instead the ending was rather abrupt. Also, the way of her death, wasn’t logical, rather dumb. She knew about Medusa‘s head on the shield, she spoke about it multiple times, but still, she looked at it? Instead of just looking away or closing her eyes? I‘m just saying, it could have been a chance to give her death an impact, if the reader would have been given time to think about it, but the book ended immediately.
The ending just doesn’t match the rest of the story.


I still enjoyed reading it, since I‘m a sucker for feminist greek mythology retellings. It is a good read, but there are a few things that could be better.
Also, I loved the writing style.
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