A review by summerrydell
Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m wrapped up in the post-reading-endorphin-rush, so I want to give it a higher rating, but I can’t. I think I’m already being generous. There’s just something about Greek myths… However, this is so loosely related (read: under-researched and oversold as something it isn’t).  According to the author, this is a feminist retelling of “The Odyssey”, except she didn’t read it/do additional research or include the other 99% of the original story. She admitted she gathered info from “Percy Jackson” and other stories. To me, there needs to be more than 1% to be considered a retelling. The historical details are also very inaccurate for 4th century BCE. 

Even with all of that, there are so many plot holes and straight up UNCLEAR details that really do make a difference to the story. The reader is just supposed to accept that things are the way they are because the internal monologue of the MC says so. 

So, why give it 3 stars then? Idk, I still kind of liked it 🤷🏻‍♀️😂. There really is a story there, and I do think that some of the writing is very beautiful, even if it was full of holes and inaccuracies.
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