A review by caffeinated_magpie
Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung by Nina MacLaughlin

dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

 I really, really wanted to like this book. The summary promised stories that would “[lay] bare the violence lurking in the heart of Ovid’s narratives”, instead all I found was the violence in the author’s heart… 

Okay, that’s hyperbolic, but instead of the feminist re-telling, I was promised I got a weird mix of torture p*rn and revenge fantasies. “Wake, Siren” promised to give the women of Ovid’s stories their OWN voices, but that only felt true for a few of the short stories within this innocuous-looking little book. 
In fact, of the 35 short stories I probably only need one hand to count the ones I liked. 

You might get more out of this if you already know all of the source myths. I felt like I missed half the subtext when I didn’t know a particular myth already. Even if you know the myths, I am begging you to look up a list of content notes for this one. I usually don’t need trigger warnings and there were several points that I had to put this book down for days or weeks, upset and angry with it. It took me two months to read this. 

If I weren’t so stubborn I would have DNFed this thing.

Even the prose was a pain. This writer often veered into very purple prose, with confusing and uneven sentences. Or overdone similes. I almost like some of it, but usually, the prose was just too much, even for my artist’s heart. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings