Ariadne

"Finished March 17th. "

"Bittersweet all the way through. Well written. Fans of Greek mythology, romance, and less-than-perfect endings will be delighted."

"3.8/5 I liked it, but I felt like it dragged on a bit. Kind of reminded me of the Witch's Heart so brownie points "

"Such an interesting story! I just did not love this rendition of it. I found the way Ariadne’s story was told undercut some of the strength I saw in her character and made her more of a bystander than an active participant in her life. I would have rather her story follow a path that explored where she was powerful rather than one focused on how she was helpless to her circumstances. Hopeful to read other Ariadne / Dionysus / Phaedra stories in the future. They are all very interesting characters that I was and am still excited to explore!"

"Greek mythology is so fascinating. Though this story was slow going and took some powering through to get into it I rather enjoyed it in the end."

"This book was so hard to put down! Hearing from both sisters about their lives with the men they married kept the plot interesting. The myths have truly come to life in this."

"308 pages "

"From the minute I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. It’s such an easy read but with an incredible plot that sucks you in. Wow — I wish I could read it again for the first time!!"

"Beautifully written"

"I haven't read a ton (or really any) of the women-centered greek mythology stories that have been popular in the last few years, because I'm not into greek mythology like that. But this was good!<br/><br/>I'm not well versed in the myths so I was a little hesitant at first, like how much character could we really add to the minotaur story to make it last 300 pages? But there is so much more to her myth than that wow. I kind of feel cheated by the 3-page telling of the minotaur story I was first exposed to that neglects to mention where the minotaur came from, the fact that I never knew that Icarus also comes from this myth, the fact that it truly did just make it seem like that was it for Ariadne (which I guess there are competing versions) when there's this whole other version that says she marries Dionysus like why would anyone not include that this is good stuff. In fact, the minotaur story concludes in the first third of the book pretty much.<br/><br/>I was also worried this might just be too sad and joyless, and while it definitely qualifies as a tragedy, I think I forgot what a tragedy is. It's actually not that miserable imo. Like the lows are bleak but that bleakness contrasts parts where there was hope. Maybe it wasn't sad enough? Song of Achilles hit a lot more emotionally honestly.<br/><br/>Do I think this would be good for people who actually did know everything about all these myths? Probably not as good as it was for me who's seeing it like a new story but I do think this is a solid retelling and Jennifer Saint really gives the characters life.<br/><br/>Also, speaking of Dionysus, this is just a personal thing I had to share but I was a simp for my grade 9 English teacher, and before my class read Oedipus, she gave this one extremely broad-strokes lesson introducing us to Greek tragedy, which started with a whole page worth of "Dionysus is the god of wine and goat sacrifice" before diving into hamartia anagnorisis catharsis, hubris is their fatal flaw etc etc. And this is probably the standard intro to greek tragedy but the origin story was never that relevant to Oedipus but just so happened to be all the background knowledge I needed to read this book, and man I miss that era now. Feeling wonder and excitement about English class. I still have all my notes because I am not ok, so here are the receipts. Orgiastic is in fact a real word ok continue.<br/><img src="https://i.imgur.com/TWAwqFi.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /><br/><br/>Maybe I am into Greek mythology like that. This was an approachable book to dive into it with because it visited familiar myths and figures."