Book Review: "Ariadne: A Novel" by Jennifer Saint

I must have been on a mythology kick after reading Nikita Gill's book because I found myself drawn to the book that I am reviewing today. I remember parts of this story from the wonderful Myths and Legends podcast that I listen to frequently but this book expanded on the story and told the story not from the prospective of our hero ("hero" is in hard bunny ears quotes, per the usual when it comes to a lot of men/half men half gods in mythology) but from the perspective of our two main female characters - Ariadne and Phaedra.

Ariadne and Phaedra are sisters, and daughters of the terrible King Minos of Crete. If you dig deep into your knowledge of Crete you may remember it as the home of the Minotaur. Through a terrible agreement between King Minos and the government of Athens, 6 Athenian youths (6 of each gender) were sacrificed every year to the terrible Minotaur who was trapped in a impenetrable labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur is the half brother of the princess because, well, gods and goddesses are jealous and terrible and petty and these things happen. (Also if you're like "Why does the name Ariadne sound familiar?" I would say "Hell, good memory - it's the name of Elliot Page's character in Inception - you know the girl who designs the mazes and levels. GOOD CALLBACK CHRISTOPHER NOLAN. I SEE YOU).

Theseus is a prince of Athens who has taken the place of one of the condemned youths and Ariadne is instantly smitten by this man who has made this sacrifice and his steady, calm nature. She finds him in his prison cell the night before the human sacrifices are to be pushed into the pitch blackness that is the labyrinth so that they can get hunted and eaten by the beast. He woos her and she agrees to help him and he promises to whisk her away from her privileged but terrible life in Crete to be his bride in Athens. Ariadne insists that her little sister comes with her and Theseus agrees - they work out an escape plan, from the labyrinth and then from Crete where they all go to Athens and live happily ever after.

It...all very nearly goes to plan. Kinda sorta.

The main thing that I liked about this book is that we get to hear from the women in these stories, usually the women are just the props used by the gods/men in these sorts of stories and they are not much more than "oh wow, yeah it's too bad the gods are awful and petty". It also is told in rotating chapters between the two sisters. It started really strong but then kind of petered out for me towards the end. However, it was a fast read and held my interest most of the time. If you are a fan of mythology this would be a good one to pick up!