Queen of Fate and Fury is exactly what it clams it will be: a retelling of the Grecian myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. But it is also so much more than that. It is a tale of how far Ariadne, Princess of Crete, will go for love. Not romantic love, but the love of her cold family, her only friend, and that of a brother nearly forgotten to a curse and to rumor. 

After nearly dying in an attempt to prove herself worthy of her parents’ love, Ariadne makes a deal with her mother: kill Theseus, and with his lifeblood and one of the Queen’s potions, bring back her long-lost brother who has been condemned to a long, agonizing death in the labyrinth beneath the city. The idea of being accepted and loved by her mother again is enough to get Ariadne to take this incredibly risk, and she launches into a dark, dangerous journey with the Athenian sacrifices her father demands. 

It is absolutely a diverting story and, I believe, a great take on the myth. Its focus on love doesn’t become quite clear until quite a way into the narrative, but that doesn’t detract from its impact. It does feel a bit PSA-y, but the message is still important: love is a choice, and it has to be two-sided and freely given. Anything claiming to be love beyond (or less than) that is not truly love. 

I was so proud for Ariadne coming to the realization that her love was worth more than the shallow vows of temporary ally, and that love itself was better than the withholding tease of her mother’s. That said, it’s hard to see how unnecessarily Ariadne is condemned. It is never explained why she is the “cursed princess”, because her affiliation with her brother Asterion would also afflict her sister, and yet it doesn’t. When she does realise that the love she deserves—true, mutual love—is not what she has received at home from anyone other than her brothers and sister or her one friend,  Ariadne frees herself. And it’s great to witness, and to watch her reject a possible marriage with someone she knows will never love her half as much as he loves himself. 

I’m all for her liberation from these ideas, and yet the ending still fell a bit flat. There are no winners in this story, which is perhaps the point. But it left me feeling a bit hollow, maybe because the hope found at the end is more abstract than concrete. 

I was still thoroughly entertained, even though many of the characters frustrated me. An HEA is never guaranteed in life, nor in the myths we immerse ourselves in, cultural or psychological. But I suppose in this day and age, I’d have liked to have my hope a tad more concrete. Probably more for myself than for the sake of what I read.