I really appreciate the trend for giving us the more unlikeable character perspective within Greek Mythology retellings. Medea, Circe and Medusa have all been given centre stage and now it's the turn of Hera - immortal goddess, daughter of the ancient Titan Cronos and sister/wife of Zeus. Born to rule she's waiting for her turn and has to manage the whims of Zeus and his cruelty and violence. A multi-faceted character she is vengeful when she needs to be but also compassionate and mostly importantly, an all-powerful queen to the gods.

I really enjoyed Atalanta last year so knew I wanted to read more of Jennifer Saint's body of work, and having recently read Medea by Rosie Hunt, Hera was the perfect next read for me and I wasn't disappointed. This an engaging novel, full of drama, cruelty, violence, secrets and lies - dealing with Zeus I don't think there could be anything less.

Hera touches so many elements of Greek Mythology that she is a familiar, albeit faintly drawn character for me so I really enjoyed the opportunity have her story told and get to learn her perspective. She is not redeemed by this story but gives the reader a better understanding of why she acted in the ways she did and it makes her story more recognisable from a human emotion perspective.

I'm very much a dabbler in Greek Mythology so don't know a lot of in depth details or if modern retellings are accurate in relation to the classical myths, but what I do know is that I really enjoy them. I honestly can't get enough of all the drama, backstabbing and vengeance that every story seems to have elements of and Hera doesn't disappoint.

The audiobook narrator was overall really engaging and well paced but did have some odd pronunciations of God's names (Ares and Athena come to mind) which did take me out of things when they popped up as it felt quite glaringly out of place. It also meant, especially for Ares, that it took me a moment at the start to figure out which god was being talked about, again a distraction from the story. Despite this it was a quibble for me rather than being a major problem as the story is really strong, but it was a distraction nonetheless.

4.5* for the story, 4* for the narration and overall a highly recommended read especially for fans of the genre.

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline Audio | Wildfire for an audio review copy of "Hera" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.