Thanks so much to Flatiron for sending me a review copy! All opinions are my own.

Damn. This one really turned on me.

I was anticipating this being a 5-star read for a good 70% and was SO sad by the bizarre turn of events that was the ending.

I enjoyed Ariadne as a character a lot, and I was LOVING learning more about her mythos after the events of the Labyrinth because I really never followed any of her further narrative. But it’s SO interesting!! I was really excited about getting to see her relationship with Dionysus, and though it was a bit disappointing once they settled into domesticity and time passed rather quickly, I was still eager to read the rest.

Before I get to the ending— I was apprehensive at first about having Phaedra’s POV thrown into the mix, but I actually enjoyed them and thought it brought a nice balance. Her story is obviously very controversial but it did give a lot more insight into her character and I enjoyed her journey, though her last few chapters were difficult to stomach.

OK— the ending just had me completely knocked off balance because I was expecting Saint to go with the less tragic mythological cues but instead Dionysus went off the rails and his character changed completely. I didn’t enjoy the tragedy of the ending at all and it just leaves a bitter taste, though reading most of the other reviews on here I see I am in the minority. Ah well. Overall I think this book was pretty well written for a debut and I definitely enjoyed quite a bit of it. And it has for sure made me fall in love with Ariadne so I’m off to soak up any other stories of her that I can get my hands on!