Loved itI think this is one of my favorite Greek mystery tellings from recent Years I just think this is a really interesting book really fun and really well done
Herc (2023)
Others: Positive This should be the story of Hercules: his twelve labours, his endless adventures…everyone’s favourite hero, right? Well, it’s not. This is the story of everyone else: Alcmene: Herc’s mother (She has knives everywhere) Hylas: Herc’s first friend (They were more than friends) Megara: Herc’s wife (She’ll tell you about their marriage) Eurystheus: Oversaw Herc’s labours (Definitely did not hide in a jar) His friends, his enemies, his wives, his children, his lovers, his rivals, his gods, his victims. It’s time to hear their stories. Told with humour and heart, Herc gives voice to the silenced characters, in this feminist, queer (and sometimes shocking) retelling of classic Hercules myth. Perfect for fans of Madeline Miller and Joanne M. Harris.
- ISBN:
- 9781335016775
- Length:
- 384 pages
Genres: fantasy, historical fiction
Lists: …
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Kaikeyi
Vaishnavi Patel
2022 · 217 pages · 2 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveThis is the story of the chief 'Bad Girl' of the Hindu epic the 'Ramayana.' imaginative and well-written, it is a defiantly feminist view of the start of the myth, and the forces that drove her to her present situation as an outcast, hated by the generations that follow. A little too long, especially the midsection, and rather marred by the use of magic to establish bonds and control minds, but on whole much better than the usual run-of-the-mill mythological recreation of obscure women as first person principals. And then, in a mythological setting which has gods, demons, ogres and monkeys in the mix, one cannot seriously object to a little magic an mind-control!
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Also fantasy and historical fiction63%On 3 of the same lists30%Similar descriptionsPersonalize your recommendations7%Rouge
Mona Awad
2023 · 384 pages · 4 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveFrom the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate—and find a connection that is more than skin deep?For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass. Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.
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On 5+ of the same lists85%Also fantasy14%Similar descriptionsPersonalize your recommendations1%Masquerade
O. O. Sangoyomi
2024 · 3 reviews
Others: MixedÒdòdó’s home city of Timbuktu has been conquered by the warrior king of Yorùbáland. Under their new oppressive ruler, conditions for Òdòdó and the other women in her ostracised blacksmith guild grow even worse. Then Òdòdó is abducted and whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Ṣàngótẹ̀, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper—the apparent vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior—is none other than the warrior king himself, and he has chosen her to be his wife. Òdòdó soars to the very heights of society, and into a world of battle and politics. As tensions with rival states grow, revealing elaborate schemes and hidden enemies, Òdòdó must defy the cruel king she has been forced to wed and reforge the shaky loyalties of the court in her favor, or risk losing everything—including her life. Loosely based on the myth of Persephone, O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade takes you on a journey of epic power struggles and political intrigue which turn an entire region on its head.
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Also fantasy and historical fiction70%On 2 of the same lists25%Similar descriptionsPersonalize your recommendations5%The golden fleece
Robert Graves
1944 · 449 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveReissued by Creative Age Press in 1945 as Hercules, My Shipmate, a novel about the voyage of the Argo. Written with ideas on The White Goddess as a cultural/anthropological backdrop to the ancient Greek tale. What the Golden Fleece really was—a cloak tossed to earth by a drunken Zeus, a sheepskin book of alchemic secrets or the gilded epidermis of a young human sacrifice named Mr. Ram—nobody knows. But Graves is quite sure that, whatever the Golden Fleece was, the voyage of Jason & his Argonauts really happened. His story shows the legendary cruise as one of the bawdiest, bloodiest, most boisterous expeditions of all time. In I, Claudius & its Claudius the God sequel, Graves brought the teeming life of Claudian Rome so vividly alive that they became bestsellers. In the not-so-successful Wife to Mr. Milton, his blend of imagination & scholarship projected his readers into 17th-Century England & the bedchamber temper tantrums of the blind poet-politician. With Hercules & shipmates, Graves becomes an ancient Greek, moving among demigods & goddesses, myths & monsters with an easy familiarity & a wealth of erudite detail. Both sometimes seem too much of a good thing. Atomic-age readers, ill-attuned to the leisurely, formal talk of myth-age Greeks, may find themselves skipping some of the longer speeches. Most of the Argo's 50-oar crew were princes, each with a special talent & gift of the gods. The only woman aboard was a princess: Atalanta of Calydon, a virgin huntress who could outrun any man in Greece. Argus, who built the Argo, was the world's finest shipwright. Castor & Pollux, sons of Leda & Zeus-as-swan, were champion prizefighters. Nauplius, Poseidon's son, was an unrivaled navigator. Orpheus could make sticks & stones dance to his lyre. Hercules of Tiryns was the world's strongest man. He would've captained the Argonauts were it not that in moments of insanity he murdered friend & foe alike. Captaincy devolved on Jason of lolcos—a man nobody liked or trusted, but who had a power denied to all the others: women instantly fell in love with him. Even surly Hercules agreed it a quality worth all the rest. Backed by divine blessings & equinoctal winds, the Argonauts set sail. On the Island of Lemnos, peopled solely by women, they generously stopped off to help out with spring sowing. Nine months later, 200 children were born, of whom no less than 60 were said to be the spitting image of Hercules. On Samothrace, they were initiated into the sacred mysteries. The Goddess of All Being mated with the Serpent Priapus to be delivered of a bull. Then the sacred nymphs leapt on them & scratched & bit until even Hercules passed out. Thereafter, the Argonauts glowed with "a faint nimbus of light." The Argonauts boldly pushed on thru the dread Hellespont & entered the Black Sea. To their dismay, Hercules deserted, summoned home to perform another of his mighty labors. "Holy Serpents!" he growled. "Tell me what this time?" The job—cleaning the Augean Stables—didn't take long. He stayed around afterwards with the Lydian high priestess—who in due time bore male triplets. In gratitude, she taught him to spin, tying up his hair in blue braids. He was crazy about it, admitting confidentially he'd always wanted to be a woman. The Argonauts went on without Hercules. Reaching Colchis, Aphrodite won the Fleece for them. She made her son Eros wait behind a pillar with his bow until handsome Jason strode into the King of Colchis' palace. Eros shot Medea thru the heart, & the smitten princess helped to get the Fleece from her father's temple. Mythology's most famous voyage had reached its goal, but Graves takes 150 more pages to wind things up.
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Also fantasy and historical fiction71%Similar descriptions17%Jean's Thoughts loved bothPersonalize your recommendations12%Weyward
Emilia Hart
2023 · 352 pages · 21 reviews
Others: Leaning negativeKATE, 2019 Kate flees London – abandoning everything – for Cumbria and Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great-aunt. There, a secret lurks in the bones of the house, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century. VIOLET, 1942 Violet is more interested in collecting insects and climbing trees than in becoming a proper young lady. Until a chain of shocking events changes her life forever. ALTHA, 1619 Altha is on trial for witchcraft, accused of killing a local man. Known for her uncanny connection with nature and animals, she is a threat that must be eliminated. But Weyward women belong to the wild. And they cannot be tamed… Weaving together the stories of three women across five centuries, Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.
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Also fantasy and historical fiction72%On 5+ of the same lists26%Similar descriptionsPersonalize your recommendations2%Written
Kathryn Moon
2018 · 224 pages · 2 reviews
Others: PositiveFrom her first step onto Canderfey University's campus Joanna Wick, the new librarian-in-training, is overwhelmed by the bustle of people and the wealth of magical information now available to her. Most overwhelming of all, she attracts the attention of three handsome professors. But Aiden King, Callum Pike, and Isaac Metclaffe are a coven waiting to find their fourth and complete their home and Joanna knows she can't be that witch. She's barely magical. When danger crawls onto the campus from the edges of the Hand Woods, and irrepressible feelings crawl into her heart, Joanna Wick must explore her own identity and abilities. Aiden has been waiting twenty years to complete his coven. Callum doesn't want to disappoint his covenmates by turning down another potential fourth. Isaac has found a home with them both and only wants the best for his lovers. Have they found what they've all been waiting for in the skittish new hire at the university library? Written by Kathryn Moon is a Reverse Harem Romance and the first book in The Librarian's Coven series.
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Loved it