Jennifer Saint

A mesmerizing debut novel for fans of Madeline Miller's Circe Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice every year. When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. But will Ariadne’s decision ensure her happy ending? And what of Phaedra, the beloved little sister she leaves behind? Hypnotic, propulsive, and utterly transporting, Ariadne forges a new epic, outside the traditional narratives of heroism and glory that leave no room for women.

Ariadne

Nina

I would not let a man who knew the value of nothing make me doubt the value of myself.

What I did not know was that I had hit upon a truth of womanhood: however blameless a life we led, the passions and the greed of men could bring us to ruin, and there was nothing we could do.

Savannah

The price we paid for the resentment, the lust, and the greed of arrogant men was our pain, shining and bright like the blade of a newly honed knife.

Ausrine Blazyte

I would not let a man who knew the value of nothing make me doubt the value of myself. 

The gods do not know love because they cannot imagine an end to anything they enjoy. Their passions do not burn brightly as a mortal's passions do, because they can have whatever they desire for the rest of eternity. How could they cherish or treasure anything? Nothing to themn is more than a passing amusement and when they have done with it, there will be another and another and another, until the end of time itself. Their heroes do not know love because they only value what they can measure - the mountains they make of their enemies' bones, the vast piles of treasure they win and the immortal verses are sung in their name. They see only fame and are blind to the rewards that only human life can offer, which they simply toss aside like trash. They are all fools.

I know that human life shines more brightly because it is but a shimmering candle against an eternity of darkness and it can be extinguished with the faintest breeze.

He kissed me then. It was a bolt of lightning, a shattering of the sky, a shaking of the earth and everything that stood upon it. And when he drew away and held my face between his hands and fixed me with that steady gaze and the world grew still once more, I knew that despite the chaos and confusion left in its wake, my path was clear. 

Ruby Emmeline Fisher

What I did not know was that I had hit upona truth of womanhood: however blameless a life we led, the passions and the greed of men could bring us to ruin, and there was nothing we could do.

But when I thought of Scylla, I thought of the foolish and all-too- human girl, gasping for breath amid the froth of waves churning in the wake of my father's boat. I saw her weighed down in the tumultuous water not just by the iron chains in which my father had bound her but also by the terrible truth that she had sacrificed everything she knew for a love as ephemeral and transient as the rainbows that gimmered through the sea spray.

Syrina Akbari

The golden statue of a child fell back to the golden ground, the metallic dang echoing through the suddenly silent air" Dionysus paused, taking in the full extent of my appalled expression. "And as her father wept, the salty tears solidified on his cheeks like glinting jewels."

This is such a powerful quote that I adore and cherish. Everytime I read it I can feel it in my every fiber of my being and it truly is a shame that I've never heard anyone talk about it.

Vi<3

I would be Medusa, if it came to it, I resolved. If the gods held me accountable one day for the sins of someone else, if they came for me to punish a man's actions, I would not hide away like Pasiphae. I would wear that coronet of snakes and the world would shrink from me instead.

Madison Martin

I would not let a man who knew the value of nothing, make me doubt the value of myself

We might only have one mortal lifetime, but it will belong to us and no one else

A mesmerizing debut novel for fans of Madeline Miller's Circe. Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice. When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. But will Ariadne’s decision ensure her happy ending? And what of Phaedra, the beloved younger sister she leaves behind? Hypnotic, propulsive, and utterly transporting, Jennifer Saint's Ariadne forges a new epic, one that puts the forgotten women of Greek mythology back at the heart of the story, as they strive for a better world.

A Novel

taylor miles hopkins

My tears had stilled now and I listened intently. I only knew Medusa as a monster. I had not thought she had ever been anything else. The stories of Perseus did not allow for a Medusa with a story of her own.

Rina

Bees are beloved by all the gods. It was bees who fed the infant Zeus on honey in his hidden cave whilst he grew strong enough to overthrow the mighty Titans. Bees produce the honey that Dionysus mixes with his wine to sweeten it and make it irresistible. 

The Mesmerising Sunday Times Bestselling Retelling of Ancient Greek Myth

Lilly 

I was not Minos' captive daughter; I was not Cinyras' trade for copper; nor was I Theseus' diversion between heroic feats of glory. Somehow, I had survived them all and here I was, free of them at last.

“Perhaps Artemis sent a madness upon us all“; he answered stiffly. I tried to twist my hands free of his. “Did Artemis send a madness when you gave me directions to the wrong cove?“ He was startled. Unprepared. Had he expected me to be meek, overwhelmed, so happy to be here with him that I would not think to question him?

"[…] But in the morning, when he [Theseus] went to wake her [Ariadne], he found her cold, coiled in the grip of the mighty snake whose venom had killed her. He battled the immense creature - so big, he said, he knew it must have been sent by a god - and he prevailed. […]“ 

I was not afraid - or not so much. Acceptance stole its way through my veins, filling my body with the weight of understanding. I had walked away from Crete, freely and pur- posefully, in the knowledge that I could never return. No more children would make that fearful voyage from Athens, quaking at the prospect of being devoured in the dark. Perhaps my life was a fair price to pay.

Tija

 I had learned enough to know that a god in pain is dangerous.

elizabeth

Ariadne is a book that was remarkably engrossing, then remarkably disappointing. 

I absolutely loved the first half of this book. First and foremost, it was gorgeous. The world pulled me in. I was excited to enter this world it every time I picked it up. I feel so strongly about these things that I'm giving three stars despite some pretty important weaknesses.

When what I thought would be the climax happened in the first third of the book, I was excited to see where the plot would turn. But it doesn't really turn in any one direction. Instead, there's a casual, kind of disordered unraveling of character development and conflict that doesn't do justice to the characters that Saint wrote in the first half. The characters simply don't do enough to become the fully realized, saturated characters that the beginning set them up to be. And by the final pages where they are doing something, it's difficult to fully understand their "why."

Miscellaneous comments:
- Jennifer Saint can (and should) give up any form of the verb "dandle." 
- I felt that there could have been more oomph and more closure to Ariadne's relationship with the minotaur. She seems to see more than his monstrosity, but this never really comes to the fore of the plot or her development. 
- I'm begging publishers to stop calling their books "feminist" as though books have the agency to advocate feminism simply because they contain loosely relevant "girl power" and "uteruses before duderuses" sentiments.

Hanna Rybchynska

This was so sad and beautiful... Loved it so much.
Definetly one of my favourites books of 2023!

A mesmerising retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Perfect for fans of CIRCE, A SONG OF ACHILLES, and THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS. As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur - Minos's greatest shame and Ariadne's brother - demands blood every year. When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods - drawing their attention can cost you everything. In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's ambition? Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.

Teresa Bonifácio

Loved it!!! This retelling of Ariadne story is amazing. And I loved that we got to know the story of her sister told by her. 
The way women’s fate is left to the hands of men that only want power and that everyone worships them really makes me mad. The story of these women, and all of other just like them, could be so different if they had to power to change things how they wanted.

Sumaiya 

Marcy Pursell 

Prior to listening to the audiobook, I was unfamiliar with Ariadne's story in mythology. Overall, I was interested to learn about her and her life, angry on her behalf at times, and yet, by the end, had lost interest.

Beautifully and thoughtfully written but good lord that was bleak. There was pretty much zero hope for the victim characters and zero redemption for the perpetrator characters. Whereas Song of Achilles was tragic in a way that was beautiful and insightful about the human experience this was tragic in a way that was just depressing and I’m not sure what the point was. 

Jessica Gagliardi

ARIADNE.

Julie Burszan 

Beautifully written. I learned so much about Ariadne and Phaedra. Not what I expected, in the absolute best way.

Macy Johnson

UGH THE STYLE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL BUT THE BOOK ITSELF KINDA DESTROYED ME

Greek myths, gang. Who knew they didn't always (ever?) end well?

This was soooo interesting, so I can't regret reading it, but it was v gritty and dark? Tragic? Devastating? But if you know that going in, it's better. I mean, I assumed, so I'm okay, but also, still very much not OK. 

But GAH HER WRITING STYLE. PURE GOSSAMER.

I cannot with this one.

Geoffrey Froggatt

I read this book as it was pitched to me as a book for fans of Circe by Madeline Miller. I love Greek mythology retellings but I anticipated that this book would be slow-paced like Circe was. This was not the case for Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. This book was fast-paced and did a good job at reeducating the reader on Ariadne and The Minotaur’s mythology. I wish this book had just been from Ariadne’s perspective but her sister’s POV also added much to Ariadne’s story. The brief mention of Medusa’s story has increased my hunger for a Medusa retelling. While it may not be fair to compare this to Madeline Miller’s writing, I do feel like Jennifer Saint’s prose is overshadowed by comparisons to Madeline Miller’s. The prose was not as flowery as the writing in Circe. While I was drawn in by the story from beginning to end, I do feel like the prose could have been stronger and more could have been said at each plot point. I do feel like we should have spent more time in the Labyrinth and with The Minotaur. Overall, it was an enjoyable book and reignited my love for Greek mythology retellings.

Fabulous, fun and moving story from Saint. This one has a quality to it that I don't often see in Greek retellings — where the story feels new and immersive rather than a bland and monotone retelling with multiple vague and pretentious one-liners. 

Everything moved me and no real portion bored me other than the tiring long dialogue sequences. But here in Ariadne, I really felt for every character and thought that this was a triumph of a novel. I loved it!

Holly

Fabulous, fun and moving story from Saint. This one has a quality to it that I don't often see in Greek retellings — where the story feels new and immersive rather than a bland and monotone retelling with multiple vague and pretentious one-liners. 

Everything moved me and no real portion bored me other than the tiring long dialogue sequences. But here in Ariadne, I really felt for every character and thought that this was a triumph of a novel. I loved it!

Mia Caven

this book pissed me off to new levels. It wasn’t bad, or badly written, and it was actually a great book. But what annoyed me was the consistent miscommunication and things that didn’t need to happen. Of course it was a retelling and as a Greek person I loved it but the sadness itself was not for me it is not a happy book lol

anne caroline

i love everything about Ariadne, I love the characters and the way they are described, I love the writing that is so beautiful and rich yet easily readable, I love the plot of the story itself and its pace and I love the relationships between the characters.

Straight bummer. I don't need any more confirmation of the unfairness of the old greek gods but although the main character is continually confronted with this she never truly grows from it. Ariadne gets older but she never truly changes as a character. 

Maria Tapia

Lara Engle

I'm really into these modern retellings of mythology, especially the ones focused on women. When I read Circe earlier this year, I thought, "I'd really like to hear more about Ariadne." And then this book appeared! It retains the episodic feel of Greek myth, but intertwines stories from both Ariadne and her sister Phaedra. Like Circe, Ariadne delves into the deeper thoughts and feelings of characters long known on a surface level, but it never feels overly dramatic or maudlin. It makes these characters from myth feel like real people in a way that makes the reader empathize and mourn along with them.

I was disappointed by Ariadne. I don't think Saint brought any new insight into her retellings. At the beginning of the novel, a young Ariadne reflects that in all the stories she knows, when a men seduces or violates a woman, it's always the woman who's punished by the gods. And that's basically it: the must insightful thing this book had to offer. And this idea and only this idea will be repeated throughout the novel both before and after every event that Saint chooses to retell. And these are very straightforward and uncreative retelling of these myths. The worst are the mini stories within the story where a character, Theseus say, will go "let me tell you about how I became prince of Athens" and then you're subjected to an entire chapter presenting a basic, uncritical summary of the stories you already know.

The events also felt disjointed because Saint constrained herself into building the plot out of a collection of myths featuring these characters. But  the time gaps between these tales weren't managed all that well. I'm Greek mythology, the same characters are often depicted across different myths and different versions of those myths. Unifying these changes to her characters would certainly be challenging, and the changes in personality and outlook for the characters were awkwardly rendered and unconvincing here. 

The events are also so constrained by the mythology that they're based on, and not just for plot, but for motivation and characterization. Frankly, I consider this cowardly. I'll give spoilers for the story of phaedra and hippolytus as an example.  The only "reinterpretation" that Saint brings is that Ariadne was physically in Athens at the time, but then she's off literally putting her baby down for a nap at the time that anything happens, leaving the exact traditional incident intact. Do Ariadne or Phaedra have any original thoughts or reactions to bring to the story. No, the same boring, expected, one note tragedy "wow phaedra went crazy. Oh the tragedy, the irony. I guess that's what she gets for having unnatural urges like her mother. But I'm her sister, so I feel bad for her :("

You're not making a feminist reinterpretation simply by showing the perspective of female characters. Not if they replicate the same thoughts and assumptions that have always been applied to these tales

Boothby

I was disappointed by Ariadne. I don't think Saint brought any new insight into her retellings. At the beginning of the novel, a young Ariadne reflects that in all the stories she knows, when a men seduces or violates a woman, it's always the woman who's punished by the gods. And that's basically it: the must insightful thing this book had to offer. And this idea and only this idea will be repeated throughout the novel both before and after every event that Saint chooses to retell. And these are very straightforward and uncreative retelling of these myths. The worst are the mini stories within the story where a character, Theseus say, will go "let me tell you about how I became prince of Athens" and then you're subjected to an entire chapter presenting a basic, uncritical summary of the stories you already know.

The events also felt disjointed because Saint constrained herself into building the plot out of a collection of myths featuring these characters. But  the time gaps between these tales weren't managed all that well. I'm Greek mythology, the same characters are often depicted across different myths and different versions of those myths. Unifying these changes to her characters would certainly be challenging, and the changes in personality and outlook for the characters were awkwardly rendered and unconvincing here. 

The events are also so constrained by the mythology that they're based on, and not just for plot, but for motivation and characterization. Frankly, I consider this cowardly. I'll give spoilers for the story of phaedra and hippolytus as an example.  The only "reinterpretation" that Saint brings is that Ariadne was physically in Athens at the time, but then she's off literally putting her baby down for a nap at the time that anything happens, leaving the exact traditional incident intact. Do Ariadne or Phaedra have any original thoughts or reactions to bring to the story. No, the same boring, expected, one note tragedy "wow phaedra went crazy. Oh the tragedy, the irony. I guess that's what she gets for having unnatural urges like her mother. But I'm her sister, so I feel bad for her :("

You're not making a feminist reinterpretation simply by showing the perspective of female characters. Not if they replicate the same thoughts and assumptions that have always been applied to these tales

A good retelling of the story. It wasn't really thrilling but only because I already knew the myth behind it. The book combines more stories in one so it seems a but scrambled but all in all it was a good retelling and a interesting approach on from the perspective of Ariadne with a mix of feminism and myth.

Samira 

manu

Beatrice

I love retellings of Greek myths, so when I heard that Ariadne was going to be the protagonist of one, I was beyond excited. Ariadne is definitely one of the many, many women in Greek mythology to be sidelined, used and discarded and, ultimately, forgotten. Following in the footsteps of books like Circeand The Silence of the Girls, Ariadne seeks to rebalance the story, placing the titular princess at the centre of its narration.

In fact, the book follows two women: Ariadne and her sister Phaedra, who has so far been snubbed even more than her more famous sister. I was extremely unfamiliar with her character even in the original myth, and while I could vaguely recall having heard the name before, I would have struggled to say anything more than that about her. Rediscovering these two characters was really great, and the book does a good job of placing them front and centre of the narration - definitely more than The Silence of the Girls did with Briseis. Nonetheless, I felt that something was still missing and Ariadne somehow failed to reach its true potential as a great retelling. 

Most of it, for me, fell down to the narration. There is A LOT of telling in this book, as both Ariadne and Phaedra recount what happened to them as if talking directly to the reader. While this gives us great insight into their thoughts and feelings - which are very well depicted - it does make for a very slow pace and falls quite flat in places where more could certainly have been shown. There is also a fair bit of info-dumping, as different characters share various other Greek myths: Theseus in particular is guilty of an extremely long passage doing exactly that.

What the book does a great job of, though, is sharing the pain and suffering of women who are constantly pawns in the games of gods and men: used, abused, punished and toyed with by both. Whether they are queens or common women ultimately doesn't matter, as they are all equally victims of an unjust, misogynist society. There are a lot of secondary themes running just under the surface, and I particularly enjoyed the reflections on motherhood and the different experiences of the characters.

Ultimately, I did enjoy Ariadne and, even though it never quite reached the peaks of Circe, it is a solid retelling that actually gives women a voice and calls out gods, heroes and common men alike for the way they treat the women around them. It would appeal to lovers of Greek myth and retellings, especially those who don't mind a slower pace and very limited action.

CW: sexual violence, death, physical violence, child death, animal death, misogyny, suicide.

For this and more reviews, visit Book for Thought.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

I love a good mythology retelling and this one was well written. I love how it was greek myths from the women’s pov and it brings another perspective to well- known stories

In Ancient Greek class, we translated the story of Theseus, briefly touching upon the subject where Ariadne helped Theseus kill the Minotaur and how she was left on Naxos and married Dionysus. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint tells this story completely from Ariadne's point of view, sometimes through her sister, Phaedra, which gives it a new turn. 

I loved how Ariadne had love for her brother, the Minotaur, but still felt the need to save the Athenians. I also really liked Phaedra's character and how she had to deal with Theseus after everything that happened on Crete. 

The ending was a bit anticlimatic to me, it just felt very rushed to me when every other part of the book was so detailed in the feelings it portrayed. 

If you liked this book, I recommend: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller; Heroes by Stephen Fry. 

Laura

In Ancient Greek class, we translated the story of Theseus, briefly touching upon the subject where Ariadne helped Theseus kill the Minotaur and how she was left on Naxos and married Dionysus. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint tells this story completely from Ariadne's point of view, sometimes through her sister, Phaedra, which gives it a new turn. 

I loved how Ariadne had love for her brother, the Minotaur, but still felt the need to save the Athenians. I also really liked Phaedra's character and how she had to deal with Theseus after everything that happened on Crete. 

The ending was a bit anticlimatic to me, it just felt very rushed to me when every other part of the book was so detailed in the feelings it portrayed. 

If you liked this book, I recommend: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller; Heroes by Stephen Fry. 

Vilandra

I was liking this book alright most of the way through. It was a bit slow - too much description and not enough happening, but okay. But by the end it became a “men are terrible” book that fell flat.

Very thought provoking. The book deals with the pov of women in Greek mythology. Especially them having to suffer under men‘s actions. It tells Ariadnes myth, but from her perspective since usually she is only mentioned briefly for helping Theseus.

But tbh, you probably have to like and know something about Greek mythology to enjoy the book, since there are some „side quests“ of different myths, that are mentioned. For example, Ariadne mentions Medusa‘s tale, but to understand the impact that it has (especially for the feminist tone), you should have heard of her story before. 

The feminist tone is rather subtle, not as prominent as it could be, if you ask me. It either works via the stories of women in Greek mythology that she mentions, as prior mentioned, or via thoughts that Ariadne has or unfair things that happen to her or other women in the story.

I still enjoyed reading it, since I‘m a sucker for feminist greek mythology retellings. It is a good read, but there are a few things that could be better.

Hannah 

Very thought provoking. The book deals with the pov of women in Greek mythology. Especially them having to suffer under men‘s actions. It tells Ariadnes myth, but from her perspective since usually she is only mentioned briefly for helping Theseus.

But tbh, you probably have to like and know something about Greek mythology to enjoy the book, since there are some „side quests“ of different myths, that are mentioned. For example, Ariadne mentions Medusa‘s tale, but to understand the impact that it has (especially for the feminist tone), you should have heard of her story before. 
The feminist tone is rather subtle, not as prominent as it could be, if you ask me. It either works via the stories of women in Greek mythology that she mentions, as prior mentioned, or via thoughts that Ariadne has or unfair things that happen to her or other women in the story.

I still enjoyed reading it, since I‘m a sucker for feminist greek mythology retellings. It is a good read, but there are a few things that could be better.
Also, I loved the writing style.

Julie G

courtney cameron

** spoiler alert **
           i’m going to be honest, it confused me at first. it didn’t draw me in, i had no immediate reaction to it. i think it’s partly because i’m not used to the style of writing and it’s also the first greek retelling i’ve ever read.

i hated ariadne, she was a fool and oblivious and pathetic. and then i realised that that was the point, it was her perspective and it was very tunnelled. i was meant to think only what she thought and see only what she saw, even if i was less oblivious about other characters than she. i realised this when she met dionysus, she was distrusting and doubtful, the same as i was because of the way theseus treated her and that was the point, that i felt why she felt even if i could see more than her. we could never see dionysus’ true intentions because i we didn’t get his perspective and so even as she began to trust him, i didn’t. i didn’t want to trust him because it seemed to good to be true, which was true at the end but still. 

overall i enjoyed the story, it was good and interesting to learn about this greek story, and i understand the need for specific perspectives, however it’s definitely not one of my favourites.

Ariadne

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