I’ve never read The Odyssey (and have no plans to) I'm not sure I understand how this is called an ‘Odyssey retelling’ when the author claims she’s never read it.

I found the beginning very interesting, especially when Leto gets to the island and meets Melantho. After that it drags on and on until they leave the island with their plans to murder the prince, Mathias.

Overall it wasn’t bad. I’m coming to the realization that greek mythology books are just not for me. If you like Song of Achilles (which I did not), Circe etc you’ll maybe enjoy this one?

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperTeen.

Do you enjoy reading tragedies?

It depends on the story, but a sapphic love story about breaking an ancient curse drew me in. If you enjoy tragic romances and vicious plots for revenge, this one is a surefire hit!

If you're a really big Greek mythology fan though- and have actually read The Odyssey- I might advise skipping over this. Lies We Sing to the Sea is better viewed as it's own YA fantasy, rather than a retelling, at least that's how it came off to me.

But it was incredibly enjoyable, and I'm thankful for the chance to read it!

This book could have been so much shorter.
The only thing that was greek mythology inspired was mentioning names and events from greek mythology. The story itself did not feel like any sort of retelling to me. and the mentions of Mathias’ sister Hekate felt so random, especially the first time she was mentioned which was out of nowhere. I don’t think the writing was well done and I just couldn’t wait for it to be over. I didn’t connect with this book at all.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I've seen the controversy related to this author/book... that the author has never even read the Odyssey. I do find it really strange that you would want to write a book relating to something that you have minimal knowledge of, and that someone would  then essentially brag about that. It's just begging for people to pull you apart. However, I did want to read the story for myself to make my own judgement call. If you don't particularly care about mythology, then you may enjoy this book. The story itself is not the worst that I've read. I would say that the basics of the story are a bit... predicitible.... overused... not interesting.  The supernatural elements did add more to the story and it had the potential to have been a much better original story if the author hadn't tried an uninformed attempt to link it to mythology. There are so many things that one can talk about in terms of where the author shows her lack of mythological knowledge. For example, anyone familiar with Greek mythology knows that there were always Greek gods that didn't get along with each other for one petty reason or another and using humans to do it. Take the Trojan war... the war that Odysseus was coming home from. Some of the Greek gods sided with the Trojans and aided the Trojan warriors. There were other Greek gods who sided with and aided the Greeks. Greek gods with grudges against each other using humans to play out their disagreements. So taking that knowledge back to the book at hand... it irks me that although the curse on Ithaca is put in place by Poseidon, no other Greek god jumps in to side with the princes of Ithaca. In fact the only Greek god mentioned at all in the story is Poseidon, and he plays more of a background role in this story rather than an active one. It's very... un-Greek mythology like. Now I have read the Odyssey, more than once. I'll be the first to admit that I am very far from an expert and would never claim to be (I remember the basics but couldn't give you the finer details if put on the spot), but this story just is not what it claims to be... a "retelling" of the Odyssey.

Somewhat disappointed in the inconsistency with regards to Greek classics. I totally understand taking something and retelling it, but this was just not very well done. That aside, the story itself was heartbreaking and I overall enjoyed it.

Thank you, netgalley and Harper Teen for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love a book that takes history and makes it gay. I'm a simple girl. I do agree with some reviewers that a bit more care around a retelling outside of your own culture should have been taken. I had to knock back my own excitement with the story with that knowledge. It's incredibly unfortunate, because I really really enjoyed the book. But I have to say that it's a disservice to the beautiful writing and storytelling to ignore the origins of the myth you're retelling.

I would really encourage readers to take the time to read the book themselves, because even with its faults it is a gorgeous story

2.1/5

<i> Thank you HarperTeens and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review </i>

Mythology retellings have been popular in the book world for many years and this book has been marketed as a sapphic fantasy and compared to titles like <i> The Song of Achilles </i>. Unfortunately, this book falls flat on every expectation. All the characters in the book have very little depth and are utterly uninteresting, the only good thing about them is that they all have died or must die. The sapphic romance felt contrived, with other than a few longing glances the characters suddenly fall deeply in love. There was no chemistry on either side of the love triangle, and they felt quite dispassionate. In fact, there was no actual conflict in the love triangle, and the main character was wishy-washy and not devoted to anyone. There were scenes where the characters acted in a way totally out of character, only to further the plot. In fact, the actions and decisions the characters made were totally contradictory to their personality at times and made no sense. Finally, the writing was not enticing at all. It seems like every other word was italicized for emphasis which is poor writing. Also, the language was peppered with anachronisms, and dialogue felt out of place with the ancient Greek setting. I was disappointed by this book, as I really excited to read it, but this book read like an attempt to capitalize on a popular genre.

Setting aside the fact that this book was wrongly marketed, as it is absolutely not a retelling of the Odyssey in any shape or form, nor in substance or structure, I can say that this is an ancient Greek/Roman - inspired story (definitely not a retelling of anything, more like a spin off of the 12 hanged maidens, but even that just in the barest essence), though if it switched up names, settings and gods, it could have easily fit in just about anywhere in the world, fictional locations included.
My main issues were with the story, all fragmented in pieces that didn’t flow well together, with uneven pacing, juvenile dialogue, writing is simple with no distinct style.
Can’t say I connected with any of the characters, Leto having more of an arch and depth than the other two. For a good chunk of the plot Leto and Melantho had no solid plan as to what they were doing to commit… well the act that was supposed to end the curse and instead pulled the most long-winded pretense that of course ends up pulling them closer instead. They conduct no research, have zero idea on what they should know to pull this off and hope for the best. I lost any interest at the 75% mark, which should have been my cue to leave.
Some clarification I think we as readers deserve is in the matter that every reviewer has brought up about the author not having read the Odyssey. As someone who has read The Iliad and The Odyssey as well as numerous classical Greek plays and myths, studied them in school around the age of 10-12 y/o, I find it hard to believe that an author who attempts to write anything based on a specific epic poem claims the source material to be inaccessible and refuses to read it.
Now that I have read this book it’s obvious why the author had no need to read it, as they made no attempt to retell it. However in the author letter/preface portion of this book the author clearly states to have read the source material and several translations, so I would love to know whether that’s even true. Two contradicting statements can easily break a reader’s trust, and while I tried my best to be completely unbiased while reading this arc, the preface made me doubtful and while a subjectively “bad” book is one thing, a barefaced lie is something entirely different. And unfortunately that’s what will mark this author for me, along with her future work. And that for me, is irreversible.

This was a lot! Overall, I enjoyed it and appreciated the well-developed main character.
Pros:
• Two opposing forces with the same goal that keep getting in each other’s way
• Leto – Bi representation, a female MC you can’t help but empathize with and root for
• Tragic, bittersweet ending
Cons:
• Mathias – so whiny and immature!
• Melantho – I wanted to like this character, but there was too much showing not telling and key information withheld until the end that still didn’t make a lot of sense
• The assumption that the reader already knows who these minor characters from the Odyssey are – not Greek mythology newbie friendly
Thanks, NetGalley, for a chance to read and review!

I picked up this book hoping that the differences between it and the Song of Achilles and Circe would mean I liked it more, I think because I pushed through it, I disliked it even more.

"The story starts out promisingly enough with the introduction of our sacrifice and her trying to run from those who would hang her for Poseidon. Her introduction was great. Then comes the not so great, the part that all romance feel they have to do, which is be from all the love interest points of view, which might make sense, but the prince is unbearable.

So once the story really starts, the pacing is majorly off. The training montage takes up so many months in order for her to learn control of her power, and to create a time limit for her to fall in love with the prince, that it just left enough of time skips and not enough time s of really getting to know the characters that I got uninvested in the story, and then when the actual real story started, as I thought of it, the romance is too fast and once again, the short time meant that certain points were glossed over that should have gathered tension and thus at least surface interest, at least to get me angry. Like the first meeting with the prince's mother.

So I just ended up not enjoying it unfortunately.

This was easily one of my favorite books of 2023. The writing was absolutely exquisite and the characters were easy to love.

Leto is so funny and fierce. I immediately wanted to root for her. Melantho was wise and ancient but also so very human. Matthias was everything a heroic prince should be.

This ended perfectly and it yet again, another incredible Greek mythology retelling.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley for this ARC! Lies We Sing to the Sea is a story that stems from The Odyssey. Melantho was one of the 12 maids of Odysseus's wife Penelope. Leto is the daughter of the former royal oracle. Mathias is the crown prince of Ithaca, former home of Odysseus. Ithaca is plagued by a curse that requires 12 women be sacrificed to Poseidon each year. This book is plagued by a very slow pace. It was a good read and included a lot of queer representation (and very well written romance scenes) but I felt bored a lot of the book. In true Greek mythology fashion, the book doesn't necessarily end the way you think it will.

🏛Poignant tale: blighted love, lives cut short😪

Sarah Underwood's story of Grecian gods, fatal curses and doomed innocents was a good, entertaining though tragic tale and well-suited to a mid-teen readership. It's intriguing and presents a puzzle, with the pieces coming together bit by bit to reveal the true origin of, and solution to overcome, a deadly curse. It does not get overly descriptive on the details of the classical setting and keeps the focus on the lives of the three main characters who are seeking to end the centuries-old annual spring sacrifice of twelve Ithakan girls to placate a vengeful Poseidon. There's supernatural shape-shifting and magical taming of natural forces as an integral part of the tale.

Slowly the story reveals details of the original murdered maids of Queen Penelope's court and how Melantho is connected to them. Burgeoning friendship and romance competes with palace intrigue and mortal danger. I thought one of the strongest threads in the narrative was its revelation that none of the principal characters is totally good or blameless despite their fine intentions and best efforts to stop the sacrificial killings.

The ending was really moving and Leto's emotional conflict about who she loved and most wanted to live kept me guessing about where her feelings would take her when the critical decisions had to be made. Their enduring love for family and friends cut down in the senseless tragedy of the thing also had me emotionally sympathizing with the three main characters and even, at times, with the Queen.

The romantic content, both FF and MF, has some heat (kissing, removal of clothes) but is described mostly in vague euphemisms and not explicit. Sexual violence is mentioned but not in a detailed way.

This is not an attempted modernization or retelling of Homer's Odyssey. It uses a few pieces of Homer's tale but builds its own world around orphaned, young, not-so-gifted oracle Leto, mysterious Melantho who works her magic with water and young Ithakan Prince Mathias. I thought Underwood succeeded in creating a compelling novel set in the mythical world of Ancient Greece. I enjoyed her storytelling and think teens would too.

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

I am DNFing at 56% because I do not have any emotional investment in this book and would like to move on with my reading life.

People can be mad about this not actually being an Odyssey retelling, but I can separate that from my reading and this is simply just...terrible writing. I do not care about Leto. I do not care about the Sapphic romance because there's a forced hetero line as well for the sake of a shoddy "love triangle" and moral dilemma. I know there's a loose goal to this book, but the author seems unable to settle on what it is. And I honestly don't care enough to slog through the remainder of this book to find out. This book is not for me, but maybe a middle schooler post-Percy Jackson would love it.

3.5

The best way that I can summarize my feelings about this book is that there was potential. Potential in the plot idea, in the retelling, and in the characters themselves.

For the most part, I enjoyed Melantho and Leto’s characters, I thought they were respectively charmingly tragic and stubbornly, emotionally endearing and I found that they really complemented each other. I enjoyed reading about their relationship and the love triangle as well but it all felt rushed at times. I really wish we saw the growth of romantic feelings more clearly between Melantho and Leto — it just felt like on one page it was clear they were both into each other, and there was no real lead-up to it (this was also reflected in the relationship between Leto and Mathias (also the character of Mathias is a whole other issue)). Even though people are complaining about the pacing, I kind of wish it was longer or that the timeline of the sequence of the main events happened over longer than just 10 days.

The prose itself has moments where it really shines but at other times it reads more like a desperate attempt to capture and mimic the tragic and lyrical voice that greek tragedy and mythology usually begets. The prose especially falls short during moments where it folds itself into the repetition of certain phrases and words used, which are clear indicators of the author searching up synonyms (see: papyrus and parchment). What little imagery has been created in this Ancient Greek setting falls away as the reader is painfully reminded of the modernity of their lives and the character's lives.

In line with this, I can’t help but think of the author’s previous controversies surrounding whether she has or hasn’t read the source material, because you can frequently see where the author's ignorance and lack of familiarity with and of Ancient Greek mythology and culture shines through the (light) purply prose. As a result, you have this papery imitation of a setting that does no real justice to the original myth the story is rooted in. I really wish the author spend more time establishing the small details and intricacies of the setting and of the everyday lives of Ancient Greek life (which could in turn provide a semblance of authenticity and subsequently could do the original source justice). Without this setting, the reader is left to invest their time and energy into the characters but because of a lack of growth and chemistry between them, the reader is left with the feeling that the read was almost satisfying.

While the author shows a clear appreciation for the subject matter, her lack of knowledge and expertise with the topic results in a retelling rooted in creative liberties with no real explored justification for such interpretations made. If you are familiar with the style of Greek tragedies and mythologies, there are a lot of times when you will have to suspend your disbelief regarding certain interesting plot devices.
There is a lot of stumbling by the middle of the book and by the last third the plot starts to fray at the edges. I kept expecting a revelation surrounding certain plot points but when we did get one it was wholly illogical.

However, overall, these disappointments aside, I did enjoy the romance and the plot, and the ending. I’m glad that the author didn’t shy away from the ending that she chose and it was this ending that really rang the truest of what typically is entailed within a Greek tragedy. I also see a lot of potential within the writing style and within the storytelling of the author and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing her grow in her future works.

TLDR: this book could’ve been so much more.

Thank you to net galley for the arc of this book
Lies We Sing to the Sea is good read on its own however the it falls short as a retelling of the Odyssey; Sarah Underwood has admitted to writing the first draft prior to reading to the Odyssey. Underwoods has the ability to tell a story and I would love to see her write something that fulfills the promise of the novel. The main reason that many readers are going to flock to this book is because of the sapphic romance which also falls short feeling as if the romance was a copy past synopsis of Madeline Miller's "the song of Achilles" which out the care and detail Miller put into her own writing. Which is such a disappointment as a reader who requested this book because of concept of a Sapphic romance using greek mythology. Over all "Lies We Sing to the Sea" fell short and felt like a patch work of novel that did not comprehend the source material with a romance that fell flat.

It came to my attention that the author of this book has not thoroughly familiarized herself with the 'The Odyssey'. I believe that to be largely ignorant of the cited source material, especially in the context of retelling another culture's mythology, is unethical and unacceptable. I unfortunately won't be finishing this considering that.

It was an interesting retelling!

Lies We Sing to the Sea is a sapphic fantasy novel which is inspired by Greek mythology, where twelve girls from the kingdom of Ithaca are hanged as a gift to Poseidon.

Leto is one of the twelve fated to be put to death without being given a choice. However, when she awoke from the sea, she meets a girl named Melantho who tells her that killing the prince will be the end of many deaths of future girls. From then on, the plot unfolds and let's say that if you are familiar with greek mythology, you would have an idea of how this will end.

Of course, there is also the romance that involves the characters along with lgbt representation.

Personally, I do not enjoy tragic endings but yet here I am, reading books inspired by Greek mythology, but I find them intriguing. I am aware of the discussions going about this book, but I wanted to give this a try and have my own opinion on the book alone!

Overall, this was a good read.

I’m a sucker for a Greek retellings and this one was a great read. LGBTQ representation, badass heroine, and lovely writing. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy!

I'm always up for something that is tied to mythology in some way, so I was excited to pick this one up. While I enjoyed the premise and overall story, I found myself wanting a little more with this one. There were definitely a lot of great aspects to the way this story was told, perhaps being a look at the events and characters of The Odyssey through a different lens, but there were also aspects of it that just didn't quite get there for me.

The writing style is beautiful and flows really well, that was something I especially enjoyed with the book as a whole and kept me engaged. While the characters were really interesting on one level, I did feel like they could have been built out a bit more. At times it felt like they didn't have depth so they were hard to really root for. All in all an interesting take on the story that I did enjoy overall.