Lies We Sing to the Sea is a YA fantasy that takes The Odyssey and Greek mythology as a jumping-off point to tell a new tale about love and sacrifice. Centuries after the events of The Odyssey, all is not well on the island of Ithaca. Every year, the community sacrifices twelve “marked girls,” one for each of the 12 maids of Queen Penelope hanged after the return of Odysseus, to placate the god Poseidon. But still the community suffers, with parts of the island uninhabitable, bad harvests, and a dysfunctional royal family. Leto, the daughter of the island’s vanished oracle, is one of this year’s girls. But what happens after she goes to meet her death on the beach reveals a world of magic, secrets, monsters, and a possible escape for the girls of Ithaca . . . and Leto herself.

Likes: The budding romance between Leto and a mysterious woman named Melantho is the lifeblood of the book. Leto and Melantho are beautifully developed, with strong backstories. There are several romance tropes at play here (a major love triangle, enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers); I don’t read much romance, but I felt they worked well in the context of the book’s plot. The magical powers and settings are fresh, carefully thought out, and bring a lovely touch of fantasy to an otherwise pretty realistic book grounded in historical details. The ending kept me reading up through the last page. Myths don’t tend to have happy endings for all the characters, and this book stayed true to the source material in that regard.

Dislikes: the middle of the book, which takes place at the Ithacan palace, felt slow to me. There’s a “will they or won’t they” romance that dragged a bit. I also felt there were a few minor storylines and scenes that were unnecessary, especially around the characters of Alexios and Olympia. But overall, I really enjoyed the book.

FYI: murder, violence, sexual assault, suicide, death of a parent, death of a sibling, death of a child, death of a loved one.

"We are more than out actions. We are the way we love others and the way they love us back."

I loved this book. It's the first five star net galley book I've read this year so far. To those thinking this is a retelling of the Odyssey it is not. It's an adaptation of one part of the story and I absolutely loved it. The story revolves around three central characters each with a different part to play. You have Matthias; future king of Ithaca, Leto; a girl destined for the noose, and Melantho; a mysterious girl bound to Poseidon.

Years ago a curse was placed on the daughters of Ithaca and each year since then 12 girls must die by the noose and be cast into the sea. But not this year. This year if Leto and Melantho succeed, only the prince must die, and the curse can finally be broken. But killing a prince is much more than they both bargained for as this tale weaves a story of both love and loss in the best ways.

Each characters brings something unique to the table and I loved the way it was woven together. You would think that the prince is the antagonist in this or even Melantho but they are not. Both are complex and different and you find yourself sympathizing with both of them. And struggling with the idea that you have to root for someone but you absolutely do not want to do that. Because for one to succeed the other must fail and it leaves Leto stuck between two impossible choices.

Definitely a great first novel for the author and I loved all there elements presented her. The ending was amazing and not what I expected at all. Please give it a shot, you won't regret it!

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood was atmospheric and lyrical. The cover is absolutely gorgeous. I can’t wait to have a physical copy! Thank you once again NetGalley for giving me this amazing opportunity to receive an early copy. Can’t wait to share it with my high schoolers.

You know a book you would have loved as a kid? This is one of those books. A Bisexual girl surrounded by tragedy, and bent on vengeance, falling in love with the woman and the man who guide her to seize her own power in her life.
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Unfortunately , that’s where my praise ends. The very fake feeling Greek historical setting on Ithaca is I think the source of this story’s downfall. I think if the author would have made it entirely a fantastical setting and removed it from such ‘restraints’ would have challenged the author to develop her characters and story more. The characters are interesting but their motivations are so shallow and forced - as if they are puppets jammed in to tell a story with no depth - especially poor Matthias - what an absolute straw man of a character. The storytelling as it’s bland at its best bits and cringe at its worst bits. Some younger YA readers who have not been exposed to more will eat this up, I know I would have, but where I am now - I've just seen characters and world building done so much better that this just doesn’t even get up to par. Two stars for the story itself, but I’ll add on an extra star because younger me would have loved this story for the representation alone.
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Hisses & Kisses 🐍
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*I received an eARC from HarperCollins Canada. All opinions are my own*

After a lot of consideration I will not be giving a review for this book. It has come to my attention of what the author has said about her research, the lack of research, on Greek mythology and the things she has said about Greek mythology itself. There were a lot of takes and opinions I don’t agree with. The things that were said make the book less enjoyable and doesn’t allow me to give an unbiased review for the book. I hope next time the author does proper research for a book if she decides to do a loose retelling off of a culture.

I enjoyed this book. I don’t like seeing that the author didn’t read the full myth before coming up with her own version of this story. If I ignore that aspect the book itself is enjoyable. I think that you have some really strong characters. The story is fast paced once you get about thirty percent through the book. Leto is just so fun to read. I loved the fact that she didn’t lose the spark of who she was even though she was suppose to be faking to be a princess. I also enjoyed seeing her realize that love can mean different things with different people.
Note to the author. Please Sarah in the future if you are going to undertake writing an adaptation of a myth or legend from another culture, respect that culture and at least finish doing the research. I know that we can come upon characters that just write their own stories in our heads, but at least do the past justice and honor what they have passed down to us. This doesn’t mean that you can’t do your own spin on a story. It just means respect those that came before. Make sure your own retelling lines up for the most part with what they gave us. Or even better don’t tell others that you didn’t even finish reading the story, and just made up your own.
Thank you to Harper Collins Children’s Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Here are some points if interest:
• YA
• inspired by Greek mythology
• Bisexual rep
• love triangle
• multi-pov

The writing is well done and the story opens strong. The book could have been shorter as I started to lose interest in the plot as I went along. Some of the multi-povs didn't feel cohesive and pulled me from the story. I'm not personally a fan of love triangles, either. I'm a sucker for a forbidden library so the book got me there.

This is a strong debit for sure.

In most of the stories of greek mythology the maids are background characters, but here they’re the main characters. There is shock and awe, there is shape shifting, and don’t forget greek gods being finicky bastards. To be both cursed and the only hope to break said curse is a heavy challenge, one that can bond or break you beyond measure…

Thank you NetGalley, and HarperCollins Children's Books for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

Speaking of honest reviews: wow...just wow and not in a good way. My favorite part of this book was the ending because it meant I could finally stop reading it. It would have been a DNF if I had not received the arc.

I am going to ignore all the drama with the interview with Sarah Underwood floating around. More than enough people have dug that thing up and spilled the tea. I read the article. This is one of those moment when I am going to do my best to separate the work from the author. My issue isn't so much that she hasn't read the Odyssey. It really comes down to her attitude about the whole writing process. I personally love it when author's just Google stuff, and generally act like they don't care about their work at all. It honestly makes me think twice when tempted to buy a $25 book because the cover is pretty.

In Ithaca, twelve young maidens are sacrificed each spring to appease Poseidon who has cursed the island for the actions of Queen Penelope's twelve maids. If Ithaca doesn't offer up the daughters chosen by Poseidon, he ravages the land and takes what is his. In "Lies We Sing to the Sea," Leto is one of the chosen maidens. She is the orphan daughter of the last Oracle, full of life and spirit, and she fought for her life until the very end. She fought so hard to save her own life, that she catches the eye of Prince Mathias, who spends the next year being haunted by her eyes those final moments. Only, Leto comes back to life on the island Pandou where she learns from Milantho (the immortal guardian of the island and the one who prepares the twelve for burial), that Poseidon chose twelve to break the curse. Only, to break the curse and save the many who will continue to die each year, the chosen one must kill the Prince of Ithaca. Can Leto escape the island or will her attachment to Milantho keep her from breaking the curse?

If you are expecting a re-telling of the Odyssey, you will be disappointed. It doesn't matter that the author never read the source material, because the events of the Odyssey are barely half a page. "Lies We Sing to the Sea," takes place hundreds of years after the original epic. It is important, yes, but it is hardly necessary to be a scholar to write what happens next.

If you are expecting a story with Greek aesthetics, you will probably be disappointed. This book could have taken place on any island with random temples and palaces. There was nothing in the setting that made me think "ancient Greece." In addition to a nondescript setting, the overall feel of the book was very modern. Change a couple names and set it in the future, and this could be an interesting, less controversial fantasy story.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this sapphic love story, but I wasn't expecting a wishy-washy love triangle, where Leto is more of a "love the one you're with" type of gal. When she's with Milantho, they are tangled up in the sheets, and plotting the murder of the prince. When Leto is with Mathias, they are stealing kisses and she's keeping their stolen moments a secret from Milantho. Milantho gets jealous more than once. It is all very tedious and is probably the most YA thing about this book. The relationships are very immature, fickle, and tedious. On that note, this book has more than one instance of sexual content. Sure it's mostly fade to black, but probably best suited for the older age range of YA.

Trigger Warnings: Contains parental death, rape, murder, hangings, and suicide.

Overall, I am giving this a 2-star rating.

3.5*

Lies We Sing to the Sea was quite an interesting read with pros and cons. I feel as though the author could have done more justice to the myth and lore she was inspired by but the story produced was entertaining and ultimately beautifully tragic. The book asks the readers to acknowledge the past and to learn, I do hope the author will do the same with the reviews provided. The story of Leto, Melanthos, and Mathias is one of heartache and sorrow; it is one of the things we lose when we try to right the wrongs of the world, even if we were not the ones who created them. Though the sea washes clean the shore, the echoes of what used to be sometimes still show through and the sacrifices of the original 12 or the hundreds there after, will not be in vain.

This the writing style wasn't for me. The writing felt emotional detached, especially from the characters. This is problematic because for this story to work, the reader needs to feel something, either positively or negatively, for Mathias at minimum, but I mostly just felt indifference.

I did like the premise, and I was pretty engaged through the first fourth of the book or so, but the middle lost me.

I do think some people will really like this, but unfortunately, it wasn't for me.

each spring, twelve ithacan maidens are marked to be sacrificed to poseidon. but after leto dies…she comes back. a girl named melantho, who was once in leto’s shoes, tells her that if she wants the deaths to stop, there’s one thing she must do: kill the prince. one death can save thousands of lives. but as leto gets closer to the prince, she’s not so sure she’ll be able to follow through…

the writing in this book was truly lovely. i’m not really sure how to describe it, but there’s a certain type of writing style i often find in books about ancient greece, and this lived up to that expectation.

i also loved the characters. the prince was a really complex character who i was not expecting to root for at all, but i did at times. i also loved leto and melantho both separately and together.

as for the plot, i found it a bit lacking. i definitely think there was room for improvement in that area. however, i’d say the other aspects made up for this, and i really enjoyed this book overall.

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

3 out of 5 Stars

***ARC received from HarperTeens and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

I’m going to be honest, I wanted to read this book specifically because of the drama surrounding the authors interview, which I do honestly feel was blown out of proportion. This isn’t a retelling of The Odyssey, its influenced by it but it takes a tiny piece of the original story and builds its plot from there. You don’t really even need to be familiar with the whole of the original story but having an understanding of Greek mythology is definitely going to help.

The book follows three main characters. Leto is one of the maidens condemned to die to satisfy Poseidon’s curse, Melantho a young woman trapped on an island with many secrets and Mathias the young prince of Ithaca. I really did like the three characters in the beginning of the book but by the end I really liked Mathias the most. He is so sweet, all he wants to do with protect his people yet knows that he is not that strong despite all that he does. Melantho and Leto are much better characters before their romance, particularly Melantho. Leto is headstrong and a stubborn but also really unsure of herself, she has the most growth over the book but also manages to lose the most out of everyone. Yes, I still probably ended up finding her the most frustrating of the three. She’s incredibly wishy washy when it comes to which romantic partner she wants to be with, seeming to string both Mathias and Melantho along despite knowing what is going to happen which made some for awkward sulking teen moments making both her and Melantho absolutely insufferable at times.

Melantho was a hit and miss character for me. I liked her interactions with Leto more at the beginning because one they start their relationship its hard to tell how genuine her feelings are, she does spend a lot of time thinking about another past lover. As previously stated Melantho spends a good deal of time sulking like a jealous teen instead of someone that has a single mission, Melantho has been at this game long enough to not act that way. I also wish she had been honest from the beginning so we could see the much bigger role she had in what transpired instead of trying to cast her as some blameless victim who only did it to protect people. It would have been nice to see her portrayed a little closer to how she as in the source material and having her deal with the consequences that both her and Telemachus actions had on the women that came after. Rewriting her story into just men are evil removed the chance of creating a complex character wanting to atone for how her actions doomed so many people.

The writing is fine, nothing much stood out on it. I did find the way the writer describes things can be very beautiful particularly when Melantho is reliving the traumas she experiences and the emotions that still linger. It is very young adult though, gives enough for the reader to figure out what is going on without being overly descriptive or graphic. Unfortunately the writing also suffers from being painfully modern feeling. There were entire sections that felt like they are modern day setting and events until it tries to remind the reader that it is set in ancient Greece. I know that books use modern day language to be approachable for readers which is fine but the times Leto would swear dragged me right out of it. Unfortunately the story is also oddly paced, some sections move quickly while huge parts drag themselves along leaving for an ending that felt like it was trying to do too much all at once.

In the end this wasn’t a complete miss, the author clearly has potential and I think it would be interesting to see what she can do when creating and working within an original world.

First things first, contrary to the marketing this book had and what people have just assumed, this is NOT a retelling of The Odyssey. It is inspired by parts of it, but this story takes place many years after the event of that tale. I don’t think the book deserves the hate and controversy it’s getting purely based on the author not reading (at the time) The Odyssey for research. ANYWAY, on to the actual content of the book: I did not really connect with it until about 75% of the way, but once I did, it was phenomenal. The ending and the lead up to it had me in tears. Character wise, I really loved Mathias. I thought he was written so well. Leto and Melantho, I went back and forth on, but I grew to love them more from the middle onward and really loved them at the end. The plot itself was really interesting and such a cool story. I loved the focus on the forgotten women, past and present. The pacing was what frustrated me. It was honestly pretty slow moving until that 75% mark. I knew things were coming and I was obviously interested to see where things would go, but it did drag a lot in places. I am glad I read it though. Like I said, that last 25% was completely worth it.
TW: mentions of rape and sexual assault, death, violence, suicide

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of this book. I thought the story idea was so compelling and interesting and I was really into it for the first like 65% of the book. Then it started to drag a little bit in my opinion. They spent so much time in Ithaca and I didn’t feel like there was much character development or development in terms of learning about the curse. It really seemed to me like the only reason for so much time was to make Leto and the readers feel bad for Mathias’s ending. I don’t know, it just really started to drag for me which then meant that the ending happened so quickly and felt rushed. I want to know why the Queen, Olympia, and Alexios acted the way they did. I wish we got character development or some more time with them. This is a good story though and i’m glad I read it. It is a solid three star book in my opinion.

I was worried this would be a tired retelling of a myth and it definitely was not that, about which I was quite pleased.

Quick Stats
Age Rating: 14+
Over All: 4.5/5
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4.5/5

There is a lot of controversy surrounding this book. In an interview, the author said she has never read “the whole thing” in reference to the Odyssey. I… don’t see the problem with this. This book is a retelling/reimagining of one specific story within the Odyssey. My takeaway from the interview, and the author’s note at the start of the book, was that she has read all the parts of the Odyssey that relate to Penelope and her maids in multiple translations, she has just never read the entire Odyssey.
Taken directly from the authors note at the start of the ARC: “I went back to the source material. In every translation I could get my hands on, the maids are vilified.”
This confirms that she did read the myth of Penelope’s maids in multiple translations. She studied the myth she’s retelling. I don’t see why it matters that she didn’t read the entire Odyssey.

On to the actual review.
I really enjoyed this book. Told in the alternating POVs of Leto, Melantho, and Mathias, this story answers the questions of what if there had been consequences to the murder of Penelope’s maids? And what if those consequences went way too far?
I am always hesitant of split-POV. Especially in debut novels. I feel as if it is very difficult to execute. The character’s voices are too similar, one of the characters is annoying or boring to read, or someone’s narrative is just… unnecessary to the story. I didn’t feel that way about this book. Leto, Mathias, and Melantho are all very distinct characters, with distinct motivations and personalities and stories. Seeing the story from all of their views added a lot.
I think the side characters could have used a little more development in terms of their motivations. I never really understood why the queen, Alexios, and Olympia did the things they did. I guess, in the end, sort of, but for most of the story it just fell flat because their motivations were lacking and didn’t make much sense. I also wish we’d gotten to learn a bit more about Selene. I found her really compelling, and I don’t think she was utilized nearly as much as she could have been.
The plot and pacing of this book were really impressive, especially for a debut. I never found myself bored or pulled out of the book. I was hooked all the way through. The idea of the curse, the magic, the way it tied into the plot, was executed incredibly well.
This is one of the strongest YA fantasies I’ve read in a really long time, and I look forward to what Sarah Underwood comes up with next.

I really loved the heroine of this book! She was strong and interesting to read about. Thank you for the early copy!

Leto is one of 12 girls ritually sacrificed to the greek god Poseidon. However, she comes back to life as part sea creature on the island of Pandou. Here she meets Melantho, another one of Poseidon's reincarnated aids, who helps her embrace her transition to her new life. Melantho provides backstory to why Leto comes back and how she must kill the prince, Mathias, to end the curse and sacrifices.

I have little knowledge of greek mythology, so the fact the author hasn't read the Odyssey isn't a deal breaker for me (though an odd claim to make). The writing itself is just very dull and hard to read. I couldn't get into it at all.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC!

Reviews Posted: March 1, 2023
Goodreads
Storygraph


Well, first off this was heavily marketed to me as a retelling of the Odyssey, and while I can defiantly see its influence I don’t think it is. I think it is more loosely inspired by. I thought this was a decent read, but there were too many issues for me to love it.

I enjoyed all the characters separately, and think they all had their own unique journey within the story. I just could not feel any chemistry between any of the characters. The different relationships and dynamics fell short for me. Leto and Melantho were great partners in crime, but romance-wise, I felt absolutely no chemistry and I think that it developed too fast. I do think having multiple POVs did help a little to understand the different dynamics in the book.

The plot was defiantly my favorite thing about the book and it was really the only thing that kept me going in this book. Seeing all the pieces fall together and trying to figure out everyone's secrets was a lot of fun.

I do think the world was also captivating and it felt like I was being pulled into a mysterious and alluring world.

This book was a thoroughly enjoyable read with plenty of flaws and an ending that's going to make you cry even if you knew it was going to happen.
Sarah Underwood has taken the Odyssey's side characters and made them the focus of their own story in Lies We Sing To The Sea. Her bingable writing, tremulous sapphic main character's, and rich secrets will make think about this book when you aren't reading it! It's perfect for fans of Madeline Miller and features bi and lesbian main characters. (Though this can be up to interpretation in a way)

I had a few gripes with the writing, there were a few jumps that made it very confusing though that could be part to my ARC, part to my devouring reading. Many of those moments could have been taken out and had been useless to the overall story by the end. As well as the issue noted in many other reviews of this book about the author never actually reading the Odyssey before writing a book about the Odyssey. My personal opinion is that the Odyssey is a story that can be interpreted in multiple ways. That's the beauty of storytelling! Though, I understand the issue with not respecting source material.

However, even when I thought I wasn't going to I absolutely cried at the end. And if you're a heartfelt sensitive sob like me, you will too!