As far as Greek retellings go this one lands in the middle of the pack. It’s not a bad debut but there were so many characters to keep track of that it got a little bit much at times. Not one that will land being memorable for me.

Phaedra is marketed as a feminist retelling of obviously Phaedra. We see Phaedra as she embarks on the quest to find and fight for justice. Phaedra has always been an
outcast due to her mother being an adultress, being a sister of a monster, then being an unwilling bride to Theseus, who is much older than her and is power hungry. When certain events happen, Phaedra thinks enough is enough, so she will refuse to stay
silent and will fight for justice.

When it comes to the synopsis of this book, I think it sounds great and I love the issues that are brought up and due to how women were treated and due to that we see a character who decides that she no longers wants to be silent and will stand up for what she thinks is not right and use her voice to fight her way for justice and equality.

However, I really struggled with this book because it felt so dry and I just could not
connect with any characters. Then, this story is told in multiple point of views, so I really struggled on remembering who was who because to me they all sounded similar and that could be because I did listen to this on audio. Typically I can remember and differentiate between characters when it comes to listening to books on audio, yet there are times where it can make it hard to differentiate.

Then, when it comes to being compared to circe and being a powerful feminist read, I really feel like those are accurate comparisons and that this was not wholly feminist like this book is promised as.

After reading the novel Ariadne, I was excited to read about her sister, Phaedra. I wanted to see the feminist take on her. However, I found the story to be very confusing. This is because of the multiple perspectives told in this book. Therefore, I would have enjoyed it and followed it better if it was told in third person. Still, I recommend this for fans of Greek Mythology!

I was delighted with this book for its roots in Greek myth, but also how the author reimagined how this story fit perfectly in the real world. Pointing out that people could claim godly heritage when pregnant without it being their partner's child, and the introduction of democracy for justice. With that said, this was not a happy book, it was a deep exploration of what justice means in a world of men, and the role of women as well. It was a well written book, in my opinion.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me access to this title.

“A woman descended from a God still has to be either a good woma or a witch. What would it take to be called a heroine.”

What an awesome story. This was my first time reading a Greek Mythology retelling and I was very excited about this one. It always amazes me reading or watching how women were treated back than (and now still unfortunately) so it was refreshing to read a version of the story where the women stand up for themselves


🏺I thought Phaedra was such a brave heroine. as a 16 year old girl, being forced to marry someone more than double her age, move to a place and love as an outsider, be assaulted and than stand up to a court full of men who use women as objects on a regular basis… very courageous.


🏺The one think I do wish there was more character development. the ending felt unfinished to me and I wanted more. But I am super excited to read more retellings after this !!

I love reading retellings and especially myth retellings.
This one is a powerful feminist retelling of Phaedra's story and her unyielding quest for justice. The book is well written and discusses many important issues such as patriarchy and injustice. It shows really well the horrors that the women went through and how low they were valued by their society.
I really enjoyed reading Phaedra, despite its slow start and the many POVs.

A Greek Mythology retelling that does everything it should and everything Madeline Miller does (I love Madeline Miller this is not a dis).

Huge amount of thanks to NetGalley and Alcove press for an advance copy of this book
Y’all. I love Greek retellings. I especially loved this one about the often overlooked Phaedra. Everyone knows that she had a hand in defeating the Minotaur, but I especially liked that it wasn’t the focus of this story. I liked that she was given a voice as opposed to just her role as Ariadne’s sister, Theseus’s wife, and Hippolytus’s stepmother. She accepts her lot in life, just going through the motions until she is assaulted. She publicly accuses him and demands a trial. She fights so hard, and as with many women of the time, it’s for nothing.

While many mythology fans know the stories of Ariadne, Theseus, and the Minotaur, this book follows Ariadne's younger sister, Phaedra, and her journey from Crete and into Athens. Phaedra, the younger Princess of Crete, was often overlooked as many thought her not as beautiful as her older sister, Ariadne, or as interesting as her half-brother, the Minotaur. Phaedra becomes the wife of Theseus after his triumph over the Minotaur, and moves to Athens soon after. The author makes her own twist in this retelling by having Hippolytus assault Phaedra, rather than following with the classic mythology.

I thought that this book was easy to read, but I didn't think that it was the feminist retelling that I was expecting. I give the author a lot of credit for portraying characters realistically for their time, but I wish that there would have been more to them. Phaedra is an interesting character within Greek Mythology, but this retelling kind of fell flat and was disappointing to me. I was really hoping that Phaedra would have more agency. I also thought that there were too many points of view given which took away from the character of Phaedra. I would have preferred to stay in Phaedra's point of view.

I do think that the author has good writing skills and I would like to check out more of her work in the future, but think that this retelling may have just been a little too tricky to handle deftly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC of Phaedra!

"Phaedra" was an interesting book and I ultimately enjoyed it, finding myself lost in the world that Laura Shepperson drew for us. With a slow start, it had been hard to get into, I had stopped and started reading it many times, but after the first few chapters, the book truly flourishes. If you are a fan of "Elektra" by Jennifer Saint, then you will love "Phaedra."

I love a good Greek mythology retelling, and while it had so much potential, this book was disappointing for me.
The author did a great job of showcasing the horrors of the treatment and value of women in mythology/during this time period, and the plot was interesting (albeit heartbreaking/infuriating).
However, the author chose to use multiple narrators with different perspectives, but seemingly didn’t put much effort into differentiating the tone of each character. If the character names hadn’t been at the start of each section (or chapter), I would have had no idea who was narrating. Unfortunately, this caused the story to fall flat and feel undeveloped.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Yes, this is a Tragedy. I knew the story, but it still wrecked me by the end, and not in a good way. I was just so numb to the violence by the end that I couldn't emotionally connect to anything.

This approach is interesting. Although this a Greek Mythology retelling, it's told as if the Gods and supernatural things are not real. Some characters believe in their culture's religion more than others; some are devote, some use the Gods to excuse heinous acts. ("Ariadne didn't die, she is the wife of Dionysus now." *wink wink*)

Some writing was also a bit weak. The Greek Chorus was great though - that was a nice touch.

I am loving the mix of Greek myth based stories we’ve been getting the last year or two. This isn’t a mandatory purchase, but definitely a second or third round purchase for most libraries.

‘It was not until ten summers later, when Theseus was to come to Crete seeking power beyond what we could give him, that I was to learn the truth: that any man can throw words up into the air, and it is women who must pay when those words land.’

It’s been established that I am a bit of a fan of the sub-genre of feminist retellings of Greek mythology. One thing that I’ve observed with each new one that I read is the fluidity of the mythology – each author bends it and flexes it to fit their fictional retelling and essentially, the myths are just stories anyway, so it’s almost become a choose your own adventure for each Goddess who pops up repeatedly with a different take on her life and end within each new novel.

The Heroines (Phaedra) is heaving with feminist rage and is specific in its focus on sexual violence against women. In this, it’s done very well. There is, between every few chapters, a section titled ‘Night Chorus’. These are the whisperings of the women from court, the servants, and their chorus speaks of the violence against women that pervades the court. Initially, the chorus is sympathetic to Phaedra when they learn of her rape, but once she decides to proceed with a trial against Hippolytus for his crime against her, the tide of their whispering turns.

‘I felt sorry for her before, but she has made our lives harder. Why could she not be quiet? Do you even believe her? I heard she had her eye on him from the start. We all saw her follow him round the court. She is expecting his child. Maybe she made all this up to convince Theseus that she was not unfaithful while he was away. Princesses can bring trials. But someone still has to make their beds, and lie in them, too.’

See what she made him do. She deserved it because of what she was wearing. She asked for it because she tempted him. Women turning on women when class/privilege comes into play – this was sharply demonstrated with the Night Chorus sections. They made this novel for me, they were so cleverly written and inserted at all the right places.

The only thing that let this novel down for me was that it had a large cast of characters, and all of their perspectives were told in the first person. Now, it’s not the number of perspectives that bothered me, it was the use of first person exclusively. I didn’t find there was enough to distinguish one character from the other and I was constantly checking back to remind myself of whose view I was currently in. I’m not a fan of first-person narration, it can have its place within certain novels and with certain characters, but to have such a large cast and to write all of them this way needed greater character development and more unique voicing for each of the characters in order to succeed. I do feel this technique let the novel down immensely and it has affected my rating.

If you are a fan of feminist retellings of Greek mythology, then you probably won’t want to miss this one.

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

Tale as old as time….

The raping of women…men behaving badly . Will there be consequences?

With this audiobook, the Greek names I’ve studied for ages were pronounced differently through the main narrator (Phaedra). My professors pronounced Poseidon differently, Theseus, Aphrodite, etc. too .

I loved the story…as much as anyone can love a story of the oppression of women. I loved how the Greek stories and Bards’ tales were refashioned and reimagined. Are the gods real? Scapegoats for explanations of misdeeds? Then what of the demigods? The myths and mysteries of the past re-examined with new lenses….the birth of democracy, the fact that #metoo is needed thousands of years later because women still aren’t believed…..

What a fabulous interpretation of Queens Paciphae, Phaedra, Madea, and Ariadne….

Wish things were better for women.

Reminds me of Hamilton’s question : Who will tell our story?

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ability to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have have very niche interest in feminist retellings of Greek myths, but unfortunately, this one did not do it for me. I have no issue with the subject matter, but the story structure made it extremely hard to read. The multiple POVs didn't work for me, the dialogue and inner monologue felt extremely modern, and I just didn't like it.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the eARC in exchange for my review.

This is a retelling of the mythology of Phaedra. I was not familiar with the story yet which was why I picked this out. It was often hard to follow because there were too many point of views who all sounded the same. It was confusing.

Book Name: Phaedra

Author: ****Laura Shepperson****

ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for an ARC of Phaedra

Stars: 3

Spice : 0

- Standalone
- Multi POV
- Mythological Retelling
- Feminist
- Similar to Genevieve Gornichec and Madeline Miller
- Fast Paced
- Exploring the “Heroines” of Greek Myths
- Loved the entirety of Phaedra’s myths are told together as one compelling story
- Enjoyed the Cameo of Medea
- addition of a night chorus was a great homage to Greek Tragedy
- Love the juxtaposition in the final chapter of the lives of two women (Full circle moment)
- Not an easy read
- very dark and tragic subject matter
- violent
- major Pacing issues

I ended up dnfing this at 64% I was very confused on who was who. I didn't care about the characters either. I found this to be a bad read.

This wasn’t the book for me, but I’m glad that the story of Phaedra is being told.

“Phaedra has been cast to the side all her life: daughter of an adulteress, sister of a monster, and now unwilling bride to the much-older, power-hungry Theseus. Young, naïve, and idealistic, she has accepted her lot in life, resigned to existing under the sinister weight of Theseus’s control and the constant watchful eye of her handsome stepson Hippolytus.

When supposedly pious Hippolytus assaults her, Phaedra’s world is darkened in the face of untouchable, prideful power. In the face of injustice, Phaedra refuses to remain quiet any longer: such an awful truth demands to be brought to light. When Phaedra publicly accuses Hippolytus of rape, she sparks an overdue reckoning.

The men of Athens gather to determine the truth. Meanwhile, the women of the city, who have no vote, are gathering in the shadows. The women know truth is a slippery thing in the hands of men. There are two sides to every story, and theirs has gone unheard. Until now.”