This book is so so good. I loved this telling of the well known tale of Theseus from the eyes of Phaedra.
There is a trigger warning which may be well known but for those who don't know she is raped.
Phaedra is unwilling to remain quiet about the assult. She speaks up and the story navigates how truth, her truth is seen by the men of the city who gather to determine the truth while the women who have no vote are in the shadows but we hear they voices.
This is a powerful book. Such a great read

I just reviewed Phaedra by Laura Shepperson. #Phaedra #NetGalley

After reading a few Greek mythologies this year (plus a reread of my absolute favorites by Madeline Miller) I was interested in reading Laura Sheeperson’s reimagining of the story of Phaedra.

Even though Sheeperson creates a story that gives voice to the women of Greece who’ve never been acknowledged in the epic stories, having too many cast members, lost the focus of the main story. Having recently read Ithaca where we focus on Penelope and the goddess Hera, we as readers delved into these characters who felt like women with flesh, bone, and an awareness of 21st century thinking.

I feel Sheeperson’s story lacks that full depth, world building, and focus of the female experience in its totality. There are moments, small passages and glimpses hidden in her novel, but it’s not all encompassing. The story, though well written, didn’t sweep me under into a barreling current that takes me under and leaves me breathless.

Again, I think the story did give a new perspective of Ancient Greece, ruled by and for men: a patriarchy with its cyclical abuse of women and a young woman who has very little options in safety, protection, or resources.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC! I really enjoyed this read, especially as I've been reading several historical fictions with a focus on the perspectives of the women involved. Phaedra tells the story of the daughter of King Minos who was given to Theseus as a bride and taken from her family to the developing democracy of Athens. The focus on Phaedra's experience is expanded by the voices and experiences of the other women around her with their roles, understanding on how society works and the horrors they experience. The night chorus and the perspective of the Furies will stick with me for a while as I reconsider some of the old stories I've read and how ingrained they are in the male perspective.

Phaedra is a very dry retelling of the myth that reads like a lengthy Wikipedia retelling. It has some very creative language that is beautiful. It has a chorus that I truly appreciate, however, this is someone's homework and I feel like I wasted my time. If you know the story of Phaedra it's wasted on you. You're going to gain nothing from reading this. Believe women. That's all I can say. Even if the myth was a bit more on the get the boy killed side of things and "oh isn't it the consequences of my own actions", the book has turned it into a tragedy instead and that's a noble thing. I recommend it for Jennifer Saint fans.

I read Ariadne earlier this year and LOVED it, so I was very excited for this one which is the story of Ariadne’s sister, Phaedra. Obviously they are by different authors, so I expected differences, but this one didn’t live up to my expectations, unfortunately.
 
To start, there were too many POVs and a lot of them didn’t actually add anything to the story. Phaedra’s POV was probably only about 30-40% of the story which felt odd.
 
The story was really slow-moving which was surprising considering the heartbreaking/emotional content. I did, however, like that the author gave representation to the females and their stories (something that was overlooked a lot in mythology). I just wish there was more depth to this representation.
 
And I didn’t love the ending. Everything felt rushed and I was underwhelmed and disheartened by the conclusion. I didn’t hate this book by any means, but I think it could have used a bit more fleshing out and editing before going out to readers.

Rating 3.5

One of my favorite genres/subjects to read are Greek Myths and retelling of the myths. This story of Phaedra is kinder to Pasiphae and the Minotaur while still tragic to him and of course the women of the kingdom of Crete. I did enjoy the addition with the night chorus which provided commentary on the social just or lack thereof for women. Phaedra and Ariadne however did seem more naïve and meek considering the story Minos had the princesses schooled in many ways women were not. They were provided and cultivated tools, education, and wits, but when Theseus comes to town they abandon all of their inherent powers. Do wish Phaedra got the ending Trypho planned for her and the bards could still have their blasphemous songs. Worth a read, sadly still a tragic story of Phaedra of Crete.

I liked this book well enough to read it from start to finish, but it certainly lacks the magic and strong writing of Madeline Miller in Circe and Song of Achilles.

Phaedra is a young princess with an altogether frustrating and shelter point of view on life. Her own lack of understanding of the world around her contributes to the makings of her troubles in Athens.

I appreciated the new feminist twist on mythology that showed how women are but playthings for men to be used and tossed to the side, but at the same time the overall idea seemed to be poorly developed. The various narrators are difficult to distinguish from each other because they didn’t have their unique voices.

As I said, I liked it well enough but it’s not a memorable entry into the new trend of retelling Greek mythology.

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the electronic ARC for review.

Overall Rating - ⭐⭐⭐.5
Spice - 🫑🌶️
World Building - ⭐⭐⭐
Character Development - ⭐⭐⭐
Trigger/Content Warnings - Rape, murder, suicide, disturbing descriptions of bodies

Plot; I like that there are multiple major plot points, kind of like tales of Greek men like Theseus and Odysseus. I think the pulling original mythological stories together into one was done well, and it moved fairly smoothly.

Characters; The men are typical Greek mythology men, self centered and self driven. They were protested that way quite well. Typical Greek women and docile and submissive, also very well depicted in this. I don't think there was much in the way of development, at least not until the end, but the lack of development did kind of push the plot along, so I'm not that mad about it.

Romance; This isn't romance, but it is about why I put it as 🫑 and 🌶️. There are not sex scenes, thank the gods for that. I think this would have been WAY too graphic if there had been. However, they are described. Not detailed, but I put the one there so people know that this is a topic addressed multiple times. There is 0 romance anywhere in this book, as was intended. I appreciate not forcing a romance for the sake of it.

Writing; This is where this kind of falls for me. 1 I normally am very into multiple POV stories. This one, not so much. I didn't like it being in first person, it made it a little difficult for me to keep track of who the narrator was, but moreso I found it more difficult to connect to the cheaters. There were major plot points for Phaedra that I would have rather seen from her view, that we didn't. It made me feel more apathetic to her situations than if it had been just her view, I think. The writing itself was fine, but yeah I felt very much like someone very outside the situation with really not stake or need to be involved in it.

Overall Thoughts; I think the most important part of this book to remember is that it is based on MYTHOLOGY. As the author says at the end, Greek mythology isn't concrete, it's myth. People change the stories all the time, as they likely did in the past as well. As a general statement, this gave me Penelopiad vibes, and I am here for that. As also stated by the author, so few things in Greek mythology are based around women. I think this is actually a good depiction of how things might have been or felt for women in these settings, and for that, it is good. My other points also stand, but I don't think that making Greek mythology women centered makes it bad. Generally, I did like this, it's not my favourite, but it was good enough.

Phaedra by Laura Shepperson is a wonderfully written dive into the life of a woman often simply dismissed as the tragic wife of a Greek hero.

What I loved
-Greek Retelling
-female centered
-keeps the tragedy intact

What Didn't work as well for me
-Perspective shifts were jarring
-pacing was inconsistent

Who I would recommend the book to

Phaedra is a good reading choice for those who have enjoyed stories such as Circe by Madaline Miller and are looking to read in a similar vein.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I've always had an interest in learning about the Greek gods and goddesses but this brought them all to life. Phaedra is the mostly unheard of youngest daughter of King Minos of Crete. Her brother is the more popular Minotaur. This book follows Princess Phaedra as she travels to a very young Athens and becomes a wife to Theseus and Queen of Athens. The descriptive details in the book are fantastic! You feel as if you're there with Phaedra in each of the historical locations and you have a view into the minds of the characters who created the world. The treachery, the deceit, the behind-the-throne deals, are so juicy that you can't put this book down!. This is the part of the history lesson that they never teach you. I was given this book by Netgalley in return for my honest opinion.

I had high expectations going in to this novel. With the recent rise of mythology retellings, I quickly gravitated first towards the cover, immediately followed by the synopsis. Phaedra tells the classic myth of Theseus killing the Minotaur, the fate Phaedra, and ultimately the tragedy of Hippolytus. Right from the beginning, the lack of depth, irrelevant perspectives, and choppy writing had me struggling to finish this book. No character is given the opportunity for development, leaving each one flat and similar to the next. Knowing how myths are often complex, there was an abundance of opportunities to provide depth and rounded out character , but in the end, if it weren’t for the the characters’ names at the beginning of each chapter, I would not have been able to tell the difference.
Another aspect of this novel that made it difficult for complete fluidity was the ever-changing perspectives. With multiple instances where a character’s perspective is used once, the chapters seem like fillers and unnecessary to the story as a whole. This made me feel like the entire novel was individual stories lumped together rather than one cohesive one. 
The most redeeming part was when Phaedra stood up to Theseus at the end of the trial. To me, this is the only instance where either character is given the chance to develop and create a connection with the audience.
Overall, I was disappointed with the writing. While this may be another’s cup of tea, it was not mine.

Laura Shepperson's PHAEDRA is a book in the popular subset of historical fiction which, like CIRCE, takes a character from classical mythology and reframes the story from a feminist lens. I wasn't as familiar with Phaedra's story as I had been with many others, and it rings especially resonantly in this #metoo era. The rotating perspectives (of the chorus of women in the house, of Medea, of a bull fighter) were at times distracting and at times transcendent, but the essential story was gripping. I hope this book finds a large audience.

I absolutely love Greek stories and retellings, and this book was no different. It follows Phaedra, the youngest daughter of King Minos as she learns about her family and the Minotaur

It was incredibly interesting to go deeper into Phaedra’s story, being that she’s usually more dismissed than Ariadne. She had a strong voice and I loved reading from her POV. another book to add to my Greek mythos shelf!

I enjoyed my time reading this albeit slow. I think this novel will appeal to new readers wanting to explore Greek Mythology. A retelling of a woman not as explored compared to its counterparts.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Phaedra attempts to tell the tale of the sister of Ariadne and wife of Theseus, the killer of the Minotaur, and her terrible fate from her perspective as well as several others who play (or logically would have played) a part in her story. In Shepperson's author's note, she discusses her reasoning for changing some of the core details of the story that initially aggravated me as I read through it. The story of Phaedra and Hippolytus is a tragedy, but Shepperson sought to write it even more tragic, and for me, it just missed the mark.

Phaedra seemed like an attempt to radically feminize a Greek myth that often centralizes around a culture of men and masculine heroes. We have the heroine who takes fate into her own hands, comes out of the gate after a rape feisty and ready to control her own narrative. I do think Phaedra could sort of be looked at as the beginning of the "unhinged woman" narrative. However, the whole delivery of this novel fell really flat for me. Firstly, because all the characters (particularly our main two) felt flat on the page and they all sounded pretty similar. There was no depth or nuance, no complexity. They came across as apathetic, and the text just seemed to lack real passion for most of the story. This led to a general overall feeling of me not really caring about the outcome for any of the characters, and the times they acted awful just made me dislike them instead of seeing potential motivations for the ways they acted.

There is also a whole legal drama aspect to this story in the last half that I was not interested in. It made the story feel like it had been very obviously and purposefully twisted to give this story a "relevant now" agenda, which I didn't like.

Overall, I'm really disappointed with this. It had the potential to hang up there with the works of Natalie Haynes, Jennifer Saint, and Madeline Miller, but the writing just didn't deliver on its deeper development of its characters and the overall complexities of the storylines.

This book is a retelling of Phaedra and her story, as well as an examination of the roles and expectations of men and women in Greek society. This book has a lot of discussions around the difference expectations and at some points, hypocritical differences between the sexes.

This book changes POV through multiple characters, and while I usually don't have an issue with this, I wish there was something that made the different voices more unique in their own right. Currently, there was really nothing telling me that this was a new character aside from the header at the top of the chapter.

I will admit, I struggled with the writing. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but just felt the characters needed more development to become their own person, and sometimes felt that the alternating view points muddied together.

I loved the goal and overall story, just felt that the execution could have used more work. I am a big supporter of all the retellings, and love that new perspectives they offer. I hope this book is polished a bit more so it can be the excellent story it is meant to be.

Big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

I normally wouldn’t read this genre, but I was intrigued by the blurb and cover. I immensely enjoyed reading this book and might have to now pick up others likes this!

Trigger warning: assault

In this book, Phaedra, who is from Crete, ends up having to marry Theseus, Prince of Athens. Theseus was first supposed to marry her sister, Ariadne, but told Phaedra’s family Ariadne ran off with the god Dionysus, so he ended up having to marry Phaedra. This was after he killed her brother, The Minotaur. So she goes to Crete with Theseus, hoping the gods will right all the wrongs that have happened to her family.

Once she is there, she meets Theseus’ son Hippolytus, who is very adamant that he is loyal to the goddess Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and chastity, but assaults Phaedra while her husband (his father) is away. Phaedra gets pregnant with his child and will not back down in fighting the wrong against her and demands a trial for Hippolytus. The men get to vote, but the women, who are assaulted, daily do not. Every night they sing of all the horrors that happen to them. For once, will fate be on their side?

This book was very interesting and well-written. I also loved the descriptions the author had of Crete and Athens. I felt like I was transported to Greek times. I couldn’t put this book down and am really looking forward to reading the author’s next book!

I liked the premise/idea of this, and from the beginning I could tell that it had many elements of a successful retelling. Where this falls flat for me is in the characterization--I never really connected with Phaedra or felt anything except for a vague annoyance at her continued naivety. The story is told from multiple perspectives, but one of them felt extraneous. At first, I was excited that this person was included, but they didn't seem to actually do much of anything. I felt most connected/invested in two of the more transient character perspectives, which were more compelling than Phaedra. Although certain aspects of the myths are compressed to make for a more condensed plot, I appreciated the descriptions of the labyrinth and aspects of Cretan life. The beginning is stronger than the middle and end, however, I did like the sense of closure achieved by the character perspective chosen for the last chapter. If this author writes more Greek myth retellings, I would be interested in reading them.

It’s hard not to compare this book disfavorably to Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne (and in some ways Madeline Miller’s Circe) which similarly highlights the greed and ambition of Theseus and the plight of the women in his orbit but in a much deeper and more nuanced way. In general, I didn’t enjoy the writing itself and found the author’s choice to change up well-established elements of this myth, distracting. For example, in this book the Athenian tributes are not brought to Crete to die in the labyrinth but to just hang out in there safely for a few hours and then live a life of relative plenty as servants, which apparently is a step up for their lives in Athens. The labyrinth is also not that hard to get in and out of. Perhaps it seemed like a cool twist on this well known tale but in practice it upends all the logic underlying the myth. I enjoy these types of retellings of well-known myths and have read a lot of them, but this one was not one of my favorites.

Summary: Phaedra the younger daughter of Minos, sister to both the Minotaur and Ariadne, and eventually wife to Theseus gets to tell her side of things in this retelling starting from Theseus entering into the Labyrinth and ending with Phaedra married and miserable in Athenes with Theseus’s son Hippolytus and the drama and that unfolds with them.

Thoughts: I am loving the retelling and the feministic take on these myths, the women of these stories had been vastly ignored and it's always fun to see things from their side. Phaedra is just a young girl in the beginning and she doesn't really understand how the world works but she is very aware of one thing and that is that the Gods will punish basically anyone and everyone and she knows that Theseus will get his after betraying his hosts and killing the Minotaur. I really like Phaedra and felt really bad for her she was really stuck with a horrible choice and no right decision to make. I just wished we saw more of her with her sister and Theseus, he's gone for most of the book and so while we know that he's a horrible husband he doesn't really treat Phaedra super badly, he just ignores her and so naturally she starts noticing his age appropriate son. The story is one I was well aware of so the ending while tragic is not unexpected to anyone family with the myth though I did like how much the ending was explored. I also liked how the chapters began with a summary by the chorus. the chorus/ muses summaries in the beginning were super fun and my favorite part of the book I would read was written just as their summaries. overall a fun retelling of the myth with no real surprises.