Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman

Pandora is an interesting take on and, if I’m being honest, a breath of fresh air in the Greek mythology retelling sub-genre. At it’s core is the myth of Pandora’s box (actually, jar) but that both is and is not the heart of the book.

Set in late 1700s London, this book is really the story of Dora Blake. Orphaned when her antiquities-collecting parents died at a dig site, she’s been in her uncle’s care ever since. He has brought her families’ name and business to ruin but is convinced their fortunes will change with the arrival of a mysterious crate that he is extremely anxious to keep a secret.

Dora‘s journey intersects with Edward’s, a book binder who is desperate to join the prestigious antiquities society. In their respective searches for freedom and prestige, they must navigate all walks of London to uncover the secrets of Dora’s uncle and her families’ past.

I really enjoyed this unique and mysterious romp through old London and was happy to root for Dora and Edward as they made discoveries about themselves and the mysterious artifact in the story. The writing was lovely and the plot jaunty enough to keep me turning pages.

Other than a couple of unnecessarily descriptive romantic scenes and an untied thread at the end, this book really worked for me. Those seeking a more serious, mythology focused story may be disappointed here but I enjoyed this historical fiction take with a splash mythological inspiration.

Pandora published on January 17th, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC

I was expecting another Greek myth retelling, but this novel features a refreshingly original premise and setting. I appreciated the historical detail and the moody, atmospheric prose. This was an enjoyable read and I look forward to seeing more from Susan Stokes-Chapman in the future.

Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman is an interesting tale that intertwines Georgian Era England and Greek mythology.

Dora lives with her uncle after being orphaned. Now that she's finished school Dora is focusing on jewelry making. When a shipment comes in that her uncle keeps hidden away, Dora's curiosity is piqued. She finds a beautiful vase that calls to her and immediately is inspired by its beauty. But something about the vase isn't quite right and Dora needs to get to the bottom of it. Enter Edward. A bookbinder trying to make his way into the Society of Antiquities. Together the two work to uncover secrets, some worse than others.

I'm a sucker for anything Greek mythology related so in this instance I was a bit let down. The myth inspiration was very light and the story focused way more on Dora's jewelry and relationships. The characters were a little typical and some plots you could see coming a mile away. I found the setting beautiful and atmospheric, it really sucks you in. Overall Pandora was an enjoyable read. The ending wrapped up rather quickly and in a slightly random manner but the story as a whole was interesting. If you go in with less mythology expectations it will help. I have to say my favorite thing may have been the magpie named Hermes. How perfect is that?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

This story was a perfect combination of historical fiction, mythology, and a touch of magical realism. The prose was engaging, and I found myself wanting to know more with each page I read. The interactions between all of the characters, especially Dora and Edward were done quite well. Each character had an arc that fit their depictions, and everyone received a satisfying ending. I do think that by the last 15% of the story, everything began to wrap up quickly almost off-pace with the rest of the novel. Other than that, I think this was an excellent story and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Such a fresh take on a mythology retelling!

Pandora Blake has watched her parents' antiquities shop run into disrepair under the helm of her selfish Uncle, who took her in when both her parents were killed during an accident at a dig site when she was a young girl. Now 21, Dora longs to be free from her uncle and start her own jewelry making business.

But her uncle begins behaving even more irrational than normal with the arrival of a crate that he keeps locked up in the basement. Dora discovers a gorgeous Grecian vase and uses it as inspiration for her pieces, while her new friend Edward studies it as his ticket into an academic society that has already rejected him twice.

Misfortune continues to surround the vase and those who come close to it - and as Edward and Dora learn more about the vase they begin to uncover pieces of her parents' history that may have been lost forever.

I loved the characters and the quick-paced plot of this one so much! An excellent modern re-telling.

It is 1799 in London and Dora Blake lives with her uncle atop of her late parents' shop of antiquities and one day a mysterious Greek vase is delivered to the shop. Her uncle ends up locking up the vase in the basement, then he starts to act odd and suspicion. Dora meets Edward, an antiquarian scholar and asks him for help. Edward ends up discovering something about the vase that makes Dora question everything she knows about her family, herself, and the world as she knows it.

I really like that this a historical fiction mystery with a mythological twist. I feel like when there is a retelling or a story inspired by a myth, then they usually focused exactly on one of the myth's main characters or it is in a setting kind of similar to the myth. I will add this not true for all retellings.

Anyway, I think it is refreshing to have a different take on a retelling/ mythology with how this story is.

I do have to admit that I really struggled to get into the story and enjoy it. This could simply be because I tend to struggle with most mysteries.

I do believe a lot of people will enjoy Pandora and find it a nice, cozy and enjoyable mystery

I really tried because the concept sounded great but it was slow for me. The writing is good and I will try this author again but I couldn’t get into a groove with this one.

Pandora is a compelling take on the classic myth of Pandora, and I enjoyed the way that Susan Stokes-Chapman transposed the story to Georgian London and the world of antiquities. This approach adds a number of new complexities to the story, which make it even more intriguing.

Overall, I very much enjoyed my time with this novel.

This was an interesting take on an old myth from Greek lore that kept me entertained from start to finish.

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however I opted to listen to the final production version of the audiobook. This book was published in January 2023, so I'm a bit late with my review. As always all opinions expressed are my own.

This was a bit different that I expected. Many of the retellings I've been reading have been set in ancient times and told from the female perspective. Pandora is told from Dora Blake's perspective but it is set in London just as Napoleon is threatening to invade. I really like what the author did with the Pandora myth here by not setting it in ancient Greece, but using the original myth to inspire a completely new story with new characters in a different time period. The original myth is referred to often in the story so you can easily make

Dora as she is known, has grown up surrounded by antiquities, as her parents ran a shop filled with them and after their death's her uncle took over the shop and her care. When an ancient yet pristine vase show up at the shop, Dora can't help but be curious at the vase's origins and her uncle's strange behavior. She is also hoping that the vase might inspire her to sketch some new and interesting jewelry designs in the hopes of supporting herself and moving out from under her uncle's care. With the help of aspiring antiquarian Edward, Dora begins to uncover more information about the vase and with it information about her past that she was not expecting to find.

This was a fun retelling of the Pandora myth. I like the creativity that was used and the social commentary woven throughout. There was a good discussion regarding those with station (aka money) and those without. There was also good commentary regarding women like Dora and Lottie and their reliance on men to keep them fed and housed as there weren't many options for women's employment at the time. While I am of the mindset that artifacts should be returned to the countries of their origin, the book is accurate that black market trade and shops like the Blake's did exist for the sale of antiquities to be used as decoration for anyone with the means to purchase them. I also liked that Pandora struggled between the so called cursed vase causing all of the bad things happening around them and their being a completely logic explanation for every event.

I think this book would be perfect for fans of Stalking Jack the Ripper and Anatomy: A Love Story. There is a bit of mystery, a bit of romance, some historical fiction, a hint of magic, and it is perfect for readers of all ages.

“Zeus had Hephaestus create the first human female and gave her all the womanly wiles that many believe are the cause of man’s downfall. The first female was named Pandora.”

Pandora “Dora” Blake is left orphaned after her parents who specialized in antiquities are killed on a tragic excavation. Dora is saved but grows up as a ward of her unscrupulous uncle who inherits the family antique shop. Dealing in forgeries has damaged the once elite reputation of the shop and Dora wants to restore her family honor and become a jewelry designer. One day a mysterious Grecian vase is delivered to the shop and her uncle begins acting paranoid and even more greedy. Dora seeks the assistance of a young antiquitarian to ascertain if the vase is genuine and what truths it may reveal about her past.

I love that this book took a Greek myth and set it in London, 1799. Others have described this book as atmospheric, I wouldn’t quite go that far but it does have a strong sense of time and place. The details about the antiquities trade and the dark underside of the black market trade were very interesting and really made this a fun historical novel. I do think it was a bit slow and repetitive at times, I wanted it to read a bit more like a thriller because all the elements were there. Overall this was a great debut and I look forward to future books by this author.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Harper Perennial, and the author for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I love retellings. I love very loose retellings too. This is not one, and I think people going into it expecting a retelling of the Pandora myth will be disappointed. The myth is part of 'Pandora' by Susan Stokes-Chapman, but it's a vessel for the story surrounding it.
It's an anjoyable story, too. 'Pandora' follows the titular character in 1799 England, whose parents were trying to unearth the real story behind Pandora's myth and loved it so much they named their daughter after it. After her parents death, Dora lives with her uncle, whom she loathes for understandable reasons. She is mostly busy designing jewelry based on trinkets her pet magpie brings her while her uncle keeps ruining the reputation of her late antiquarian parents and their antiquities shop, which he runs into the ground by mostly selling forgeries. Until a mysterious Greek vase arrives that might or might not be cursed.

The story is an exciting one, with our protagonists - Dora and Edward, an aspiring antiquarian himself - trying to figure out the secrets of this vase, the story behind it, and why Dora's uncle is so obsessed with it. The writing is solid, too, though it sometimes comes off as a little detached. Which is probably why I never really connected with the characters. They're not very complex, but they're enjoyable at least. There is a romance brewing between them that I didn't care at all about, mostly because it's very instalovey (which I simply don't enjoy) but also because Edward turns into the kind of guy that can't really differentiate between protection and control. I guess I would have found it more interesting if Stokes-Chapman chose to pursue the much more complex relationship between him and his best friend and mentor, Cornelius, who is very unsubtly in love with him. Mostly, though, I would have preferred Dora to not be attached to a romance - her whole character arc is about findind herself and her independence. She doesn't need no man, especially with the supporting women she finds throughout the book.
The villain, Dora's Uncle Hezekiah, is just barely a character at all. He's cartoonishly evil, and when I read about his plans for Dora should he succeed in his plans I rolled my eyes. He exists purely to be stupidly evil and there is nothing else to him, making him a very weak antagonist.

So in conclusion, this is a well-written story inspired by an intriguing myth that succeeds in using its potential in a unique way. There are some pacing issues - the book is rather slow in parts - and the characters aren't the most vivid, the villain is a snorefest and the romance meh at best. But it's a solid 3 for what it is, and I recommend it even to those who expected a retelling.

Pandora is the story of an aspiring jewelry artist and the daughter of collectors of antiquity in Georgian London. Pandora, who has been living with her uncle in her family's shop since the death of her parents, finds a previously unknown Grecian urn in the basement of the shop. She later meets a handsome antiquarian scholar who agrees to help her investigate the mysterious artefact. While I initially thought this book was a retelling of the Pandora myth (it is most definitely not), I loved the setup of this book with a focus on jewelry and antiquities in an interesting time period and was excited to read it!

Despite the cool setup, I thought this book was just okay. I really think that it had the makings to be incredible, but the plot and characters were a little too run of the mill for me to be very invested. I liked it just fine, though. The romance was cute, the characters likeable enough, and the setting great enough to pull the other factors up a bit. It was neat learning about jewelry designing and antiquities in the time period. I recently saw the cover in person and wow, it is beautiful!

Make sure that you go into this book with separate expectations to a regular Greek mythology retelling. I saw that this book was compared to the Song of Achilles on the marketing and, uh, no. It's much closer to the Miniaturist or the Essex Serpent, also from the marketing. Enjoy it for what it is, though!

Overall, I recommend you give this a try if you're super interested in the time period or like a good historical fiction. 3.75 stars from me rounded up to 4. Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review!

4/5 stars
Thank you Netgalley, Penguin Random house and Susan Stokes-Chapman for gifting me a copy of Pandora in return for my honest review.

Pandora is a wonderful story that combines Greek mythology while set in England during the Georgian time period. Dora and Edward really don't have much in common other then their love of antiques. As the book continues we see how they learn to trust and eventually fall in love with each other. Both have suffered greatly while they were children and have learned to become strong and independent adults.

I loved how history was blended with mystery to create a book with lots of twists and turns that kept you guessing the whole time. Some of the writing was a little blah to me but the plot and storytelling made up for it.

I enjoyed the characters except for Dora's Uncle Hezekiah. At times I felt like his evil villain character was more a cartoon evil villain with him being over the top evil. Murder, blackmail, stealing, he checks all the boxes. I get what the author was trying to do but it didn't work for me.

Overall it was a fun book to read that kept me entertain through out the entire book. Other then the uncle I enjoyed reading Pandora,

3.25/5 stars! The gorgeous cover of this book is what drew me in. I adore Pandora's Box in mythology, so I was interested to read a book that took a new spin on a Grecian vase full of secrets in London. This is the type of story that you have to suspend disbelief and just go with the flow. If you can do that, you'll like this story. If not, it feels like the plot is obvious at times and some of the character's actions are unrealistic.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. I was intrigued by the premise of the story being a retelling of the Pandora's Box myth while also not hitting the same beats. The historical content was fine for a while but then began to drag on. I also became frustrated with Edward and Dora as the novel went on for how blind they could be to what was happening around them and not trying harder to do something to change their circumstances. They did get their happy ending which was nice but I was not overly impressed.

What an incredibly unique novel. I absolutely loved a glimpse at the trade of antiques, the rich history, the archaeology. It was all wonderful. It began a bit of a slow burn but eventually I couldn’t put it down. The character development was superb. I truly didn’t want to end but I needed to know how it ended! A magical mystery that I fell in love with.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Has a great premise, it doesn’t live up. Its potential. Characters feel lifeless and boring, and nothing of note happens.

3⭐️

I really like the premise of this book, but I’m finding that the pacing is really slow and making it difficult to read. If I had more time to spend reading it, I might enjoy it more, but right now I’m bored with it because nothing’s really happening. And when things do happen, they’re not nearly as exciting as I would expect. I also don’t typically like books written in present tense, and I find the style distracting.

If you enjoy Greek mythology and retellings, you might enjoy this one, although it (for me) doesn’t live up to the other retelling’s I’ve read.