Lies We Sing To The Sea
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was my first YA book I’ve read in a while! Lies We Sing To The Sea is a YA sapphic Greek mythology retelling. Our main character, Leto, is set to stop the curse of Ithaca that is set by Poseidon where 12 girls must be hung each year. This story was filled with adventure from start to finish!

🌊the one thing I love about Greek mythology retellings is reading different perspectives on characters that I’ve read in other retellings
🌊this book continuously had me wondering “how is this all going to end up?” It was satisfying when all the puzzle pieces started to fit together
🌊although YA brought more of a closed door romance, you could still feel the chemistry between the characters. Along with that, I loved the banter between the characters.
🌊this book represented heartbreak, and the battles people will face for their loved ones.

If you’re eager to hear this author’s story of Poseidon’s curse on Ithaca, this book is released and ready to read!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollin’s Children’s books for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. What a stunning debut! This is a title I have been excited for forever! I knew when I saw that gorgeous cover that I had to have this book. It truly did not disappoint. The read was smooth, though long in parts, I didn't mind as I was incredibly taken with Leto's story. So excited to see what happens in the future of the series!

A wonderful twist on classic Greek mythological tales. With exciting twists and turns, this is perfect for the Greek mythology fans in your life.

A lush, gripping feminist retelling of The Odyssey—original, vivid, and a fresh take on ancient mythology.

Thank you net galley for the advanced reading copy of lies we sing to the sea by Sarah underwood. I love Greek mythology retelling so I was very hopeful for this one. I felt that it really didn’t draw me in as much as I’d hoped. It wasn’t bad but I didn’t love it. Although the cover is beautiful.

This book was so good! The author’s writing style is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a mythology retelling but it’s queer and I’m absolutely in love with the characters. Both Leto and Melantho are strong and determined women who just made this story so much more amazing. Overall it is beautifully written and absolutely worth a read.

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.