I originally wanted to listen to audiobook because I love Greek myth retellings, and especially any with a feminist twist. However, I don't think this was the right time for me to listen to this book. I have lately felt a little burned out by books using or threatening sexual assault/harassment. While I think this is a very interesting conversation to have in the context of this story, I was not able to enjoy it at this time.
I also think I may have liked it better reading it as a physical copy because of the multiple point of views. I think the narrator did a fine job. However, I fell out of the story often because they pronounced the names very differently from how I've ever heard, and it was distracting for me.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this to others. It just was not the audiobook for me at this time.
Thank you to NetGalley & Dreamscape Media

I’m always up for a good Greek myth retelling. Especially the recent trend to tell stories from the women’s POV. This one was a struggle to get through with a huge cast of characters and multiple narrators. I found it hard to really get behind and root for Phaedra (sister of the Minotaur). There are definitely better books out there written with Phaedra as a MC. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

“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 loved the book although I think books like this should come with a trigger warning as I would have not chosen it. It

This missed the mark for me. Too many characters. Phaedra never found her voice. That being said, everyone's voice was the same, no one was unique. Not Circe...nowhere close unfortunately. Would not recommend and will not be asking my library to purchase this title. :(

thanks to net galley for the arc this was so good and is carried in my book shop. phaedra is about a new retelling from her in greek mythology. multiplue povs which i love. crete versus athens and her interactions with the people in here time.

I loved this book so much! Last year I read Ariadne and I was excited when I heard of this one. Once I started listening to it, I struggled to keep myself on task because the story sucked me in. I really enjoyed hearing the story from Phaedra's point of view. It gave me another look at how things might have been taken differently.
The narrator was amazing. I loved that depending on who you were hearing from you heard different voices. It made me feel like I was inside a movie that I did not want to leave.

I am a fan of Madeline Miller, so according to the synopsis this book should've been perfect for me. But it became clear pretty quickly that whoever wrote that blurb either hasn't read anything from Madeline Miller or hasn't read this book. Sure, it's the same genre, but one is a beautifully written, immersive look into what feels like a very real history, and one is... This.

I was all in from the moment I read "feminist retelling." Awesome. In the myth, Phaedra seduces her stepson Hippolytus and is caught; in this retelling, Hippolytus rapes her, and the story follows the ensuing events that essentially rewrite history to what we know today. I love this premise, and as other reviewers have mentioned, the author writes well about the plight of women in these times and how they silently suffered. That is about the only developed aspect of this book.

Phaedra doesn't have much of a personality. She has this in common with the other narrators. There is a lot at the beginning that is hinted toward rather than stated; I had to pause the book and read pretty in-depth into the family's history to understand what was happening in the book. When she marries Theseus and goes to live with him in Athens, there is a brief description of the plain stone rooms in his "palace," and a mention of her extravagant home, but she honestly doesn't seem upset about it either way. All of the characters are this flat, except maybe one. He wasn't interesting, but his motivations were at least clear.

There were a few good things; I liked the Chorus, which may have only been so effective because it was audio, but seemed well-written nonetheless, and the bull jumper's performance, but most everything else I could have gone without.

From the synopsis:
"Phaedra carves open long-accepted wounds to give voice to one of the most maligned figures of mythology and offers a stunning story of how truth bends under the weight of patriarchy but can be broken open by the force of one woman’s bravery."

This did not deliver. I was left shocked at the ending, and not in a good way; more so in that it took so much to get to that point--so much dry story and boring thoughts of essentially the same character voice--for it to end so abruptly.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the advance audiobook. This was an honest review.

There were aspects of this book I found really interesting and I thought the narrator did a great job but overall the book was a bit of a letdown.

This debut novel is a must-read for fans of Madeline Miller, Natalie Haynes, and Jennifer Saint. Phaedra comes on the heels of Jennifer Saint's novel "Ariadne" which focuses on Phaedra's older sister. I was utterly delighted to now read an account of Phaedra's story.

After the murder of the minotaur, and the disappearance of her older sister Ariadne, Phaedra finds herself married to Theseus and shuffled off from Crete to Athens (a much inferior city), where she is all but forgotten by her new husband. She catches the eye of Theseus's son, who has sworn himself to celibacy, but takes advantage of Phaedra. We definitely see into a world where women are expendable, have no agency, and struggle to find justice.

Having listened to a narration of the story, I cannot comment on the format of the book, however, I did find some of the female chorus interludes a little bizarre and unnecessary. The narration was done well (aside from the creepy chorus), and overall I enjoyed the story.

This book is definitely written for someone who enjoys Greek history. There were many elements of Greek historical context, and Greek mythology. This book showcased what being a woman during ancient Greece was like for either the peasant woman, the working woman, and royalty. It includes multiple points of views from both men and women.
The story follow the young princess of Crete, Phaedra, and her marriage to the new king of Athens, Theseus. Phaedra learns how to navigate the political landscape of Athens while living in a loveless marriage and yearning for someone whom she can’t have.

After seeing a lot of mixed feedback of this novel, I started to get a bit worried. But as someone who loves mythology and retellings I really enjoyed this story. The narration was incredible and definitely helped pull this together for me and helped me enjoy it even more.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book for review.

DNF at thirty percent. I tried to get into this, and I just couldn't. I feel like that's saying something too since I am a sucker for a good Greek mythology retelling, but that doesn't feel like what this book was. The story was told from too many perspectives and all of them felt so flat and one dimensional. In addition to having nothing to help distinguish these characters from one another they just felt unnecessary, like just to have a large cast and name drop for the sake of it.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this and I'll definitely be on the look out for other Phaedra retellings since this felt like it could have been something I would have really enjoyed had it been executed differently.

I‘m always fascinated with greek mythology but I also don‘t know enough about it to just simply understand everything and therefore I don‘t know how much I can actually review this book.
I can‘t say anything about the accuracy of this retelling but I did enjoy the writing for the most parts.
However, I sadly didn’t really feel a connection with any of the characters and struggled to get through.

I’ve been binge-reading greek mythology retellings recently, particularly those stories that reimagine the roles of women. Phaedra’s tale is one that is traditionally told to make the woman out to be the evil seductress, ultimately responsible for destroying the stepson she seduced and being murdered for it.

Instead, Shepperson takes a look at the more likely scenario – that Phaedra was manipulated by her family, her husband, and her new city – ending in her pregnancy and a trial for her life. I was captivated by this greek tragedy until the last page.

Jade Wheeler, Mary Helen Gallucci, Julia Atwood, Mark Owen, Erin DeWard, Leon Nixon, and Nicky Endres did an excellent job.

The story was just ok, though. I believe Ms. Shepperson was attempting to use the myth to explore the subject of rape and the patriarchy but I just didn't find it very compelling. Phaedra and the rest of the characters fell pretty flat and I didn't find myself ever caring what happened to any of them. I'm struggling to remember much about the thing and I usually love this genre. It was just meh and not really worth going through the trauma of hearing about multiple rapes for 10 hours.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and think it greatly benefited from the audiobook aspect. The narrators really brought to life the idea of it being a story passed on - and the night court chapters were especially haunting. It also helped to distinguish the different chapters - there are SEVERAL points of view, possibly too many, but having a full cast helped with that as well.

I'm honestly not sure why this is called Phaedra, rather than The Heroines, as it is in the UK. It would be a more accurate title - if you go into this thinking it's solely about Phaedra, you may be disappointed. The first half feels a bit slow, and though the trial and events around it are interesting it may be too late to keep interest. The strength of this novel is in its use of the growing concept of democracy and its comparison to modern day sexual assault trials. It hurts, but I found it to be a strong narrative, if ultimately a tragedy.

Overall, a 3.5, and I would definitely read more of her works in the future.

I enjoyed this mythological retelling of Phaedra where we get to hear her story from her own perspective.
The audiobook was well-narrated and I highly appreciated the full cast. The night chorus especially did a great job! It was jarring in sound and in content.
The story itself was good. It could have used some pacing adjustments. I did appreciate Medea's side plot as a fan of Medea and in how Shepperson handled Medea and the question so many have about her: why.
I also appreciated the handling of Ariadne. It might be gruesome to say, but it left me pondering in all the right ways in how divine intervention is often a solution for loose ends. Here, it was not. With that line of thinking, how many other women may have actually suffered rather than just being whisked away by a god? It just proves that typically the main protagonist can land control of the story and spin it to make themself the hero. I am always for more Theseus slander. He is terrible.

An amazing retelling! I really liked a lot of the characters. Phaedra's struggles were very well written and I particularly enjoyed the link she had with Medea and her story. I wish we had seen more of the labyrinth, the brother, the trial, etc. I also really wish the women had supported one another more, especially when it came to Phaedra.

3 Stars for Phaedra by Laura Shepperson

I enjoyed this retelling but it felt a little slow for me at times. It look me a while to get into this and be engaged with the story and there were a lot of characters. Once I hit the 50% mark the story did speed up a little bit but I’m not sure I would’ve finished this book if I hadn’t had it in audiobook format. Greek myth retelling are hard, and while this one is solid, I really struggled to connect with the characters.