Thank you to netgalley and Dreamscape for an arc copy of this book. This was a really interesting story. In terms of what happens to the main character, but I would have liked his seen more detail wrapped around the siblings and what happened with them. I feel like the ending was rushed, and additionally what was that night court audio? I skipped over every single one of those because I could not stand listening to it. I think that the best part of the book was the justice, but at the same time it was lost over what exactly happened. So there was some confusion and the book could have came out better, so I'm going to give it 2.5

(3.5/5) To my sometimes-credit/sometimes-detriment, whenever I see a myth retelling, I always request it. I listened to this on audiobook, and found it slightly better than average. Many of the comments I've read about this book mention that though the book is told from many POVs, the characters fall flat or could all be the same person. I did find myself wanting more from the characters, especially Phaedra, but think the audiobook somewhat remedies this problem, both literally and metaphorically, since multiple narrators give it a depth you might not find in a physical copy or ebook version of this book. I wished the characters had more time to develop; some appeared only a few times (so I understand why they wouldn't) but I would have loved to see more from Phaedra, Medea, etc. The one thing I think the audiobook conveyed strongly was the Night Chorus chapters, almost making me wish that there had been more of them.

When it comes to Greek mythology retellings, if you come for the Queens (aka Madeline Miller, Jennifer Saint, etc.) you best not miss. Would recommend if you're apt to pick up any kind of Greek myth retellings, but if you're just starting out, you'd be better off reading Circe or Ariadne.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced audiobook of Phaedra!

I'm a big fan of mythology retellings, especially feminist ones that focus on the women characters who are often forgotten in the original myths. This one follows Phaedra from early childhood to the end of life, and details everything that happened in-between that is often told in only a few pages. The story includes POVs of Phaedra as well as a mix of people she interacts with throughout her life. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook because of the wonder group of narrators who add so much to the book (Narrated by Jade Wheeler, Mary Helen Gallucci, Julia Atwood, Mark Owen, Erin DeWard, Leon Nixon, and Nicky Endres). Without spoiling anything, I loved that is retelling feels like what would "actually" happen in ancient Greece (i.e. the involvement of the gods, the Cretan bull, the minotaur).

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance audio of Phaedra in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own.

Retellings are all the rage right now, especially retelling of the Gods and other mythological entities.

Sadly, this is my least favorite retelling that I have read/listened to yet. I don't really have anything nice to say and I hate giving bad reviews, but this was was severely lacking.

The writing style was extremely juvenile. There were too many random POVs that had absolutely nothing to do with anything and did not add anything of quality to the story. If anything, they took away from it.

I can't really say much else. I finished the audio, but feel like I just wasted my time. I would not recommend this book to anyway and, in fact, would tell others to steer clear of it. And because of this book, I will likely stay away from future titles by this author.

As a lover of Greek Mythology, I was excited for the advanced copy. However, this did not keep my attention in audio format. The narration showed no differentiation in characters, and the setting of the story fell flat, which is hard to do in a mythological world.

Phaedra is a myth retelling of the sister of Ariadne, wife of Theseus, and daughter of King Minos. Before reading this book, I encountered Phaedra in the books Circe and Ariadne so I felt like I had an idea of who she was like as a character and was excited to read a book that was only about her.

First of all, MAJOR trigger warnings for sexual assault and suicide. If you are not in a place to read about those things, skip this book. Most of the book centers around the traumatic sexual assault and the aftermath and you really can't get around this theme. Don't read this book if you are at all sensitive to these areas.

I started out really liking the story and enjoyed the writing. As it kept going and mostly focused on a trial, I got less and less interested. I just felt really badly for Phaedra and what she was going through. I know that her story is a tragic one, but I felt more and more beaten down as the book went on. At the end, I sat there for a while thinking about her tragic end. My overall takeaway from this book was the immense tragedy of the character and how we have not come far enough in society. This isn't really what I expected when I signed on to read Phaedra and was left feeling empty. I'm not necessarily opposed to tragic stories, but I just felt hollowed out at the end. I want to at least enjoy some part of the books I read and I can't really say that about Phaedra besides the fact that I liked some of the writing.

The audiobook is a full cast recording, which is fun! Some of the narration a tad overdramatic at times but I enjoyed it. It also helped me keep the multiple POVs straight.

Overall, I recommend Phaedra if you are already familiar with the character and don't mind tragic stories with graphic violence. I don't recommend it to the casual reader who wants another "Circe." 3 stars from me. Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

The newer Greek mythology reimaginings are often very honest about the dangers to women in 'civilized' patriarchal environments, but the edges are blunted a bit by time. They are scarred over, leaving little doubt as to the danger, but containing something less of the horror.
Phaedra is different; in this narrative, the wound is open and bleeding. From the ongoing chorus to the the bull leaper, and to the plight of Phaedra herself, this is a novel of women trying to gain agency and seek justice in a world full of dangers.
All of these women are leaping bulls, surrounded by men who--however familiar-- can cause them harm just by being men-- significantly more empowered. For women, even a coutly life is no guarantee of safety.
Phaedra is an astonishing book with gorgeous narration and a story truly worthy of being told.

I was really rooting for this book to capture my attention and follow closely in the footsteps of Circe (Miller) like it promised. However, Phaedra felt disjointed as a novel. I listened to this as an audiobook courtesy of NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, so I didn't get to see the format of it like other reviewers. I think the strength of the audiobook was the reader for Phaedra herself (who I believe is Jade Wheeler). The narration itself is lovely, however her skills I think would do better on a stage. The entire novel feels like a hodge-podge of monologues thrown together that center around the event of Crete and Athen's spat. Phaedra's character is painfully naïve and more so a footnote in her own story when tossed in with the flood of characters. The feeling of listening to monologues came in around the 20% mark with Helia's POV. She is a bull leaper of Crete sent to Phaedra as an escort before leaving. I found her waxing of her love for bulls humorous and I wasn't quite sure if it was intended that way. I wasn't able to pin down the tone of the audiobook, aside from women's suffering and the general unequal treatment.
I think the author has great potential for future novels; I'd love to read something original in her style. For me though, I don't think this retelling of a classic myth was something to write home about.

This book lacked the worldbuilding and strong characters to make it a stand-out novel, but the subject matter was enough to keep me reading.

Phaedra is marketed as a feminist retelling of a tragic Greek myth. Phaedra was the young wife Theseus took back to the Athenian court after killing the minotaur. The novel followed her bitter struggle to find safety and comfort in this strange land, where women were objects to be possessed.

The examination of rape culture in Greek mythology is not something that is done often. These tragic old myths were written by men, and therefore portray the heroes and their actions in a positive light. Shepperson really dismantled this by examining Theseus, and other men, and the horrific acts that they did in the old tales. However, I don’t know if this was the best myth to talk about rape. I believe there are out myths that were already perfectly set up for this type of cross-examination. Key points of Theseus' and Phaedra's original myth were altered to fit this narrative.

Phaedra remained naïve and passive throughout the whole story. While I understand that she was very young when all of this is happening, the trauma she endured should have triggered some type of change in her. Since she is our main character, I was expecting more growth throughout the story. It was only at the 85% mark that Phaedra really grew into the heroine I had been waiting for. By that point, I had already resigned myself to a bland character being dragged along by the plot.

The night chorus was by far the best part of the book. To see all the women band together over what they experienced at the hands of the men in Athena, was heartbreaking and beautiful. This section really spoke to everyone who is a woman, and the community we form out of the necessity to feel safe from men. The audio version of the book is an actual chorus of women talking. I felt chills while listening to these sections.

The ending of the story felt like a cop-out. We were really starting to see the growth of Phaedra, and it felt like her last act in the book was not accurate to her character arc. In fact, I feel like it undid all the hard work that had gone into showing that all of these men were taking advantage of Phaedra, and how fed up she was with it. We were at the peak of her character when everything could change, and the author chose the safe route.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscapes for the advanced copy in exchange for a review.

As a lover of greek mythology, I found Phaedra by Laura Shepperson superb! It was well-told, well-written, well-developed, and had wonderful pacing. The story of Phaedra is tragic and raw and real and heartbreaking however Shepperson shined in both her storytelling and sequencing. The audio was electric! There was a full cast who performed wonderfully. The cast also included haunting voices of the spirits of women who came before Phaedra inserted into various events within the audiobook, just fantastic! Highly recommend!

I received a review copy of this audiobook from the publisher, Dreamscape Media, through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I got the audiobook edition, and I will say the voice actors carried so much of this book for me. They did a fantastic job in my opinion, and I think it helped increase my enjoyment with this story. If I had to read this book it would probably all blend together more because despite the multiple (imo TOO MANY) povs, they were all written very similarly and in first person. The main highlight for me were the Night Chorus chapters, where we hear layered voices of the women who have been harmed in the past by the Athens court. Absolutely eerie and enthralling.

However, that is about all I can truly praise.

Phaedra is our main character, and yet it feels like despite everything happening to her, there is little to no character growth on her end. Her naivety never changes, and it is absolutely frustrating to read. The worldbuilding was little to none, giving us a bland backdrop to build a story, and every character feels flat.

Perhaps Greek mythology retellings are just not for me, but I was just not drawn into this story. If you do decide to give this book a try, I highly recommend the audiobook version! Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for granting this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

“That any man can throw words up into the air and it is women who must pay when those words land.”


This unique debut novel takes a look at the life of Phaedra, youngest daughter to Minos and sister to Ariadne. I say this is unique, not in its content, but in its structure. The layout was a bit like reading a Shakespearean novel and did take a bit of adjusting to before I felt comfortable with the style.
Having read Ariadne last year brought this story more to life, even just getting to see Theseus arrival in Crete from Phaedra’s point of view was fascinating. However, this retelling was just okay, there were so many characters to keep track of that it did get a little convoluted at times. But the full cast of narrators did help me appreciated the whole listening experience more.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the alc in exchange for an honest review.

I am always in the market for stories related to mythology so, as soon as I saw this as an option for review, I submitted a request.

As so many stories tend to focus on the people around Phaedra, I was excited to read a story more centered on her. This book is described as a "powerful feminist retelling of Phaedra" so I was thrilled to be able to get an early audio arc of it. Some people are much more familiar with her sister Ariadne, but, for some, the story does not always extend to include Phaedra in as large a role.

Having received the audiobook arc of this book, I was able to dive in quickly with the actors reading the parts of different characters. It did give much more texture and emotion to the story being able to hear someone read it. Because there were so many points of view, I felt that we maybe missed out on focusing on Phaedra and our main narrative/character, but it really brought other stories to the spotlight. One of the main things that came out of listening to this book was the want to research the tales of other characters brought up/discussed.

I am a very visual person, so I love when I'm able to picture settings clearly in my mind. There were a few settings that I could picture quite clearly in my mind's eye, but I felt the story focused more on the thoughts/concerns/inner turmoil of the characters rather than describing where they were. I would be curious to see what subjects the author focuses on in the future.

*Trigger Warning: A lot of mythology deals with some harsh situations (such as assault (SA especially), belittling of women, harming of children, physical violence, and more) and those were definitely at the forefront of the story.

Thank you so much to the author, Laura Shepperson, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio arc of Phaedra!

Read via Audio
For fans of: mythology, women centric stories, full cast audiobooks

I cannot and will not resist a Greek Mythology retelling… ever. I’m so glad I requested “Phaedra” by Laura Shepperson, when it came up for request on NetGalley, this month. Let’s dive right into the things I really enjoyed about this novel;

This is a terrific audiobook. If you’re trying to get into audiobooks, or if you primarily enjoy audiobooks I always recommend a full-cast narration. We get a stunning seven, yes seven, narrators; Jade Wheeler, Mary Helen Gallucci, Julia Atwood, Mark Owen, Erin Deward, Leon Nixon and Nicky Endres. These talented voice actors bring each character to life. The novel is constructed in a homage to the Greek play of ancient times, another thing I loved, and the tonal shifts often present in those plays is here, in the novel. The changing voices make the shifts all the more meaningful. It was a bit cinematic and quite entertaining because of the audiobook. My favorite part of the novel, which also ties into the narration and play-esque form, was the use of a choral voice. It was so well crafted, and the overlapping emotions, thoughts, judgements, empathies, came to life in a very effective and moving way. It might have been the most emotional part of the story, in my opinion. Shepperson explores sexual assault, primarily, but also the lack of power and agency for women (in the time of the telling but also as it echoes justice for victims, today). This is not only a poignant point to make but one we see reflected in many retellings, because of the universal nature of the themes and the continued lack of agency for women across the world. This is a debut and the risks taken by the author are commendable. I cannot wait to see what more Laure Shepperson does. This was quite promising. Not to mention, the language is quite accessible and this could be a great way into mythological retellings, which is always welcome!

On the flip side, there were things that didn’t work as well for me; the writing and the lack of nuanced exploration of themes and it was hindered by my own consumption of mythology retellings (and the classics). I pick up multiple myth retellings a year, and have for years. I don’t think I’m hyper critical of the sub genre till I read one I don’t particularly enjoy. It takes a lot to stand out, and a lot to meet my personal taste. For this reason, and because it is a debut I won’t be rating it a lower than a three star. I firmly believe that this could be a good introduction to retellings for many readers. The writing, overall, really tripped me up. While I would have liked a deeper exploration of the themes and perhaps more nuance in the telling (more show not tell), the biggest gripe I have is that it seems to want to be planted in ancient times but there are phrases like “blew a raspberry” that stick out like a sore thumb. The writing itself is not lyrical or evocative, throughout, so having these modern words pop up took me out even more. I didn’t feel connected to the characters or moved (outside of my normal feelings of empathy). I’m an emotive reader, I cry a lot, but this felt so distant. I think what worked for the audio, will hurt this as a physical read. It would have benefited from being told, solely, from Phaedra’s perspective, creating a connection between her and the reader. There were many scenes that seemed unrealistic, mostly in the character dynamics. Phaedra seems too naive, and some of the servant characters are much more bold towards those in power than would have been expected. For all these reasons I can’t widely recommend it as a physical read or rate it any higher.

All that said, I did - as expected - have a good time reading it. I hope if you’ve read my review and been drawn to the positives you pick it up! It’s out January 10th in the US (just a couple of days) and the audiobook is terrific. I think a lot of people are going to enjoy that full-cast.

+ Thank you to NetGalley for early access to “Phaedra”, what a treat!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the AudioARC of this book.

I read a lot of retellings and books based on Greek mythology so I’m always excited for a new spin on a classic story.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The full cast brought it to life and captured the futility and powerlessness of the women.

One of the things I found most compelling about this book is the idea that the Cretans were the “good guys.” In every other iteration of this story Minos has been a villain or at least morally grey. Using Athenian youths to feed his power, and literally his monster. I would have liked this differing perspective and some of the other stories to be more well developed as it could have added to the richness of the book.

As a character driven book, we only scratched the surface of some of the prominent characters. I understand Phaedra was meant to be the focus but with the alternating POVs, I would have liked more development. Even Phaedra’s development was minimal, she was the least interesting of all the characters.

What is mildly disappointing is that as the title character Phaedra’s naivety, piety and “morality” form together to make her seem rather dumb and dull. She is a tragic character, so I understand it to a point. Unfortunately, beyond the base level of empathy for her experiences as a person, as a woman, I simply do not care about her.

That being said, the production was great and I enjoyed the experience so bravo to the narrators.

There is so much potential here and I would pick up the author’s next book.

*edited to add*

I originally gave this book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 but after reading the blurb I felt it was necessary to adjust my rating to 3. This book claims to be a powerful feminist retelling in which Phaedra, bent but not broken, rails against the patriarchy. But I did not get that from this book.

Phaedra is a tool of the patriarchy from the beginning of this book until the end. She is used to further the agenda of man after man and in her naivety she ignores the women around her causing harm to every woman in her wake. She is a tragic character. A character blinded by her naivety and privilege. She is not a feminist icon.

3.75 out of 5. I enjoy a good Greek retelling. I probably would have enjoyed this story more if I had read it instead of going for the audiobook version of it. For me the formatting used on Netgalley's audiobook format really took away from my experience. That being said I will likely purchase the physical copy of the book to see if that changes my perception of the story.

This book was not what I expected it to be! It was quite well done, especially considering the dark story that this retelling told. I’ve read books about the Minotaur, Ariadne, Medea, Hercules and even Jason, but I have never read one about Phaedra before. When I saw this book was coming out I knew I had to read it.

But boy, was this tale dark. You are 100% going to want to check out the trigger warnings before you venture into this book. While I think this book could have been incredible, I think this one just had far too much going on in it to make complete sense. While the different POVs worked with one another, I think there were way too many. It became a task to keep up with and if I hadn’t had both a digital and audio version to work through together, I would never have understood what was going on.

Phaedra was a force to be reckoned with in the later chapters of this book and I really appreciated her fight for what was right rather than running away from her trauma. I enjoyed learning more about her and what her life could have looked like as the youngest sister of Ariadne and the Minotaur. It was really interesting!

Overall, this book was quite dark, full of sexual violence and death, and had too many narrators. Other than that, it was a pretty well done retelling and I enjoyed reading through it as a piece of fiction.

⚠️TW: rape, sexual assault, sexual violence, confinement, grief, incest, child death, abortion, adult/minor relationship

Thank you @macmillan.audio , @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review! All of the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

If you promise a feminist retelling I expect badass woman MCs getting justice and revenge and surviving the story. I was very let down by this.

I am not super knowledgeable about Greek myths and the gods and goddesses but I have previously loved books like Circe and so I was willing to give it a shot. Unfortunately Phaedra just fell so flat. It's told through so many point of views and they're all first-person and so if you miss the two second part at the beginning of a chapter where they say who the character is, you are lost. It would have been beneficial for the audiobook to actually have a second where they say "Chapter One" and then the character's name just to really distinguish between chapters. This was also difficult in the net galley audiobook because if you've ever had a net galley audio the table of contents is just the title of the book over and over and over again and so figuring out what chapter you're on to like go back and figure it out is very difficult.

I want to be really honest and say that one of the narrators really ruined this for me. I want you to picture a pretentious person who accentuates specific words with an over exaggerated accent. A great very popular example of this is Giada DiLaurentis and the way that she over enunciates stereotypical Italian words. One of the narrators does this to all of the Greek god and goddesses names. Like instead of saying Artemis she says Art- TEE -mis and instead of saying Poseidon she says Pos-AA- DoHn. Like it is exhausting and so annoying. There were some of the names that she literally said so differently that I had to re-listen to figure out who the heck it was and because I didn't have an e-book or a physical copy I had no way of going back and looking at the spelling. And then because there's multiple narrators when another narrator comes in and says the word correctly, you kind of get confused about who they're talking about because the main woman narrator has continuously mispronounced the word.

Okay but then to just have Phaedra be killed at the end and nothing happened to Theseus. This is supposed to be a feminist retelling full of justice. Where is the justice? Where is the feminism?

This whole book is based on the fact that Phaedra is raped and they go to a trial basically and there's no justice. There is a lot of classism and there's no feminism. Like the other women in this book are so mad at Phaedra for bringing this to trial because it's making their lives more difficult because if they, as maids and slaves were to ever accuse their rapists they would be laughed out and punished where is Phaedra, who is a queen, is allowed this right. And even her right is continuously being laughed at and judged still and still ending in death.

Honestly, a big let down. Would not recommend.

First off, I have to start by saying I will read and love any version of Greek mythology being reimagined and retold.

I think this was brilliantly written. An old tale, told using modern words and beliefs in a feminist way.

There was a large cast of characters which could be confusing because that's a lot of POVs and different narrations. The audio book absolutely knocked the telling of them out the park.

I could only feel sympathy for poor Phaedra. She's the "lesser" princess, taken away to a far off land as a hostage, I mean, bride. She's ignored by her husband which is probably for the best because it's Theseus. And let's be honest, he's a pretty foul person dubbed hero in too many stories.

Madea was probably my favorite character and if the author continues writing retellings, I'd love to hear hers...and in the voice of who portrayed her here. It was amazing and really added depth to the character.

I found the night court to be such an intriguing added value to the dialogue. It's the women in history we never hear. That are ignored, abused, misused. They gave our Phaedea the backbone to do what she needed to be done when she was r*ped. They gave her strength, courage and resolve. She might otherwise had listened to her maid and gone back home in the middle of the night.

This was an easy to like book for me. Even with the unhappy ending for quite a few of our cast. I think the takeaway here is that throughout history when men tell the story, women aren't victims or important enough to be heard. When a woman tells the story, we hear how much we've been through and how much we still go through. What's really changed from then and now?

Dnf at 55% I really tried to get into this story but I just couldn't. The characters were bland, underdeveloped, and lacked depth. The "feminist" slant in my opinion was over the top to a point that it was preachy and annoyed me. The multiple points of view don't work well for me in this book. I believe writing solely from Phaedra's pov and developing her more would have been a better choice.

I did receive the audiobook version and the voice actors did a good job.

2/5 stars.. the potential is here but it missed the mark for me.