This book was certainly an interesting concept. It mixed mythology with colonialism, of all things (she ends up in the colony of Roanoke). It’s full of men you want to hate and sure to incite your feminist rage. I did find some parts slower than others, yet a well placed comment about the uselessness of men would perk my interest back up. Add in budding romance and you’ve got yourself one great book.

Those Fatal Flowers is a unique and beautiful tale of love and femininity.

Thelia is the young lover of Proserpina and a siren. When Proserpina is captured by Dis, Thelia is cursed by Ceres, banished to remain with her sisters on a lonely island. Centuries pass, and Thelia seeks to finally free Proserpina and her sisters. She impersonates a princess, shipwrecked on the coast of colonial Virginia. Eventually, Thelia becomes close to a young woman in the colony, and she seeks revenge on the violent men who have harmed her and others. But will her sacrifice be enough to save her sisters, Proserpina, and herself?

This was a really interesting and unique story. While I appreciated some elements of the story, I felt it was lacking in other areas. The prose was beautifully written, and I enjoyed the shifting timeline of the Greco-Roman past with colonial Roanoke. The sapphic love story was well written and the yearning for Cora was excellent. However, the lack of indigenous characters was an odd choice - despite being a historical fantasy, it still felt like a huge missing piece of the story. The feminine rage was also a huge element of this book, and it was nice to see another reinterpretation of women and women's power in historical settings. Overall, the story was interesting, and a unique approach to this ancient myth.

As a side note, there are some difficult elements in this book - I suggest readers sensitive to certain issues review the content warnings and take care reading.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and to Random House Publishing - Dell for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

An intriguing premise of a book that I found hard to put down. Roman mythology meets with the mysterious disappearance of the Roanoke colony in this dual-timeline novel of love, female fury, and the lengths one will go to protect or avenge those they love.

By weaving the origin of the Sirens from Homer's The Odyssey with the lore of Roanoke, the lost colony, the author creates a narrative that feels both fresh and timeless. I was particularly drawn to Thelia’s perspective: her transformation into a monster—both literal and metaphorical—is a powerful exploration of lost innocence, betrayal, and the darker sides of the gods when you fall out of favor. The Siren sisters exemplify the struggle to retain empathy and compassion in a place where no one is left to give it.

One of the novel’s most striking elements is its depiction of female rage—a searing, elemental force born from centuries of injustice, exploitation, and subjugation. This anger isn’t just reactionary; it’s deeply rooted in the experiences of the characters, from Thelia’s personal tragedy to the systemic oppression of women in the colony. Similarly, the female colonists—depicted as possessions or mere tools for the ambitions of men—highlight the pervasive dehumanization women endured and embody the resilience and quiet defiance in a world that seeks to strip them of agency.

Ives doesn’t shy away from examining the costs of this rage, showing how it can be both empowering and destructive. This theme also intersects with historical injustices faced by Native Americans, a point the book touches on briefly, adding a broader dimension to its exploration of power and oppression of the white colonists and men.

Ives’ lyrical prose is another highlight, drawing readers into a richly imagined world and guiding them through a rollercoaster of emotions. Fans of Madeline Miller will likely appreciate the poetic style and mythological depth.

Readers should be aware that the novel tackles heavy themes, including sexual violence, graphic violence, murder, and the loss of children. All triggers are listed at the beginning of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Shannon Ives, and Random House Publishing for providing an advanced e-copy of this book.

Two legendary islands separated by time—the Sirenum Scopuli and the lost colony of Roanoke—are united in Those Fatal Flowers, a historical romance bridging millennia and cultures. At the center of the story is Thelia: once the companion and lover of Proserpina, now cursed to live with her sisters as a monstrous siren for the crime of not protecting the young goddess from being kidnapped by Dis. As the years roll on and the sisters suffer for Ceres's entertainment, Thelia searches for signs from her lost lover: and one day, she finds them. The sisters can be freed from their curse with a sufficient blood sacrifice, and a certain island is full of men who will make fine sacrifices for the Queen of the Underworld.

Disguised as a human princes seeking a suitor, Thelia ensconces herself in the New World colony. Amidst the residents' unfamiliar religion and rules, she initially witnesses signs that all human males will inevitably turn out as hateful and violent as Dis. But her slow-burn infatuation with Cora—a local woman who bears a striking resemblance to Proserpina—and her growing understanding of the settlement force Thelia to contend with her past preconceptions. There is indeed revenge worth seeking, but against whom?

Those Fatal Flowers appears at first glance to be front-loaded with mid-2010s gender essentialism—the belief that men can be nothing but violent and women can be nothing but their victims without literal divine intervention—but that is our narrator's initial notion, not the message of the book. Thelia is equal parts strong and flawed, her assumptions understandable but also fragile, and her journey in this story challenges even her deepest-held beliefs. The fact that she tells this story in the first person and present tense means we are always given her most current ideas. It also means we can watch those ideas be challenged and changed in real time. There are so many mythological retellings that, in their desperation to modernize, make sweeping backwards motions; this is not one of those books, though Thelia's early mindset is a clear acknowledgment that those books exist. Those Fatal Flowers shows a deep love and understanding for two foggy historical eras. And, as a Virginian who's seen my fair share of Lost Colony-inspired retellings, I was excited to see Ives do something legitimately new with the concept. Despite the darkness threaded through it, it's a book that preaches hope and second chances, especially in its final chapters.

I received a free eARC of "These Fatal Flowers" by Shannon Ives in exchange for a honest review. I fear I honestly would have enjoyed the book much better were it not set about the "mystery" of Roanoke in America.

Ancient Greece and Rome had colonies which came to mysterious ends as well. It wouldn't have been hard to imagine a Siren washing to shore as supposedly it happened in Neapolis or Leukosia were the tomb or shrine of the Siren could be found.

I am also of the opinion that the Sirens weren't cursed to be monsters but served a psychpomp function for sailors to Persephone/Demeter, so it fell a bit short of expectations for me feeling more like Wonder Woman mixing Beauty and the Beast set in the Age of Discovery rather than a Greek myth, which isn't bad, but could have been it's own book and didn't need to have Sirens in Roanoke.

I did read this at the start for the intriguing take of a queer Siren and Persephone, but that stopped being the focus of the story and romance once Cora came into the scene.

Regardless, Thelia's (or Thelxiope) story starts at the side of Proserpina with her sisters Raidne and Pisinoe, where she's in love until a terrible mistake sends her and her sisters in search of Proserpina as Sirens, bird bodied winged women with songs to send sailors to their doom on the shores of Scopuli, lost, like the lost Proserpina.

Until a living man washes up on the island and Proserpina's voice sends Thelia on a quest to undo their curse with the blood of evil men. Coming ashore she plays at being a princess with wealth for her wedded husband to come to Scopuli.

While away from her sisters and helpless in human form, she encounters men and women as she's never known them. She finds love and treachery in both and must still sway the colonies most oppressed to free themselves and her cursed sisters.

Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives combined Greco-Roman mythology with the mystery of the Roanoke colony in a very interesting way with the added bonus of queer characters all wrapped up in beautiful writing. The author mentions some content warnings at the beginning, which readers should take care to read through, because the content is definitely not for everyone. I liked the dual timeline narrative that explains Thelia's backstory and how she gets to Roanoke alongside the present, which is what she does at Roanoke. I've always been curious about what happened at Roanoke, and I think what the author does here is inventive, but the parallelism between the patriarchy and colonialism felt a bit clumsy.

The characters were okay. I'm not sure it was completely necessary that Cora look similar to Thelia's ex-lover, Proserpina. It added some intrigue in the beginning, but it made me wonder later if Thelia would have been interested in Cora at all otherwise. Their chemistry could have been better developed. Will was my favorite and seemed the most complex character, so I'm not a fan of what happened to him. Thomas kind of seemed like a caricature of a Terrible Man, and didn't have that many layers. That said, I do like what happened to him.

The writing is gorgeous. Ives paints the scenes beautifully, both externally and internally, sometimes to the point where I thought it was a bit excessive.

Overall, I enjoyed the read with some caveats. The beginning was a bit slow, but it did pick up and landed with a satisfying ending. I'll definitely keep an eye out for Shannon Ives' future works.

This combined some very odd bits of mythology, conspiracy, and history to create something that I can tell wanted to be boundary pushing but I think it pushed boundaries that are meant to stay in place. While I appreciate feminine rage this didn’t quite hit the mark for me and often left me uncomfortable with the take on American history and North American indigenous peoples.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine, Dell and Random House Publishing Group for this advanced copy. You can pick up Those Fatal Flowers on January 21, 2025.

Shannon Ives weaves mystery and mythology into this heart-wrenching tale about Thelia, a siren and former Greek handmaiden who's now infiltrating the Roanoke colony in "present" day America. While this premise sounds exciting and intriguing, after reading the content warnings at the beginning of the book, I decided to put it down. That doesn't mean others won't be swept away by the magic and beautiful writing in this book. If you enjoy feminine rage, mythology, and sapphic, historical relationships, then this seems to be your book!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

Those Fatal Flowers follows Thelia as she tries to break free from a curse after the woman she loves is taken from her.
The narrative goes back and forth between the past and the present which is one of my favorite forms of storytelling and I think it worked well here. I liked the contrast between the Greco-Roman mythology inspirations and the setting of early America. The characters were well rounded and complex, especially Thelia.
The writing was very polished and beautiful. Ives is excellent at scene setting and descriptions. There were a few times where it felt a little repetitive but that’s just me being nitpicky. This book doesn’t shy away from gore and violence but I think it’s fitting for the story. Overall, I liked it! If you want to read a unique book based on Greco-Roman mythology, I recommend this one.

So there's a lot to be said about this book, and most of the other reviewers have said it much better than I could. I'm not Native American nor do I claim to know everything about the history BUT even I can tell you the setting and use of colonialism was odd. It's so unfortunate because I would have given this 5 stars if it were in almost ANY other setting. The writing, the premise and characters were so interesting it just made me feel weird that they were in Colonial America and yet it wasn't really addressed.

I had initially jumped at the chance to read this book because it was seemed like a good way to branch out of my comfort zone. Though I slowly realized as I got through it that this book wasn’t quite for me. I found the book to be well written but for me it just felt a little all over the place, some parts moved really slowly, while others moved fast; there is potential here though it just missed the mark with me.

What in the world did I read? Using Roanoke was a…choice.

The line that is drawn between the white women’s suffering on Roanoke and the enslavement, genocide, etc of Native Americans.

Just no… everything about this…no

Roanoke meets mythology in this book about feminine rage and the longing for love. While I love the two concepts being mashed together, something didn’t click with me.

First, I want to thank NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Shannon Ives for an Advanced Reader Copy of Those Fatal Flowers. I really enjoyed the premise of this book, and was very excited when my request was approved. There were several things that I liked about the book, and I’ll expand more on those in a minute; however there was one thing that took away most of the enjoyment of this book: the colonialism. It felt unnecessary, especially when Ives tries to justify it by saying that the women are only part of colonizing Roanoke because of their husbands. Two things can be true at once: you can be a victim of terrible things that men do and you can also do terrible things. Being a victim doesn’t absolve you from being an abuser. This novel is inspired by the kidnapping of Persephone, in which her lover/handmaid is cursed to be a siren after Proserpina is kidnapped. With this being a fictitious story, I felt that using the colonization aspect to showcase how brutal men can be was weak because women were also (albeit less) responsible for colonizing indigenous people.

Now for the things that I did enjoy about Those Fatal Flowers: first it’s queer. Not only does it feature a WLW main character, there is also a MLM character and we see these queer characters try to maintain the guise of being heterosexual. Second, I’m a big fan of retelling, and this is a new perspective on The Rape of Persephone that I’ve never seen told in books/ other media. Third, I loved the writing style, it was very passionate and you can really feel Thelia’s emotions throughout the entire book. The dual timeline is great, it shows how Thelia once was and how the loss of her lover has changed her and how much she truly changes throughout the book.

I have to give this book 2.5/5 stars simply because of how icky the colonialism made me feel. If that plot point was different, or if Ives didn’t try to justify women’s part in it, this book would be much higher rated for me.

This arc was really good. Its has greek mythology references, so if you're into that, you will like this book. I recommend it even if you're not. I rated it 4 stars.

I have most recently dipped into fantasy based historical fiction, specifically related to Greek mythology. This did good job of humanizing the characters with a twist. Would consider reading more.

Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives blends Greco-Roman mythology with the mystery surrounding the lost colony of Roanoke. Drawing on the myth of Proserpina (Persephone), it presents a powerful narrative infused with feminine rage and a touch of romance, making it appealing to fans of books like Circe by Madeline Miller and Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. This debut novel features strong writing that creates a vivid world but also tends to move slowly and can be dense in places.

One notable critique is the author’s decision to largely exclude the historical treatment of Native Americans during colonization, a central issue in stories set in this time period. Despite this omission, the book offers an interesting mix of themes worth discussing, making it a potential choice for book clubs. While the novel was enjoyable, it wasn't a standout that I would read again, but I liked it enough that I would try other works by the author.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this had me captivated. Greek mythology, woven with a lost colony myth, and a heavy dose of female rage? I was all in. Unfortunately, the execution fell a bit flat for me.

The writing is strong, I had no issues with the flow or sentence structure. Unfortunately, the story felt a bit muddled. The characters and setting received almost no development, instead relying on preconceived notions of the diabolical nature of male character. And listen, you don’t have to try that hard to convince me that men are philosophically up to no good, but you do have to give me more than cardboard cutout characters on a murky stage.

The love for Greek mythology was here, and those elements were represented well. But we spent most of our time in the Puritan colony of Roanoke, and nothing there was defined or explained. More time spent painting the picture and exploring the characters’ personalities and motivations could have made this a stunner. As it is, it was just okay.

*I received an advanced reader copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review*

At first I thought I might like this more if it was told in a linear story, but I quickly started to enjoy the back and forth from the past to the present. This was brutal to read at times, but a very intriguing story. If you like reading about feminine rage, this is for you. Thank you NetGalley and Dell/Random House Publishing for this free eARC in exchange for an honest review which has already been posted to Goodreads.

3.5 stars rounded up

This book was intense in many ways but also slowed way down in other areas and took a while to get through! It is a LGBT fantasy with historical setting and Greek mythology. I loved Greek and Roman mythology and always found it fascinating and complex, so I wanted to grab this book right up. I found the setting and characters really attention grabbing. Thelia was a complex character, who went through a lot. The writing style was not my favorite, a lot of parts were long and drawn out, which I think done because of the setting and time this story took place, but I did have some trouble getting into the story at first and some sections of the story did feel a bit dull for me. While reading it the timeline from past to present and I do really like the back story and that you get and how Thelia got where she is and why. Overall, I did enjoy this book a lot. There were some things that did not work for me, which is why I am rating it 3.5 stars.
I received an advanced ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.