It was also described as a ‘sapphic’ reimagining, so there are some LGBTQ+ themes in there. What inspired you to include that in the story? A lovely, lyrical fantasy which takes the fate of the hanged maids of the Odyssey and weaves something brand new. A story overflowing with emotion and full of magic. Jennifer Saint, bestselling author of Ariadne and Elektra

The plot. What can I say about the plot? As I've written before it's intriguing, but there are many dei ex machina, so many convenient moments, put there to help the story going on. I will write them in the end, so be careful of the spoilers. As for her hair, a ribbon to keep the longer strands from her face normally sufficed, though she supposed it would not stop it getting caught in a hangman’s noose.blood. She debated spitting that into his face too, but before she had evaluated whether the brief satisfaction would be worth another beating, the guard had straightened and turned away. A wondrous tale of love, death, and sacrifice. The vivid characters give depth and adventure to a story with roots in classic Greek mythology.” — Natasha Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of Skin of the Sea And just to top this all off, the dialog is way too modern and littered with anachronisms: “dear me”, “darling”, “sweetheart”, “spoiled brat”, calling royalty “your grace”. Again, this makes me think the author reads a lot of medieval fantasy (or watches too much GoT) and doesn’t know that all that stuff doesn’t actually translate into Ancient Greece. Or doesn't, and doesn't realize people didn't talk this way in the past. 50/50 chance. Sexuality is complex when you look at the Ancient Greeks. They didn’t classify it in the same way we did. There are lots of ‘gay’ relationships that weren’t really the same as how we see them now. Achilles and Patroclus are quite famous, and Zeus and Ganymede, but lesbian and queer women relationships were not really ‘allowed.’ As a queer woman, I want to read about them, but publishing is slow to change. We’re seeing more representation now, but it wasn’t around when I was in my teens; only in the last 3 or 4 years. So, I wanted to write something for myself as a teen. Considering queerness also adds more complexity to their stories.]

Gorgeous, tragic, and timeless, Underwood's Lies We Sing to the Sea makes an age-old story feel new again. This is Greek tragedy at its best: sweeping in scope yet deeply intimate in characterization. This book will break your heart.- Grace Li (Sunday Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief) Cursed by Poseidon, each spring twelve maidens are hanged to sated his wrath. That's the price for the twelve maids Penelope killed centuries ago. That's the fate for Leto, but, instead, she wakes up to a mysterious island with a mysterious girl and not completely human. Neither of them. A girl named Melantho, who told her the only way to save Ithaca and thousands future girls is to kill the prince. But nothing is ever this simple in love and war. Gorgeous, tragic, and timeless, Lies We Sing to the Sea makes an age-old story feel new again. This is Greek tragedy at its best: sweeping in scope yet deeply intimate in characterization. This book will break your heart and you’ll be grateful for it.”— Grace D. Li, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief

See a Problem?

And she has the gall to confidently claim that there's been no retelling of The Odyssey that portrays Penelope as complex and not blameless, as if Margaret Atwood were a nobody that never wrote a Penelopiad years before this author was around. Or as if Robert Graves, British like this author, didn't write a retelling based on the theory that The Odyssey had a female author. Oh, no, not at all! This chit is a pioneer, so let's wipe other and much better authors out of history. "I'm very rigorous with my research," indeed! So rigorous you didn't read The Odyssey even though you claim to own several translations. Girl, I have sixteen translations of it, and twenty-three of The Iliad, you're not going to impress me with bragging about owning that many translations if you don't read them. Impress me by reading them all and comparing them, for a start. In a time of typewriters and steam engines, Iris Winnow awaits word from her older brother, who has enlisted on the side of Enva the Skyward goddess. Alcohol abuse led to her mother’s losing her job, and Iris has dropped out of school and found work utilizing her writing skills at the Oath Gazette. Hiding the stress of her home issues behind a brave face, Iris competes for valuable assignments that may one day earn her the coveted columnist position. Her rival for the job is handsome and wealthy Roman Kitt, whose prose entrances her so much she avoids reading his articles. At home, she writes cathartic letters to her brother, never posting them but instead placing them in her wardrobe, where they vanish overnight. One day Iris receives a reply, which, along with other events, pushes her to make dramatic life decisions. Magic plays a quiet role in this story, and readers may for a time forget there is anything supernatural going on. This is more of a wartime tale of broken families, inspired youths, and higher powers using people as pawns. It flirts with clichéd tropes but also takes some startling turns. Main characters are assumed White; same-sex marriages and gender equality at the warfront appear to be the norm in this world.

The characters are not so much developed, I couldn't see their growing or the chemistry between them. It felt a bit off, not as much as forced, but expected. It wasn't a great build up, many things were expected, as the jealous Mathias' friend, their bonding, or the ending. A lot of this book feels downright derivative. There’s a dude named Alexios and I just…did the author play Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and decide to write a book? Maybe it’s a common ancient Greek name, but sheesh, makes me wonder. There are several other names that happen to also be prominent in AC:O and I am side-eyeing the author HARD. And then there’s the hidden island with a barrier that makes it invisible to the outside world, where not even storms can get through the protective barrier - uh, Wonder Woman, anyone?

A fantasy romance, by dazzling new talent Sarah Underwood, inspired by Greek mythology and the tale of Penelope's twelve hanged maids. But now, apologizing silently to the maid, who would doubtless be punished for her oversight, she exploded into action.

same energy as kids being like “I have so much experience with being a LGBT person” when they’re like 15 and on tiktok and the oldest gay person they know is 25 In that task, Underwood succeeds in spades. As a YA fantasy there are times where the story reads young for my taste, even though the content is quite adult (as all Greek myths are). But my tastes aside, I am glad this story is in the world. And I say this after reading it. Dear me,” he purred. His eyes were the blue of a cloudless day and they flashed with malice. “Did you get lost?” She pitched herself forward onto the shears, concealing them beneath the masses of her skirts. “Don’t leave me!” she cried out. “Don’t let me die!” Now, though . . . It is almost time. She knew exactly what it was almost time for. The sacrifices took place at noon, when the equinox sun had reached its peak in the sky.Frequently, Mathias notes the wealth of Athens and how marriage to his betrothed will bring some financial prosperity to Ithaca. He also references the might of the Athenian army. Unfortunately, during this time Athens is– again, quite famously– embroiled in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta. A war they lose!! This led to the replacement of the Delian League (essentially a Greece centered around the leadership of Athens) with a period known as Spartan Hegemony, lasting until the 3rd century BCE. Calling Athens wealthy and a military power in this time is dreadfully inaccurate. Here’s another doozy. Leto walks past a tapestry depicting Achilles’ death and yes, it does show him being shot with an arrow in the heel. And yet, the Iliad describes no such death for the famous warrior. This detail was not added until the first century CE by the Romans. As for the mythology aspect of it, I'm not really acquainted with the Greek myths so I'll leave people who know the stories and have read the Odyssey ( yes, the Odyssey Miss Underwood. The real thing) to judge the accuracy of the facts mentioned. It is clear tho that the author took a lot of liberties writing this. Leto, who is currently embroiled in a love triangle, has the audacity to get jealous over Melantho’s long dead former lover Every year, 12 girls are sacrificed to sea god Poseidon to save the Ithacan people from starvation.