The wails must have filled the air as mothers watched their children sicken and die before their eyes, soldiers slumped across the battlefields, and the mighty city—which found that it was, like all cities, made strong only by weak, human flesh—began to sink beneath the piled-up corpses of the plague my father had brought.

The most famous part of Ariadne's story, helping Theseus escape the labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur, is only the beginning of this sweeping mythological novel. Years later, it is apparent that both women bear the scars of sorrow, love, betrayal and now deep seeded suspicion of each other as the events that shaped them now threatens to pull them apart. Jennifer Saint grew up reading Greek mythology and was always drawn to the untold stories hidden within the myths.Saint has absolutely stunning prose and I got completely lost in this beautiful, fiercely feminist story.

Saint definitely went the Greek tragedy route, without modernizing this story, telling a different version, or fleshing it out enough. Later I learned that to Minos the labrys represented the power of Zeus, used to summon the thunder—a mighty display of dominance.Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. A beautiful epic…In a world ruled by temperamental, petulant gods, Ariadne is a shining beacon of female strength and courage—making this a story that’s impossible to forget. She has also witnessed their wrath, unfairly brought down upon Pasiphae by Poseidon, the sea god, because of Minos’s transgressions against him.

An ancient story of love and sisterhood reimagined, Jennifer Saint's Ariadne is a truly masterful debut—compulsive, absorbing and lyrical. The plot unfolds with Ariadne choosing the man of her dreams over her family and becomes a condemned exile in Naxos. Even without music it could muffle the distant rumble that groaned beneath our feet and the skitter of tremendous hooves far below the ground at the heart of the construction that had truly cemented Daedalus’ fame. Ariadne is a fascinating character and it was so compelling to read the story from her point of view.Perseus grew to be a worthy son of his shining father and, as all heroes must do, he conquered a terrible monster and relieved the world of her ravages. There isn’t a great deal of character development for Ariadne and, for the most part, she is a bit of a victim throughout.