Driven to keep up with Artemis’ prodigious skill, Orion became desperate to impress,” continued my mother. It is a beautiful exploration of the bond of sisterhood, the challenges of womanhood and the desire to forge one's own destiny in a world dominated by the will of heroes and gods. A page-turner…If you like Madeline Miller's Circe and Son of Achilles, you will eat up Ariadne, a retelling of yet another engrossing and horrifying classic Greek myth. Her punishment, to fall into obsessive love with a bull, resulted in the Minotaur, Ariadne’s half-human, half-bull brother.

Saint joins the likes of Madeline Miller and Pat Barker in forging mesmerising retellings of ancient Greek myths from a female perspective.

The story follows the lives and loves of Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, her sister Phaedra, Theseus, a prince of Athens and Dionysus, the god of wine. Due to a lifelong fascination with Ancient Greek mythology, Jennifer Saint read Classical Studies at King’s College, London.

Perhaps he hoped he would win over her vow of celibacy if he could slaughter enough living creatures to earn her admiration. Ariadne is the granddaughter of the sun god and sister of the Minotaur, a monstrous bull with a taste for human blood. News of this deed had only recently reached our court, and we’d all marveled over his courage and shivered to imagine his shield, which now bore the Gorgon head and turned all who looked upon it immediately into stone.Her favorite genre to read is literary fiction, especially by female authors, and she also enjoys dystopian novels. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this exceptional debut novel is perfect for fans of CIRCE, A SONG OF ACHILLES, and THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS.

All in all, it is an intriguing concept to provide an overall story for Ariadne and she is certainly an interesting enough figure from mythology. We’ve been reading and writing together as long as we can remember, and we’re excited to share our bookish thoughts with you! Indeed, it is said that even the monstrous Cerberus who guards the Underworld can be tamed with a honey cake! Books are dispatched in cardboard packaging and dust jackets are placed in removable protective covers. The voices were too similar, and while I liked Phaedra’s storyline at first, it quickly did a nose dive.

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. This is an essential book in the new and rising volume of retelling from the women's point of view - so revealing and questioning. I would shudder at her description of the legendary beast, squeezing my eyes shut as I saw it rise in front of me, unimaginably hideous and cruel. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. 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.

After a few years, Ariadne and Dionysus are staying together for the kids and hoping that a couples vacation to Athens will spice things up.

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne’s decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending?