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Lies We Sing to the Sea
Each spring, Ithaca condemns twelve maidens to the noose. This is the price vengeful Poseidon demands for the lives of Queen Penelope’s twelve maids, hanged and cast into the depths centuries ago.
But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand.
The prince of Ithaca must die—or the tides of fate will drown them all.
Sarah Underwood weaves an epic tapestry of lies, love, and tragedy, perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Alexandra Bracken, and Renée Ahdieh.
But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand.
The prince of Ithaca must die—or the tides of fate will drown them all.
Sarah Underwood weaves an epic tapestry of lies, love, and tragedy, perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Alexandra Bracken, and Renée Ahdieh.
424 pages, Hardcover
First published March 7, 2023
917 people are currently reading
52894 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Underwood
3 books466 followersSarah Underwood grew up in Devon, England. A data scientist by training, she obtained her MEng in Computational Bioengineering at Imperial College, London and her MPhil in Population Health Sciences at the University of Cambridge. She is now studying for her PhD at the University of Oxford.
Sarah’s first novel, Lies We Sing to the Sea, became an instant New York Times, indie, and international bestseller.
Sarah’s first novel, Lies We Sing to the Sea, became an instant New York Times, indie, and international bestseller.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,276 reviews
sampled-and-declined
December 8, 2025I do not comment on books I haven't read and/or do not plan to read, but for this time I'm going to make an exception because this is just too much and I can't stay silent: This author hasn't read The Odyssey, yet she dared write this retelling of The Odyssey.
Yes, as you read it.
It sounds like a joke in poor taste, but it's true. You can see her candid admission in a now deleted interview. Unfortunately for the author, the Wayback Machine exists, and you can read the interview here, judge for yourself.
Now you understand why I don't read Greek myth retellings anymore even though it's my favourite mythology? Because commercialism, greed, ignorance, and arrogance have brought us this low, to this rock bottom low where it's perfectly acceptable for an author to not read the source of a myth they're retelling, and still proclaim their "love" for it. A "love" they got from, wait for it, children's books and YA retellings like Percy Jackson and The Song of Achilles.
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.
It's just unbelievable, really unbelievable. I just can't wrap my head round this sheer display of utter stupidity coated with arrogance. And publishers took this book up!
_____________________________
Update December 2025:
To answer questions: No, I don't plan to read and review this book for reasons stated above that don't make it worth my while, and also because there was already a superb & very detailed review on top that got deleted when the user left Goodreads.
And also no, I don't plan to review Emily Wilson's translation of "The Odyssey." I do own a copy and have read it, but I no longer review mythology books.
Yes, as you read it.
It sounds like a joke in poor taste, but it's true. You can see her candid admission in a now deleted interview. Unfortunately for the author, the Wayback Machine exists, and you can read the interview here, judge for yourself.
Now you understand why I don't read Greek myth retellings anymore even though it's my favourite mythology? Because commercialism, greed, ignorance, and arrogance have brought us this low, to this rock bottom low where it's perfectly acceptable for an author to not read the source of a myth they're retelling, and still proclaim their "love" for it. A "love" they got from, wait for it, children's books and YA retellings like Percy Jackson and The Song of Achilles.
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.
It's just unbelievable, really unbelievable. I just can't wrap my head round this sheer display of utter stupidity coated with arrogance. And publishers took this book up!
_____________________________
Update December 2025:
To answer questions: No, I don't plan to read and review this book for reasons stated above that don't make it worth my while, and also because there was already a superb & very detailed review on top that got deleted when the user left Goodreads.
And also no, I don't plan to review Emily Wilson's translation of "The Odyssey." I do own a copy and have read it, but I no longer review mythology books.
June 17, 2022
1 star because this isn't a retelling. This is a story that appropriates Greek culture to the max. The author took parts and bits that she liked, threw them in and added ancient Greece as an aesthetic. She admitted in an interview that she didn't even finish the Odyssey! She said it was too prosey and impenetrable. Here in Greece mind you MIDDLE SCHOOLERS read it as a subject in their school. How can you claim to retell a story if you haven't read the original in the first place? She said that all of her knowledge was through kids' books like Percy Jackson and wikis while at the same time saying that she was "Very rigorous in her research" and that she "Loves Greek mythology!". She could have just written this as a random YA story or at least say that it's not a retelling, it's loosely inspired by the Odyssey but nooo, she had to call it a retelling to hop into the trend of myth retellings. Oh and let's not forget how she said that this has never been done before when I can think of at least two other Odyssey retellings (actual ones this time).
Want to read
April 18, 2023(edit 18.4.23: I'm a little late but apparently this is getting an adaptation. So many good mythology retellings and this is the one they go with? This is my villain origin story)
(edit 16.6.22: they took the interview down lmao. here's the interview the author doesn't want you to see)
not this author writing a reimagining of the odyssey without having actually read it. to think I was hyped for this
(edit 16.6.22: they took the interview down lmao. here's the interview the author doesn't want you to see)
not this author writing a reimagining of the odyssey without having actually read it. to think I was hyped for this
March 31, 2023
Lies We Sing To The Sea is severely under researched, underdeveloped, and ultimately (forgive the triad) underwhelming. I had many issues with the book but I’ll start with what I enjoyed:
-The ending did genuinely take me by surprise and in a good way.
-The prose itself was not bad, it was even beautiful at times.
Now, for the stuff I was not a fan of: Reading the blurb for the book, you might think you understand the premise or the stakes. And yet they both get lost in the muddle of the plot’s forward momentum. It was so unnecessarily convoluted and not in a way that could possibly be intentional. What information is known and what secrets are being kept vary throughout. Certain scenes contradict each other and plot revelations are even repeated, as if the characters and the readers weren’t already aware! The plot lacks internal logic for why and when things happen except that it’s convenient for whatever scene is currently playing out. The premise and exposition explicitly states that Poseidon was offended by the unnecessary murder of Penelope’s twelve maids three hundred years ago and his punishment is to curse Ithaca and to demand as punishment? penance?, get this, that twelve more innocent girls be hanged and sacrificed every year to his waters. It is never explained how exactly the murder of more girls is meant to absolve Ithaca of its crimes. The exact parameters of the curse are never explained and while it is implied the yearly sacrifice keeps Poseidon appeased, it doesn’t really elaborate on why Ithaca still suffers (in the vaguest terms, we know the kingdom lacks money and food, but this is never truly investigated).
As you can see in the blurb, surprise! Every so often a sacrificed girl is transformed into a creature of the sea (what exactly this creature is? not sure!) who then washes up on a beach and meets Melantho, another girl turned into one of Poseidon’s creatures who is in charge of training the spared girl to fight and kill a prince (Queue training montages!). Why might you ask? Well it depends on what part of the book you’re reading because this answer is as unpredictable as the Sea God’s mood. How often is a girl spared? Unclear! Why are they spared? Unclear! Why would Poseidon set up such a convoluted plot to have princes murdered when he could just demand the lives of the princes outright? UNCLEAR! How does Poseidon choose when and which girls he will save? UN!!!CLEAR!!! (and yea, when I say unclear I do unfortunately mean these questions are never answered or they’re given multiple vague and contradictory answers).
There are so many plot holes and ex machinas it was giving me a headache. Here’s a particularly egregious example: The twelve girls sentenced to die are chosen by Poseidon by receiving a scale-mark along their necks. At various points in the book it is implied or outright stated that everyone on Ithaca knows of the yearly sacrifice, that no one really knows about it, and that word of the sacrifices has spread across the Mediterranean. It is never explained exactly how the marked girls are found and located and it explicitly states they can come from all across the Island. I really can’t emphasize enough how frequent these types of plot holes and inconsistencies are. When there is a problem encountered in the plot, an ex machina or a quick revision to the canon is introduced. For example, the book wants Mathias to feel awful for the sacrificed girls and in order to set up a love triangle, wants to emphasize his instant connection to Leto, so he focuses on her during the sacrifice. He takes in the details of her face, wanting to remember her in order to honor her. But when they meet again and the book needs him to believe her assumed identity? This scene is entirely forgotten and he doesn’t question who she claims to be!!
These kinds of issues appear over and over and over in the book and frankly, it’s not good storytelling. In addition to being convoluted, it is often nonsensical, and perhaps worst of all? It’s deeply boring. For a supposedly politics heavy premise, there is almost no actual politics. The characters are flat and the traits they do claim to have are just that– claims. E.g. You don’t SEE Leto resent her father, her inner monologue just informs you she resents him. Subplots come and go depending on convenience and don’t carry much importance at all.
A huge, huge problem with this book is how poorly researched it is. This is a historical fantasy inspired by a small section of the Odyssey set in approximately the 4th century BCE Greece. I am by no means a scholar of Greek mythology or history but I know enough and even with my limited knowledge, I could tell immediately that the author did not do comprehensive research on the time period or culture she was writing about. I’m sure there were plenty of inaccuracies I missed and even so, the anachronisms and instances of downright revisionist history are too numerous to name. The setting feels nothing like Ancient Greece nor do the characters feel honest to the era. They do not think and act like people raised in the culture and religion of Ancient Greece. The way they discuss death and faith and politics feels distinctly modern. Prince Mathias himself, is a walking anachronism. Mathias is the Greek form of Matthew, not something that a 4th century BCE pagan prince of Ithaca would be named.
The description of the region’s political landscape is wholly ahistorical. Prince Mathias’ betrothed is a ‘Princess of Athens’ and she names her parents as the King and Queen of Athens. Athens, quite famously, was not ruled by a king in the 4th century BCE. Yes, King Theseus of Athens is mentioned by Homer, but a google search would reveal that King Theseus is a key figure in the founding myth of Athens and its democracy. Athens developed democracy in the 6th century BCE, two hundred years before the story is set. So, there are no Athenian princesses to be found!!
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.
What is most frustrating about this is how easily accessible this information is. Reading the wikipedia page for Theseus or Achilles or the History of Athens would reveal these facts. It is not super niche knowledge. Does every book have to be perfectly accurate to history? Absolutely not. But this is a case of insufficient research. Given the sheer volume of contrived information, I don’t understand why this was not a second world fantasy.
[the following paragraph discusses a non consensual kiss and vague mentions of sexual violence. brackets after the paragraph mark the end of the triggering content.]
Now, here’s something I really, really took issue with. One of the main characters, Melantho, has experienced sexual violence in her past. Despite this, when Leto goes to kiss her for the first time– she does not ask consent! For context, it is a mutual pining situation, but neither know it’s mutual. When the kiss happens, they are sharing a bed (not by choice, it’s a ‘only one bed trope’ situation– something Melantho’s inner monologue previously mentioned made her uncomfortable. Mostly because she believes her feelings are unrequited, but still! The point is she’s in a location the story noted she felt uncomfortable.) and it’s Leto’s POV. She describes the urge to kiss Melantho as coming out of nowhere and an impulsive choice. Yes, Melantho does reciprocate enthusiastically, but it really bothered me that Leto didn’t ask for consent. Later in the book, when Mathias goes to kiss Leto, he asks for consent! So why not now? When one of the characters involved deals with the trauma of sexual violence? Honestly, it upset me and it was disrespectful.
[end of TW]
Here are some other things I took particular issue with:
-Leto, who is currently embroiled in a love triangle, has the audacity to get jealous over Melantho’s long dead former lover
-There’s a side character in love with Mathias and of course she’s villainized for it. Tired! Boring! Overdone!!
-Less than a page is dedicated to explaining Leto’s fraught relationship with her father and I kid you not it is a copy-paste of Katniss and her mother’s relationship minus a sister. Except that you don’t even see this relationship in action, Leto’s inner monologue just gives a quick summary of it.
-Just because the ‘centuries old, immortal being x 18 year old’ trope is sapphic does not mean I find it any less flip flopping annoying and off-putting.
Honestly, I could go on and on with all the issues in this book. There were plenty of huge plot holes and inaccuracies that made Lies We Sing To The Sea a major disappointment. But i’ll leave you with this. Am i discouraging people from picking this up? No. Would I personally recommend the book? Also no.
TWs for the book: sexual violence (discussed at length and the circumstances are described but i wouldn’t consider it an extremely graphic depiction), sexual assault against a minor, pedophilia, rape, murder, human sacrifice, suicide, injury/injury detail, toxic parental relationship, gore, grief, child abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, animal death, panic attack, abandonment
-The ending did genuinely take me by surprise and in a good way.
-The prose itself was not bad, it was even beautiful at times.
Now, for the stuff I was not a fan of: Reading the blurb for the book, you might think you understand the premise or the stakes. And yet they both get lost in the muddle of the plot’s forward momentum. It was so unnecessarily convoluted and not in a way that could possibly be intentional. What information is known and what secrets are being kept vary throughout. Certain scenes contradict each other and plot revelations are even repeated, as if the characters and the readers weren’t already aware! The plot lacks internal logic for why and when things happen except that it’s convenient for whatever scene is currently playing out. The premise and exposition explicitly states that Poseidon was offended by the unnecessary murder of Penelope’s twelve maids three hundred years ago and his punishment is to curse Ithaca and to demand as punishment? penance?, get this, that twelve more innocent girls be hanged and sacrificed every year to his waters. It is never explained how exactly the murder of more girls is meant to absolve Ithaca of its crimes. The exact parameters of the curse are never explained and while it is implied the yearly sacrifice keeps Poseidon appeased, it doesn’t really elaborate on why Ithaca still suffers (in the vaguest terms, we know the kingdom lacks money and food, but this is never truly investigated).
As you can see in the blurb, surprise! Every so often a sacrificed girl is transformed into a creature of the sea (what exactly this creature is? not sure!) who then washes up on a beach and meets Melantho, another girl turned into one of Poseidon’s creatures who is in charge of training the spared girl to fight and kill a prince (Queue training montages!). Why might you ask? Well it depends on what part of the book you’re reading because this answer is as unpredictable as the Sea God’s mood. How often is a girl spared? Unclear! Why are they spared? Unclear! Why would Poseidon set up such a convoluted plot to have princes murdered when he could just demand the lives of the princes outright? UNCLEAR! How does Poseidon choose when and which girls he will save? UN!!!CLEAR!!! (and yea, when I say unclear I do unfortunately mean these questions are never answered or they’re given multiple vague and contradictory answers).
There are so many plot holes and ex machinas it was giving me a headache. Here’s a particularly egregious example: The twelve girls sentenced to die are chosen by Poseidon by receiving a scale-mark along their necks. At various points in the book it is implied or outright stated that everyone on Ithaca knows of the yearly sacrifice, that no one really knows about it, and that word of the sacrifices has spread across the Mediterranean. It is never explained exactly how the marked girls are found and located and it explicitly states they can come from all across the Island. I really can’t emphasize enough how frequent these types of plot holes and inconsistencies are. When there is a problem encountered in the plot, an ex machina or a quick revision to the canon is introduced. For example, the book wants Mathias to feel awful for the sacrificed girls and in order to set up a love triangle, wants to emphasize his instant connection to Leto, so he focuses on her during the sacrifice. He takes in the details of her face, wanting to remember her in order to honor her. But when they meet again and the book needs him to believe her assumed identity? This scene is entirely forgotten and he doesn’t question who she claims to be!!
These kinds of issues appear over and over and over in the book and frankly, it’s not good storytelling. In addition to being convoluted, it is often nonsensical, and perhaps worst of all? It’s deeply boring. For a supposedly politics heavy premise, there is almost no actual politics. The characters are flat and the traits they do claim to have are just that– claims. E.g. You don’t SEE Leto resent her father, her inner monologue just informs you she resents him. Subplots come and go depending on convenience and don’t carry much importance at all.
A huge, huge problem with this book is how poorly researched it is. This is a historical fantasy inspired by a small section of the Odyssey set in approximately the 4th century BCE Greece. I am by no means a scholar of Greek mythology or history but I know enough and even with my limited knowledge, I could tell immediately that the author did not do comprehensive research on the time period or culture she was writing about. I’m sure there were plenty of inaccuracies I missed and even so, the anachronisms and instances of downright revisionist history are too numerous to name. The setting feels nothing like Ancient Greece nor do the characters feel honest to the era. They do not think and act like people raised in the culture and religion of Ancient Greece. The way they discuss death and faith and politics feels distinctly modern. Prince Mathias himself, is a walking anachronism. Mathias is the Greek form of Matthew, not something that a 4th century BCE pagan prince of Ithaca would be named.
The description of the region’s political landscape is wholly ahistorical. Prince Mathias’ betrothed is a ‘Princess of Athens’ and she names her parents as the King and Queen of Athens. Athens, quite famously, was not ruled by a king in the 4th century BCE. Yes, King Theseus of Athens is mentioned by Homer, but a google search would reveal that King Theseus is a key figure in the founding myth of Athens and its democracy. Athens developed democracy in the 6th century BCE, two hundred years before the story is set. So, there are no Athenian princesses to be found!!
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.
What is most frustrating about this is how easily accessible this information is. Reading the wikipedia page for Theseus or Achilles or the History of Athens would reveal these facts. It is not super niche knowledge. Does every book have to be perfectly accurate to history? Absolutely not. But this is a case of insufficient research. Given the sheer volume of contrived information, I don’t understand why this was not a second world fantasy.
[the following paragraph discusses a non consensual kiss and vague mentions of sexual violence. brackets after the paragraph mark the end of the triggering content.]
Now, here’s something I really, really took issue with. One of the main characters, Melantho, has experienced sexual violence in her past. Despite this, when Leto goes to kiss her for the first time– she does not ask consent! For context, it is a mutual pining situation, but neither know it’s mutual. When the kiss happens, they are sharing a bed (not by choice, it’s a ‘only one bed trope’ situation– something Melantho’s inner monologue previously mentioned made her uncomfortable. Mostly because she believes her feelings are unrequited, but still! The point is she’s in a location the story noted she felt uncomfortable.) and it’s Leto’s POV. She describes the urge to kiss Melantho as coming out of nowhere and an impulsive choice. Yes, Melantho does reciprocate enthusiastically, but it really bothered me that Leto didn’t ask for consent. Later in the book, when Mathias goes to kiss Leto, he asks for consent! So why not now? When one of the characters involved deals with the trauma of sexual violence? Honestly, it upset me and it was disrespectful.
[end of TW]
Here are some other things I took particular issue with:
-Leto, who is currently embroiled in a love triangle, has the audacity to get jealous over Melantho’s long dead former lover
-There’s a side character in love with Mathias and of course she’s villainized for it. Tired! Boring! Overdone!!
-Less than a page is dedicated to explaining Leto’s fraught relationship with her father and I kid you not it is a copy-paste of Katniss and her mother’s relationship minus a sister. Except that you don’t even see this relationship in action, Leto’s inner monologue just gives a quick summary of it.
-Just because the ‘centuries old, immortal being x 18 year old’ trope is sapphic does not mean I find it any less flip flopping annoying and off-putting.
Honestly, I could go on and on with all the issues in this book. There were plenty of huge plot holes and inaccuracies that made Lies We Sing To The Sea a major disappointment. But i’ll leave you with this. Am i discouraging people from picking this up? No. Would I personally recommend the book? Also no.
TWs for the book: sexual violence (discussed at length and the circumstances are described but i wouldn’t consider it an extremely graphic depiction), sexual assault against a minor, pedophilia, rape, murder, human sacrifice, suicide, injury/injury detail, toxic parental relationship, gore, grief, child abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, animal death, panic attack, abandonment
May 21, 2023
This book. This book!!
I am emotionally WRECKED - Lies enchanted me through and through, and beyond being without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the year, I think it'll stick with me for a long time. The writing style and narrative voice alone has me enthralled, and I thought it an accomplished debut.
It's also left me epically depressed but in a very poignant and bittersweet way so that's fine <33 I will now look at daffodils and cry <333
Taking the narrative thread of Penelope's twelve hanged maids and weaving a new story set generations later (so, not a retelling of The Odyssey), Lies is about balances of power and how a curse borne of grief and anger can echo through centuries, creating cycles of sorrow. There is also romance, and there is love and desire, and there is a beautifully tragic man and two wrathful women!! There is bisexual rep!! I am truly in love with this book, and I will be pushing it everywhere.
↠ 5 stars ✨
I am emotionally WRECKED - Lies enchanted me through and through, and beyond being without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the year, I think it'll stick with me for a long time. The writing style and narrative voice alone has me enthralled, and I thought it an accomplished debut.
It's also left me epically depressed but in a very poignant and bittersweet way so that's fine <33 I will now look at daffodils and cry <333
Taking the narrative thread of Penelope's twelve hanged maids and weaving a new story set generations later (so, not a retelling of The Odyssey), Lies is about balances of power and how a curse borne of grief and anger can echo through centuries, creating cycles of sorrow. There is also romance, and there is love and desire, and there is a beautifully tragic man and two wrathful women!! There is bisexual rep!! I am truly in love with this book, and I will be pushing it everywhere.
↠ 5 stars ✨
"We are more than our actions," said Leto. "We are the way we love others, and the way they love us back."
Read
June 16, 2022the author in a now deleted interview stated she didn’t read the odyssey.
The book is marketed as an Odyssey retelling.
she read percy jackson though! the odyssey is too “prose-y.” the part that’s crazy is that she states that “mythology has bypassed YA” even though she claims reading a lot to “keep on top of market trends.” if she’s been in a bookstore within the past five years, she would see that greek mythology are far from lacking in YA! poc authors are often turned away because greek mythology retellings have been done so much, and retellings of their own mythology are heavily scrutinized and need to meet high standards, yet this white author was handed a six figure deal and didn’t even read the original work that her book claims to be retelling.
archived interview.
The book is marketed as an Odyssey retelling.
she read percy jackson though! the odyssey is too “prose-y.” the part that’s crazy is that she states that “mythology has bypassed YA” even though she claims reading a lot to “keep on top of market trends.” if she’s been in a bookstore within the past five years, she would see that greek mythology are far from lacking in YA! poc authors are often turned away because greek mythology retellings have been done so much, and retellings of their own mythology are heavily scrutinized and need to meet high standards, yet this white author was handed a six figure deal and didn’t even read the original work that her book claims to be retelling.
archived interview.
February 21, 2023
So this book isn't without controversy; the gist of the outrage was in response to the fact that the young, white, queer, autistic writer admitted in an interview last summer (22) that she had not read the full source material in writing a book inspired by a portion of the Odyssey. As a professor of literature, I do understand why this admission would be upsetting to some, seem lazy and appropriating to others and even wreak of privilege to still more. And while all of this criticism may be valid, my hackles always get a bit raised when such criticisms take such a negative tone while beginning with the caveat "I haven't read this book , but. . . ."
Let me be clear here: when books are called out for racist, sexist or homophobic content, I believe those offended regardless of what the author may have intended. I acknowledge that those voices are better situated to see what is harmful even if I don't "get it" myself, and for many reading and certainly buying such a book is indeed harmful.
However, this is not the case here. The extent to which the story is faithful or "accurate" to the original is one issue to consider, but it is not the only issue. "Faithfulness" is often compromised in adaptation (for good or for ill) for the sake of reconfiguring the story to audiences beyond those the work was originally intended. What Underwood does here is to imagine stories that were never written in the backstories of the heartlessly executed maids seen as polluted upon Odysseus's return--women with no voice, no power, and yet blamed for the ills of those with power. She imagines real consequences to such a heinous act that curses Ithaca for centuries to come. And she has the audacity to insert the existence of women (lesbian/bi/ and straight) in a space that was never designed for them, give them agency, and tell a story where she, and others like her in this century, can see themselves.
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.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for providing access to an eARC.
Let me be clear here: when books are called out for racist, sexist or homophobic content, I believe those offended regardless of what the author may have intended. I acknowledge that those voices are better situated to see what is harmful even if I don't "get it" myself, and for many reading and certainly buying such a book is indeed harmful.
However, this is not the case here. The extent to which the story is faithful or "accurate" to the original is one issue to consider, but it is not the only issue. "Faithfulness" is often compromised in adaptation (for good or for ill) for the sake of reconfiguring the story to audiences beyond those the work was originally intended. What Underwood does here is to imagine stories that were never written in the backstories of the heartlessly executed maids seen as polluted upon Odysseus's return--women with no voice, no power, and yet blamed for the ills of those with power. She imagines real consequences to such a heinous act that curses Ithaca for centuries to come. And she has the audacity to insert the existence of women (lesbian/bi/ and straight) in a space that was never designed for them, give them agency, and tell a story where she, and others like her in this century, can see themselves.
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.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for providing access to an eARC.
June 17, 2022
As someone who has studied Hellenic culture and history, including the Homeric epics, in my free time as a curiosity, it’s beyond reproach that this author delights in the fact that she never read The Iliad or The Odyssey before writing this retelling. How, pray tell, do you write a retelling without understanding and studying the original telling?
I am all for more sapphic content, obviously, but not at the expense of actual research and historical understanding. Anyway, if you want a feminist version of The Odyssey written by a female Homeric scholar that’s been studying for literal decades, read The Odyssey translation by Emily Wilson.
I am all for more sapphic content, obviously, but not at the expense of actual research and historical understanding. Anyway, if you want a feminist version of The Odyssey written by a female Homeric scholar that’s been studying for literal decades, read The Odyssey translation by Emily Wilson.
do-not-read
June 17, 2022You may wonder how I can add a book this newly announced to my ‘do not read’ shelf. Two ways:
1) I’m not a huge Greek mythology person to begin with (didn’t love Percy Jackson, haven’t read Circe, but I do greatly appreciate Medusa and Perseus).
2) The (very young) author has indicated she has not read all of the Odyssey but instead a number of pieces about it or based on it. I’m sorry but if you can’t be bothered to read the source material you plan to pay homage to (or blatantly rip-off) then I can’t be bothered to read your book. That’s like watching the Disney movie and saying you know the original story of The Little Mermaid or Mulan.
Seems fair to say that I’ll read her book when she’s bothered to read the source material.
I slugged my way through the Simarillion so I’d have context and history for one of my favourite series ever. That’s just so I could talk intelligently about Tolkien and Middle Earth.
This chick writes a book and yet hasn’t read the source material so she can use it intelligently?!
All the awesome lesbian, trans, or queer characters in the world will not fix the problems I have with this girls lack of respect for the origin story, the legacy of it, and that she doesn’t get to just rip-off the parts of any story she wants. Bridget Kemmerer, Sarah J. Maas, and Naomi Novik all pay very intelligent nods back to their ‘retellings’ original source material (not just the Disney versions). What makes this girl think she doesn’t have to pay the same tribute?
Who knows… but unless this becomes the biggest book of 2023 I won’t be touching it. Because arrogance of this type should not be rewarded.
1) I’m not a huge Greek mythology person to begin with (didn’t love Percy Jackson, haven’t read Circe, but I do greatly appreciate Medusa and Perseus).
2) The (very young) author has indicated she has not read all of the Odyssey but instead a number of pieces about it or based on it. I’m sorry but if you can’t be bothered to read the source material you plan to pay homage to (or blatantly rip-off) then I can’t be bothered to read your book. That’s like watching the Disney movie and saying you know the original story of The Little Mermaid or Mulan.
Seems fair to say that I’ll read her book when she’s bothered to read the source material.
I slugged my way through the Simarillion so I’d have context and history for one of my favourite series ever. That’s just so I could talk intelligently about Tolkien and Middle Earth.
This chick writes a book and yet hasn’t read the source material so she can use it intelligently?!
All the awesome lesbian, trans, or queer characters in the world will not fix the problems I have with this girls lack of respect for the origin story, the legacy of it, and that she doesn’t get to just rip-off the parts of any story she wants. Bridget Kemmerer, Sarah J. Maas, and Naomi Novik all pay very intelligent nods back to their ‘retellings’ original source material (not just the Disney versions). What makes this girl think she doesn’t have to pay the same tribute?
Who knows… but unless this becomes the biggest book of 2023 I won’t be touching it. Because arrogance of this type should not be rewarded.
April 28, 2024
my e-reader decided to die when i was 97% into this book and i just think that's ironic since i too wanted to d—
April 18, 2023
stunning. well and truly stunning.
this is not a retelling of the odyssey—far from it. please, don't be put off by the comments here from people who haven't read the book and clearly know nothing of what it's about. this is a gorgeous, heart wrenching story that imagines the fate of penelope's twelve hanged maids as only the first set of hangings in a curse spanning centuries.
lies we sing to the sea is gorgeously written, richly imagined and threaded with intense emotion in its depictions of vengeful gods, angry girls and immense, unyielding sorrow. with utterly compelling characters, irresistible romances and the slow remembrance of a cruel fate lost to time, underwood has woven a tale of love, destiny and, above all, survival. lies we sing to the sea will break your heart even as it heals it.
I also talk about books here: youtube | instagram | twitter
*Thank you Electric Monkey for an advanced copy. This has not affected my review.*
this is not a retelling of the odyssey—far from it. please, don't be put off by the comments here from people who haven't read the book and clearly know nothing of what it's about. this is a gorgeous, heart wrenching story that imagines the fate of penelope's twelve hanged maids as only the first set of hangings in a curse spanning centuries.
lies we sing to the sea is gorgeously written, richly imagined and threaded with intense emotion in its depictions of vengeful gods, angry girls and immense, unyielding sorrow. with utterly compelling characters, irresistible romances and the slow remembrance of a cruel fate lost to time, underwood has woven a tale of love, destiny and, above all, survival. lies we sing to the sea will break your heart even as it heals it.
I also talk about books here: youtube | instagram | twitter
*Thank you Electric Monkey for an advanced copy. This has not affected my review.*
June 19, 2022
Seeing white Anglophones publishing their “refinements” of foreign myths (Greek in this case, another example would be Ancient Chinese myths), and so many white academics occupying African American sections on bookshelves, upsets and demotivates me dreadfully. This really shows how whiteness, alive and well, functions as an institution. The publishing industry prioritises promoting such an “improved retelling” of Greek mythology from an Anglophone writer because it’d be more profitable, best if it weren’t written by a foreign writer. Or worse, a non-white working class who does not have glamorous Oxbridge or Ivy credentials. If you are personally linked to publishers, here you go, a book deal. At least attempt to understand the supposedly source materials and try not to misread so much...
Also, stop profiting from disability and using it as a moral high ground (this is directed to someone who replies to every low rating with vitriol + ad hominem): you do not and cannot represent every disabled, neurodivergent person. Please do not resort to logical fallacies when you cannot counter others’ arguments.
P.s. To think Underwood's friends/writing mentor have defended her by calling people out of their "elitism" on Twitter whilst wallowing in, and blinded by their own posh socioeconomic/elitist background...ironic
Also, stop profiting from disability and using it as a moral high ground (this is directed to someone who replies to every low rating with vitriol + ad hominem): you do not and cannot represent every disabled, neurodivergent person. Please do not resort to logical fallacies when you cannot counter others’ arguments.
P.s. To think Underwood's friends/writing mentor have defended her by calling people out of their "elitism" on Twitter whilst wallowing in, and blinded by their own posh socioeconomic/elitist background...ironic
June 22, 2022
I genuinely cannot fathom the kind of ego, hubris, and disrespect it takes to write a book like this, not read the Odyssey, compare yourself to trained Classicists, and get a big book deal for it.
On top of all of that, the premise for this is particularly asinine and basic YA and so unrelated to the Odyssey itself that I’m logically failing to understand who told the author this was a retelling.
As a queer person, who loves Ancient Greece, I rebuke this. I don’t care that it’s “sapphic” and queerness shouldn’t be used as a shield against legitimate criticism. My whole community of friends who love Ancient Greece are literally all queer/trans, and we unilaterally agree this is awful.
On top of all of that, the premise for this is particularly asinine and basic YA and so unrelated to the Odyssey itself that I’m logically failing to understand who told the author this was a retelling.
As a queer person, who loves Ancient Greece, I rebuke this. I don’t care that it’s “sapphic” and queerness shouldn’t be used as a shield against legitimate criticism. My whole community of friends who love Ancient Greece are literally all queer/trans, and we unilaterally agree this is awful.
November 4, 2021
I am—by far—the hardest reader to please when it comes to Greek re-tellings because as a rule, I don't really read them, so you can trust me when I say this book is going to blow. you. away.
It's not just beautifully written, it's FUN—which isn't a word I usually associate with greek tragedies, but here we are. It's chock full of all my favourite YA tropes. They're all done incredibly well. AND IT'S GAY AF.
I'd say go read it now, but I got an early copy, so I'll just be smug instead.
It's not just beautifully written, it's FUN—which isn't a word I usually associate with greek tragedies, but here we are. It's chock full of all my favourite YA tropes. They're all done incredibly well. AND IT'S GAY AF.
I'd say go read it now, but I got an early copy, so I'll just be smug instead.
June 19, 2022
idk how I feel about this. on one hand I was really looking forward to this. on the other hand, tfw you write an odyssey retelling and don't read the odyssey because it's too "prose-y" and it gets worse
https://web.archive.org/web/202206150...
:(
https://web.archive.org/web/202206150...
:(
June 19, 2022
Imagine being compared to Madeleine Miller without bothering to actually read (and interpret!) the source: the Odyssey!!! One of the foundations of the western canon that people have got to read and know in every Literature 101 class (at least in Europe). This could have been a book with ancient Greece aesthetics and mythology, that's ok I guess, but saying it is a re-telling of the Odyssey is claiming prestige when there is little to no work or interpretation behind it.
March 13, 2023
that ending is one of the cruelest things i’ve ever read and now i’m mourning the life of character’s that are not real
April 13, 2023
first of all, read saïd’s review about the fact that this author has not even read the odyssey & other controversies. when i tell you my jaw hit the floor…
for this review, i’m going to focus on the actual book rather than underwood. yikes yikes yikes!
while the novel starts strong, it quickly devolves into a YA mess that feels strangely homophobic. leto must kill the prince of ithica, mathias (what is that name bro), to break the curse that sends twelve maidens to be sacrificed by hanging to poseidon. the system of magic and creatures is never fully described. melantho is not human, leto is not human, but it is never explicitly said what they are. naiads? nymphs? what? who knows.
what really truly bothers me is the romance. leto and melantho are lovers, but it seems secondary to leto’s romance with mathias. leto says she doesn’t love mathias, and melantho is thus painted as a jealous lesbian. heterosexual relationships are prioritized here, which isn’t shocking after you read what the author thinks about lesbian relationships in greece. forget sappho, huh? and — spoiler alert — in the end, she declares her love for mathias. it felt heteronormative, and as if melantho was just a temporary lover or a phase.
the end itself is just so anticlimactic and predictable. melantho almost dies like three times throughout the novel, so it’s no surprise when she dies at the end. it’s not shocking that mathias has to willingly commit suicide. it’s not a surprise. it’s not meaningful. it’s YA nonsense.
if you’re going to write a retelling, you have to at least read the source material. i can’t believe this author didn’t even fucking read the odyssey. bonkers and insane.
for this review, i’m going to focus on the actual book rather than underwood. yikes yikes yikes!
while the novel starts strong, it quickly devolves into a YA mess that feels strangely homophobic. leto must kill the prince of ithica, mathias (what is that name bro), to break the curse that sends twelve maidens to be sacrificed by hanging to poseidon. the system of magic and creatures is never fully described. melantho is not human, leto is not human, but it is never explicitly said what they are. naiads? nymphs? what? who knows.
what really truly bothers me is the romance. leto and melantho are lovers, but it seems secondary to leto’s romance with mathias. leto says she doesn’t love mathias, and melantho is thus painted as a jealous lesbian. heterosexual relationships are prioritized here, which isn’t shocking after you read what the author thinks about lesbian relationships in greece. forget sappho, huh? and — spoiler alert — in the end, she declares her love for mathias. it felt heteronormative, and as if melantho was just a temporary lover or a phase.
the end itself is just so anticlimactic and predictable. melantho almost dies like three times throughout the novel, so it’s no surprise when she dies at the end. it’s not shocking that mathias has to willingly commit suicide. it’s not a surprise. it’s not meaningful. it’s YA nonsense.
if you’re going to write a retelling, you have to at least read the source material. i can’t believe this author didn’t even fucking read the odyssey. bonkers and insane.
April 4, 2023
If we're being honest, the only reason I reached the last page is because the rest of the club dropped the book and I was the last rat left standing.
Okay so. This author is def someone's daughter or sister or beloved niece, because I really don't see another way a girl my age could publish this book and lie so boldly in interviews while achieving a good amount of success.
First lie. The research. We had a historical inaccuracy counter going on, and it included insanely obvious things like coffee, ouzo, and photo realistic portraits. The latest period this book could be happening during is 5th century BCE (as it's been 300 years since the Odyssey, which has been noted down in 8th century BCE) but these easily googlable things place it over 1000 years afterwards. And it wasn't even bending history for story purposes- the coffee appears in a comparison for dark brown, which was wholly unneeded. If you're gonna brag about how meticulously researched your book is and then do this, you don't deserve to become a bestseller, but we are where we are so I'm not gonna be kind.
Second lie. A sapphic love story. Explain to me then why It was really stupid and filled with cliches and embarrassing to witness.
Third lie. This is not a retelling. At all. It's a sequel slash spinoff that could honestly be set in an entirely different universe and it would make no difference, which is why I won't touch the "she didn't read the Odyssey" thing. WHY ARE THERE CORSETED CHITONS IN THIS BOOK.
I can't name a single thing I liked about the book. Not one. The writing style is very basic - in fact, there was a very dramatic scene played totally straight that was written exactly as the "Shrek Fiona DONKEY!!!" scene. Leto is an annoyance and no one, in the book or outside it, is aware of it. Melantho has the personality of a girlfriend you made up in your head at 13 years old. Mathias is so stupid (this boy had me screaming "YOU ARE SO STUPID" all the time. People try to kill him and he just doesn't react. He keeps going like there's nothing unusual happening. Doesn't even have a thought to spare for it past "hm this person I trust tried to kill me".) The plot could have been solved within one day since the arrival of the girls, and there was no reason for it not happening because the characters couldn't possibly have been presented as selfish or get any sort of development that would lead to the obstacles in the beginning and their disappearance by the end. I also have to point out the author is completely unaware of the way she put The ending seemed very obvious to me and honestly I started laughing at the melodrama, especially that last paragraph.
Sigh. I knew this would be a bad book, but I didn't know it was gonna be THIS bad. Both the editors must have been asleep on the job.
Okay so. This author is def someone's daughter or sister or beloved niece, because I really don't see another way a girl my age could publish this book and lie so boldly in interviews while achieving a good amount of success.
First lie. The research. We had a historical inaccuracy counter going on, and it included insanely obvious things like coffee, ouzo, and photo realistic portraits. The latest period this book could be happening during is 5th century BCE (as it's been 300 years since the Odyssey, which has been noted down in 8th century BCE) but these easily googlable things place it over 1000 years afterwards. And it wasn't even bending history for story purposes- the coffee appears in a comparison for dark brown, which was wholly unneeded. If you're gonna brag about how meticulously researched your book is and then do this, you don't deserve to become a bestseller, but we are where we are so I'm not gonna be kind.
Second lie. A sapphic love story. Explain to me then why It was really stupid and filled with cliches and embarrassing to witness.
Third lie. This is not a retelling. At all. It's a sequel slash spinoff that could honestly be set in an entirely different universe and it would make no difference, which is why I won't touch the "she didn't read the Odyssey" thing. WHY ARE THERE CORSETED CHITONS IN THIS BOOK.
I can't name a single thing I liked about the book. Not one. The writing style is very basic - in fact, there was a very dramatic scene played totally straight that was written exactly as the "Shrek Fiona DONKEY!!!" scene. Leto is an annoyance and no one, in the book or outside it, is aware of it. Melantho has the personality of a girlfriend you made up in your head at 13 years old. Mathias is so stupid (this boy had me screaming "YOU ARE SO STUPID" all the time. People try to kill him and he just doesn't react. He keeps going like there's nothing unusual happening. Doesn't even have a thought to spare for it past "hm this person I trust tried to kill me".) The plot could have been solved within one day since the arrival of the girls, and there was no reason for it not happening because the characters couldn't possibly have been presented as selfish or get any sort of development that would lead to the obstacles in the beginning and their disappearance by the end. I also have to point out the author is completely unaware of the way she put The ending seemed very obvious to me and honestly I started laughing at the melodrama, especially that last paragraph.
Sigh. I knew this would be a bad book, but I didn't know it was gonna be THIS bad. Both the editors must have been asleep on the job.
Read
June 20, 2022It gives me hope for my own life that an author who hasn't actually read the Odyssey can manage to get published by an agency for a retelling of it.
January 21, 2023
Yeah, yeah. I saw the discourse. I’ve mostly given up on Greek myth retellings/reimaginings at this point, but since this is a book box pick, I figured I’d at least try it.
I was surprised that it’s YA. I guess I never looked or inquired, but it’s pretty easy to tell early on that it’s a YA book (and I think I had assumed it was adult) so some things happened a bit too easily as befitting most YA books, etc.
I liked that it wasn’t really a retelling, but mostly original content that stemmed from a few specific things that happened in the Odyssey. In the book, the events of the Odyssey took places many generations prior to the events of the novel. So was this deserving of the internet discourse? No, not really.
This being YA lulled me into a false sense of security, though. The ending was emotionally painful, and I expected it to be lighter, but it was very fitting.
I was surprised that it’s YA. I guess I never looked or inquired, but it’s pretty easy to tell early on that it’s a YA book (and I think I had assumed it was adult) so some things happened a bit too easily as befitting most YA books, etc.
I liked that it wasn’t really a retelling, but mostly original content that stemmed from a few specific things that happened in the Odyssey. In the book, the events of the Odyssey took places many generations prior to the events of the novel. So was this deserving of the internet discourse? No, not really.
This being YA lulled me into a false sense of security, though. The ending was emotionally painful, and I expected it to be lighter, but it was very fitting.
Want to read
June 16, 2022was so excited for this and then the author says she hasn’t read the odyssey? and wrote an odyssey retelling? the math ain’t mathing
March 16, 2023
I took one for the team and read this eARC so you don't have to.
This is not a retelling of The Odyssey. Events that occurred at the end of The Odyssey are mentioned repeatedly, but that is all the two have in common. What it *did* feel like was direct response to Margaret Atwood's The Penleopiad to an uncanny degree.
Marketing this book as sapphic retelling is disingenuous as well. The main character is romantically and sexually involved with male and female characters. It would be more accurate to describe her as bisexual. While some bisexuals may feel comfortable using the term sapphic to describe themselves that's not true for every bisexual identifying person. It comes across as bisexual erasure, and that makes me angry & sad.
On to the writing. There was nothing inherently Greek feeling in this story except for the proper nouns. I thought to myself many times that if you changed this names of people, places, things to typical fantasy genre names no one would notice. The book might have felt stronger from one narrative point of view vs three point of view characters. Individually the characters were not written with enough characterization and depth to support their own chapters.
The world building and lore were done at the shallowest levels. What was suppose to be the big twists towards the end of the book fell flat because the world and lore weren't there for the twists to have any impact. After 50,% I found myself skipping pages to get past filler plot and to the end already.
For reference https://bit.ly/3XNEcIF
***Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Books/HarperTeen Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. ***
This is not a retelling of The Odyssey. Events that occurred at the end of The Odyssey are mentioned repeatedly, but that is all the two have in common. What it *did* feel like was direct response to Margaret Atwood's The Penleopiad to an uncanny degree.
Marketing this book as sapphic retelling is disingenuous as well. The main character is romantically and sexually involved with male and female characters. It would be more accurate to describe her as bisexual. While some bisexuals may feel comfortable using the term sapphic to describe themselves that's not true for every bisexual identifying person. It comes across as bisexual erasure, and that makes me angry & sad.
On to the writing. There was nothing inherently Greek feeling in this story except for the proper nouns. I thought to myself many times that if you changed this names of people, places, things to typical fantasy genre names no one would notice. The book might have felt stronger from one narrative point of view vs three point of view characters. Individually the characters were not written with enough characterization and depth to support their own chapters.
The world building and lore were done at the shallowest levels. What was suppose to be the big twists towards the end of the book fell flat because the world and lore weren't there for the twists to have any impact. After 50,% I found myself skipping pages to get past filler plot and to the end already.
For reference https://bit.ly/3XNEcIF
***Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Books/HarperTeen Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. ***
March 9, 2023
The plot was interesting, I liked it at the beginning. The prophecy and curse, the seeking out the solution but I didn't like how they kept going around it over and over again without actually doing anything about it. At some point I was sick of the sea for how much it was repeated.
The relationship dynamic between Matthias, Melantho and Leto was confusing. Leto has feelings for Melantho but then she makes out behind her back with Matthias. At the end she said she loves both of them and I didn't know what to think of it, was it a love triangle of some kind?
If there's something that I liked it was the ending. Wasn't expecting, it was truly refreshing to see something other than a and they lived happily ever after.
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.
I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts are my own.
The relationship dynamic between Matthias, Melantho and Leto was confusing. Leto has feelings for Melantho but then she makes out behind her back with Matthias. At the end she said she loves both of them and I didn't know what to think of it, was it a love triangle of some kind?
If there's something that I liked it was the ending. Wasn't expecting, it was truly refreshing to see something other than a and they lived happily ever after.
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.
I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts are my own.
March 29, 2023
1/5 Stars (DNF @ 43%)
TL;DR - Why read a book about Ancient Greece when you could just emulate the author and make shit up as you go? This book has no redeeming qualities, the characters are boring, the plot is nonsensical, and there are so many factual and historical inaccuracies that make it abundantly clear the author read a Greek mythology retelling and thought, “I, who know nothing about Ancient Greece and never read the Illiad or Odyssey, can definitely do this, too”. No ma’am, no you cannot, and the world is poorer for it.
Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books/HarperTeen and NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
‘Lies We Sing To The Sea’ by Sarah Underwood is a tale “inspired by” Greek mythology. I say inspired, because I believe there was no research done beyond a few skimmed Wikipedia articles and “Greek god aesthetic” typed into Pinterest, and I will not be convinced otherwise. This book follows Leto, a 17 year old girl from Ithaca who is sentenced to die to appease Poseidon for the murders of Queen Penelope’s maids centuries before. She washes up on an island and meets Melantho, and the two hatch a plan to make sure no more girls have to die.
Sweet gods, where to even begin.
This book feels like it was written as a medieval fantasy and then a few bits were shuffled around to make it “Ancient Greece” right before seeking publication. Listen, I’m not a scholar on Ancient Greece, but I’ve read my fair share of real-life and semi-mythical accounts (Herodotus, Homer, etc), and I had to stop so many times while reading this book to Google “did the ancient Greeks do XYZ” or “history of XYZ in ancient Greece”, and I got more and more bitter as each answer came back as, no, no they did not do this or have that. There are just so many blatant historical inaccuracies that I could barely go 2 pages, if that, without having to look something up because I was damn sure it was just plain wrong - and 95% of the time, I was correct. It got to the point where I was just constantly setting down my Kindle to look up answers. Now, this might not bother most people like it does me, but if the book is about a real life culture, I want things to be historically accurate - this book, in way too many respects, is not. At 8% in, I was already tired of the countless diversions, so I just had to browbeat myself into not caring so that I could just read. Not a strong start.
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?
In that vein, the character naming is laughably uninspired. Leto, Selene, Hekate. From what I can gather from my limited Google searching, the ancient Greeks wouldn’t have named their children the *exact* names of gods/goddesses, but instead modified them to pay homage, as directly naming them would be disrespectful and hubristic and potentially incur the wrath of the gods themselves - and even if I missed the evidence in my search, it would still be egregiously uncreative.
The characters are boring and shallow at best, downright moronic at worst. I have no reason to care about Leto. She angrily stares the prince in the face as he wrongly condemns her to die, and that’s the last we really see of a personality except that she’s really mad and impatient at some points and made of wood every other time. Melantho is…sad? And that’s it. Mathias is weirdly passive and honestly pathetic, with no reason for me to even consider caring about him.
The plot is paper-thin and, more often than not, straight up contrived nonsense. I was yelling at my Kindle over and over because that’s not how that works or that’s completely unrealistic. The plot is shallow (and that’s being generous) when its there, or it’s told to us after the fact because the author skips over most things. So many important moments happen off-page. Why show important scenes and develop the plot and characters when you could just end the chapter for the sake of a stupid, trite opener to the next chapter? Why show Leto learning about her new powers when you could just give us a two paragraph training montage and have her master them? Why develop the relationship between Leto and Melantho when you could just timeskip over several months and have them go from strangers to friends to wanting to bang in the span of...a page?
The author tries to sprinkle in little bits of exposition here and there (when she’s not beating us over the head with it blatantly), mostly character backstory, but it’s only ever the tiniest bit - a few words at the end of a paragraph, and then we don’t hear about it again. There’s not enough context given, so it sometimes comes off as nonsensical statements that only confuse instead of heighten mystery and anticipation of finding out more. It feels like the author is just popping in and shouting “INTRIGUE!” before disappearing, or that she’s that one annoying kid in class who tells you “I know something you don’t know!” just to make you feel like they’re smarter than you, when they don’t and they’re not.
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.
I started skimming at 40%, and then finally DNF’d at 43% because I knew it wasn’t going to get better. So much nothing and yet so many blatant inaccuracies. It’s abundantly clear that the author didn’t read a lick of Homer and just vomited up this sorry excuse for a book in a week and called it good. No ma’am.
Final Thoughts:
I struggle to even call this “inspired by” Greek mythology. You can’t just take people who are actually mentioned in the Odyssey and then proceed to completely disregard that source material for “vibes” or whatever. You can’t take an integral part of Greek history and culture and divorce it from its roots to tell a shallow, anachronistic “love story” because you read some Madeline Miller and thought it sounded cool. No, no, no.
I would give this book 0 stars if I could because it’s poorly written, poorly conceptualized, and it’s an insult to Greek culture and mythology. It’s an insult to my intelligence as a reader, it’s a big fat middle finger to the concept of a story as a whole, and it was genuinely painful to read.
TL;DR - Why read a book about Ancient Greece when you could just emulate the author and make shit up as you go? This book has no redeeming qualities, the characters are boring, the plot is nonsensical, and there are so many factual and historical inaccuracies that make it abundantly clear the author read a Greek mythology retelling and thought, “I, who know nothing about Ancient Greece and never read the Illiad or Odyssey, can definitely do this, too”. No ma’am, no you cannot, and the world is poorer for it.
Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books/HarperTeen and NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
‘Lies We Sing To The Sea’ by Sarah Underwood is a tale “inspired by” Greek mythology. I say inspired, because I believe there was no research done beyond a few skimmed Wikipedia articles and “Greek god aesthetic” typed into Pinterest, and I will not be convinced otherwise. This book follows Leto, a 17 year old girl from Ithaca who is sentenced to die to appease Poseidon for the murders of Queen Penelope’s maids centuries before. She washes up on an island and meets Melantho, and the two hatch a plan to make sure no more girls have to die.
Sweet gods, where to even begin.
This book feels like it was written as a medieval fantasy and then a few bits were shuffled around to make it “Ancient Greece” right before seeking publication. Listen, I’m not a scholar on Ancient Greece, but I’ve read my fair share of real-life and semi-mythical accounts (Herodotus, Homer, etc), and I had to stop so many times while reading this book to Google “did the ancient Greeks do XYZ” or “history of XYZ in ancient Greece”, and I got more and more bitter as each answer came back as, no, no they did not do this or have that. There are just so many blatant historical inaccuracies that I could barely go 2 pages, if that, without having to look something up because I was damn sure it was just plain wrong - and 95% of the time, I was correct. It got to the point where I was just constantly setting down my Kindle to look up answers. Now, this might not bother most people like it does me, but if the book is about a real life culture, I want things to be historically accurate - this book, in way too many respects, is not. At 8% in, I was already tired of the countless diversions, so I just had to browbeat myself into not caring so that I could just read. Not a strong start.
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?
In that vein, the character naming is laughably uninspired. Leto, Selene, Hekate. From what I can gather from my limited Google searching, the ancient Greeks wouldn’t have named their children the *exact* names of gods/goddesses, but instead modified them to pay homage, as directly naming them would be disrespectful and hubristic and potentially incur the wrath of the gods themselves - and even if I missed the evidence in my search, it would still be egregiously uncreative.
The characters are boring and shallow at best, downright moronic at worst. I have no reason to care about Leto. She angrily stares the prince in the face as he wrongly condemns her to die, and that’s the last we really see of a personality except that she’s really mad and impatient at some points and made of wood every other time. Melantho is…sad? And that’s it. Mathias is weirdly passive and honestly pathetic, with no reason for me to even consider caring about him.
The plot is paper-thin and, more often than not, straight up contrived nonsense. I was yelling at my Kindle over and over because that’s not how that works or that’s completely unrealistic. The plot is shallow (and that’s being generous) when its there, or it’s told to us after the fact because the author skips over most things. So many important moments happen off-page. Why show important scenes and develop the plot and characters when you could just end the chapter for the sake of a stupid, trite opener to the next chapter? Why show Leto learning about her new powers when you could just give us a two paragraph training montage and have her master them? Why develop the relationship between Leto and Melantho when you could just timeskip over several months and have them go from strangers to friends to wanting to bang in the span of...a page?
The author tries to sprinkle in little bits of exposition here and there (when she’s not beating us over the head with it blatantly), mostly character backstory, but it’s only ever the tiniest bit - a few words at the end of a paragraph, and then we don’t hear about it again. There’s not enough context given, so it sometimes comes off as nonsensical statements that only confuse instead of heighten mystery and anticipation of finding out more. It feels like the author is just popping in and shouting “INTRIGUE!” before disappearing, or that she’s that one annoying kid in class who tells you “I know something you don’t know!” just to make you feel like they’re smarter than you, when they don’t and they’re not.
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.
I started skimming at 40%, and then finally DNF’d at 43% because I knew it wasn’t going to get better. So much nothing and yet so many blatant inaccuracies. It’s abundantly clear that the author didn’t read a lick of Homer and just vomited up this sorry excuse for a book in a week and called it good. No ma’am.
Final Thoughts:
I struggle to even call this “inspired by” Greek mythology. You can’t just take people who are actually mentioned in the Odyssey and then proceed to completely disregard that source material for “vibes” or whatever. You can’t take an integral part of Greek history and culture and divorce it from its roots to tell a shallow, anachronistic “love story” because you read some Madeline Miller and thought it sounded cool. No, no, no.
I would give this book 0 stars if I could because it’s poorly written, poorly conceptualized, and it’s an insult to Greek culture and mythology. It’s an insult to my intelligence as a reader, it’s a big fat middle finger to the concept of a story as a whole, and it was genuinely painful to read.
January 9, 2023
4,5 ⭐
I'll start this review with a premise: this book is not an Odysseys retelling. I know that it is sold as one, but please, if you want to, take your time to read it.
Let's go back to this book.
I didn't know what to expect, I knew there was LGBTQ representation, that there would be magic and a Greek mythology background.
What I got was so much more.
Leto is like no other heroine I've read, she is passionate, strong and genuine, she only wants revenge for what she suffered. Enter Melantho, the girl who can help Leto. These two captured my heart, I loved their banter, their friendship and relationship.
I kinda fell in love with Mathias too, unexpectedly. He was so sure of what he thought he knew, he was still grieving but at the same time he had a chance to fall in love.
I loved the finale, it may sounds weird, but it felt the most perfect that could have been written.
I'll start this review with a premise: this book is not an Odysseys retelling. I know that it is sold as one, but please, if you want to, take your time to read it.
Let's go back to this book.
I didn't know what to expect, I knew there was LGBTQ representation, that there would be magic and a Greek mythology background.
What I got was so much more.
Leto is like no other heroine I've read, she is passionate, strong and genuine, she only wants revenge for what she suffered. Enter Melantho, the girl who can help Leto. These two captured my heart, I loved their banter, their friendship and relationship.
I kinda fell in love with Mathias too, unexpectedly. He was so sure of what he thought he knew, he was still grieving but at the same time he had a chance to fall in love.
I loved the finale, it may sounds weird, but it felt the most perfect that could have been written.
June 26, 2022
I did not read this I’m just a hater.
April 22, 2023
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.
TW: rape, attempted rape, murder, PTSD
Ok, so...I don't know how to exactly rate or review this book. It's not bad, it's not good, either. There many flaws, but it's a debut novel, so I didn't expect it to be perfect. I was annoyed while reading the author didn't even read the Odyssey while also writing a book inspired by a part of it. I get she wanting to give justice to these twelve maidens, killed by a cruel man, giving them space and a feminist pov, but I'm also a bit confused by not reading the original material because boring and long (according to this interview). Also there are twelve maidens...now the MC is one. Two. Where are the others?
Being someone who studied Greek mythology and literature, I was a bit reticent to read this book, but I decided to read it, when I got the chance by a friend gifting it to me, so I could make my own mind and not rely on others'.
So, here's my thoughts. The story is a intriguing, but there's a very slow pacing, sometimes too rushed, other too slow and some dei ex machina I didn't really understand the meaning of (I will talk about them in the very end, so be careful around spoilers).
Talking about the characters, I have to say I couldn't relate to them. I liked Mathias, but he was a bit too much as a trope: a kind, sweet and innocent character.
Leto is the main protagonist, killed and then brought back to life in order to fulfill a prophecy...as a Poseidon's creature, able to manipulate water and with scales and the ability of breathe underwater. Another trope. The chosen one.
Melantho (the only character not original, but mentioned in the Odyssey), is another creature, human before, trapped on an island for three centuries. And then there's Mathias, the sweet and kind prince of Ithaca, condemned to be killed.
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.
As for the setting and the retelling, there are names from the Odyssey, stories and myths from it, but the story could be set anywhere. Any kind of island, anywhere. There aren't so many descriptions, or anything distinctive at all. Queer retelling? Okay, fine. But where's the chemistry?
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.
Lots of tropes and I don't like the use of them. The sweet innocent sacrifice, the chosen one, the love triangles. Ofc Leto is the chosen one, able to do anything people in three centuries couldn't.
The relationships. As I've said before, they felt a bit expected, sometimes making me groan and roll my eye, other facepalming myself. Leto and Melantho grow close, liking each other. Almost as soon Leto is on Ithaca she "falls" for the prince, blushing, flirting, her heart racing, finding kind and sweet and kissing him in various occasions. But she loves Melantho. So she kisses her too. For almost all the book is a constant "I love her, I hate him, he has to die in order to save millions of girls" and "But he's sweet, kind and innocent, isn't there another solution?" and so on and on and on. Get a freaking grip. I really hate love triangles.
And, could someone explain to me how the hell are the daffolids the only flowers in all Greece? Is that a thing? There are everywhere. Everywhere.
The pacing, as I said earlier, is a bit off and it sped up in the last 20ish %, with "new" revelations (I saw them coming from ages, but never mind), memories and sex fading to black.
The book seems to go nowhere for most part of it, picking itself up only at the very end, but, for me, it's not enough to like it. The writing style isn't bad, even though I keep hating when someone writes "the breath she didn't know she was holding", because...really?
Overall, I couldn't like it. The pacing, the setting, the characters, the plot, the convenient helps to keep the story going. I get it's a debut, but there are so many issues I can't overlook. Maybe it's just not for me, but I hope to be as clear as possible in explain why it isn't. I'm sure some of you will love it, though, so don't let any review influence you.
Here's the many dei ex machina:
SPOILERS
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By chance they find a burning ship headed to Ithaca, with the betrothed princess on board, alive and well, who decides to give up her entire life to visit the world, so Leto can pretend to be her and be close to the prince in order to kill him. Really? Are you freaking kidding?
Or, Melantho is trapped on an island for three centuries and just as Leto built a raft she's able to escape from Poseidon's eye. On the ocean. Poseidon's domain. Who, ofc, doesn't see them at all. SURE, JAN!
Or, the crazy jealous childhood friend, fallen in love with the prince, and she's, ofc, behind Leto's attempted murders. Or, her brother, who struck, hanged and killed Leto, who is unable to recognize her walking in the palace. I mean...really? You're a guard!
Or, Melantho asking Poseidon to avenge the maidens' deaths...so twelve maiden are killed every year on Ithaca???? What's the point?????
TW: rape, attempted rape, murder, PTSD
Ok, so...I don't know how to exactly rate or review this book. It's not bad, it's not good, either. There many flaws, but it's a debut novel, so I didn't expect it to be perfect. I was annoyed while reading the author didn't even read the Odyssey while also writing a book inspired by a part of it. I get she wanting to give justice to these twelve maidens, killed by a cruel man, giving them space and a feminist pov, but I'm also a bit confused by not reading the original material because boring and long (according to this interview). Also there are twelve maidens...now the MC is one. Two. Where are the others?
Being someone who studied Greek mythology and literature, I was a bit reticent to read this book, but I decided to read it, when I got the chance by a friend gifting it to me, so I could make my own mind and not rely on others'.
So, here's my thoughts. The story is a intriguing, but there's a very slow pacing, sometimes too rushed, other too slow and some dei ex machina I didn't really understand the meaning of (I will talk about them in the very end, so be careful around spoilers).
Talking about the characters, I have to say I couldn't relate to them. I liked Mathias, but he was a bit too much as a trope: a kind, sweet and innocent character.
Leto is the main protagonist, killed and then brought back to life in order to fulfill a prophecy...as a Poseidon's creature, able to manipulate water and with scales and the ability of breathe underwater. Another trope. The chosen one.
Melantho (the only character not original, but mentioned in the Odyssey), is another creature, human before, trapped on an island for three centuries. And then there's Mathias, the sweet and kind prince of Ithaca, condemned to be killed.
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.
As for the setting and the retelling, there are names from the Odyssey, stories and myths from it, but the story could be set anywhere. Any kind of island, anywhere. There aren't so many descriptions, or anything distinctive at all. Queer retelling? Okay, fine. But where's the chemistry?
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.
Lots of tropes and I don't like the use of them. The sweet innocent sacrifice, the chosen one, the love triangles. Ofc Leto is the chosen one, able to do anything people in three centuries couldn't.
The relationships. As I've said before, they felt a bit expected, sometimes making me groan and roll my eye, other facepalming myself. Leto and Melantho grow close, liking each other. Almost as soon Leto is on Ithaca she "falls" for the prince, blushing, flirting, her heart racing, finding kind and sweet and kissing him in various occasions. But she loves Melantho. So she kisses her too. For almost all the book is a constant "I love her, I hate him, he has to die in order to save millions of girls" and "But he's sweet, kind and innocent, isn't there another solution?" and so on and on and on. Get a freaking grip. I really hate love triangles.
And, could someone explain to me how the hell are the daffolids the only flowers in all Greece? Is that a thing? There are everywhere. Everywhere.
The pacing, as I said earlier, is a bit off and it sped up in the last 20ish %, with "new" revelations (I saw them coming from ages, but never mind), memories and sex fading to black.
The book seems to go nowhere for most part of it, picking itself up only at the very end, but, for me, it's not enough to like it. The writing style isn't bad, even though I keep hating when someone writes "the breath she didn't know she was holding", because...really?
Overall, I couldn't like it. The pacing, the setting, the characters, the plot, the convenient helps to keep the story going. I get it's a debut, but there are so many issues I can't overlook. Maybe it's just not for me, but I hope to be as clear as possible in explain why it isn't. I'm sure some of you will love it, though, so don't let any review influence you.
Here's the many dei ex machina:
SPOILERS
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By chance they find a burning ship headed to Ithaca, with the betrothed princess on board, alive and well, who decides to give up her entire life to visit the world, so Leto can pretend to be her and be close to the prince in order to kill him. Really? Are you freaking kidding?
Or, Melantho is trapped on an island for three centuries and just as Leto built a raft she's able to escape from Poseidon's eye. On the ocean. Poseidon's domain. Who, ofc, doesn't see them at all. SURE, JAN!
Or, the crazy jealous childhood friend, fallen in love with the prince, and she's, ofc, behind Leto's attempted murders. Or, her brother, who struck, hanged and killed Leto, who is unable to recognize her walking in the palace. I mean...really? You're a guard!
Or, Melantho asking Poseidon to avenge the maidens' deaths...so twelve maiden are killed every year on Ithaca???? What's the point?????
April 4, 2023
Considering the fact that I actually reread The Odyssey before reading this? Only to find out that the author did not do proper research and in fact has not read the source material she claims to be writing a retelling of and has no understanding of classical civilization? This was a fucking trainwreck. The end.
Currently reading
June 14, 2022THE COVER???? THE COVER????? ARE YOU SERIOUS???? IM IN LOVE
a little birdie (the author) told me (via tiktok comments) that this is SAD and SAPPHIC.
i repeat this book is SAD and SAPPHIC. add to your tbr immediately.
a little birdie (the author) told me (via tiktok comments) that this is SAD and SAPPHIC.
i repeat this book is SAD and SAPPHIC. add to your tbr immediately.
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