Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Heroines

This book retells the myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus, first told in play form over 2000 years ago. This flips the play around however, having Hippolytus force himself upon Phaedra and the results thereof. Woven throughout this is the story of other women in Athens and across Greece, of the suffering they experience daily. Despite the tough themes and content, I found this book to be a disappointing read. It felt like every man involved was evil and every women suffered at the hands of the men around them, and this grew tiring and repetitive to read. It felt that the women had no agency and no way to impact the world around them, and even strong female characters like Medea fell victim to this in this novel.

If you want a Greek retelling there are many better out there, I would suggest Ariadne by Jennifer Saint or Medea by Rosie Hewlett. The writing was good however, and I will pick up the next book published by this author, I only hope the themes are covered more respectfully than in this first attempt.

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korotasz's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The ending was very anticlimactic and it felt rushed. I don’t feel like loose ends were tied up well.

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poseidons_siren's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

While it isn't a "feminist tale" of the myth of Phaedra, i thought this was one of the most phenomenal books I have read all year and likely will read all year.

The author is clearly very well-versed on mythology and the different versions, as well as ancient Greek society and culture. The proper pronunciation being used in the audiobook was such a breath of fresh air. The story of Phaedra was never a happy one and I was insanely impressed in the way Shepperson intertwined many different versions and points of view of the myths into the dialogue between characters. While, yes, she did have some creative freedoms with the retelling, what author doesn't? I enjoyed her take on the myth greatly.

This book made me feel so seen and validated, and when you suffer what Phaedra did (in the book, not the myth, because there is a lot of different versions there) you just want to know that you aren't alone and that some sort of justice is enacted, however positive or negative the ending was for you, that's really up to the reader, in my opinion. But without giving away anything else, I loved this book. I think that the low ratings aren't really doing it justice and when you look at it more through the lens of myth interpretation, it works so much better.

TL;DR, read the myth, go in blind to the book, ancient feminine rage will ensue.

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eastofvine's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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