The story of The Heroines can be summed up in one quote from Jennifer Saint's novel, Ariadne: "What I did not know was that I had hit upon a truth of womanhood: however blameless a life we led; the passions and the greed of men could bring us to ruin, and there was nothing we could do."

The Heroines is a heartbreaking tale of a young woman's fall from grace due to the actions of others. Phaedra is dealt a bad hand, taken advantage of by others and ultimately pays the price for this. This novel deals with incredibly deep themes such as death, grief, SA - but is written in an incredibly juvenile manner that detracted from the novel in my opinion. However, I do understand that the main character is a teen girl and therefore the juvenile writing could be an attempt to portray the character's youth. However, it mostly came across as sub-par writing. The feelings of the characters were only superficially explored and left me feeling as if I was missing a lot of depth.

I have never read the actual Greek myth of Phaedra or of Theseus and therefore make no claims to the accuracy of the book. As far as I am concerned this is a retelling of an old myth, intertwined with the morality, judgement and views we imbue it with as modern people.

it’s hard not to compare this to “ariadne” considering they both aim to tackle the myth and tell it from the forgotten voices of the women.

i will say the book does well with highlighting this in particular. i found that the chorus(es) were a chilling addition to the story. but when you give voices to many characters, you tend to end up muddling them at the edges. too many povs and you dont know whos really taking the lead anymore.

still, it was an interesting take on the myth. certainly one that makes your blood boil

This is a feminist retelling of the Greek myth of Phaedra. The daughter of King Minos and the sister of Ariadne and the Minotaur, she becomes the wife of Theseus and is taken to Athens from her home in Crete. She becomes pregnant after being raped by her stepson Hippolytus and insists he be put on trial.

The novel is structured like a Greek tragedy complete with three acts and a Chorus. In this case the Chorus consists of women who have been misused and abused by men. These are women who have no voice but gather at night to commiserate and warn others. Of course, the Chorus also underscores theme. At one point, the women chant, “It happened to me. And me. And me. Me, too” so the reference to the #MeToo movement is obvious.

The author admits that she re-arranged and re-invented Phaedra’s story. In the Greek myth, Phaedra tries to seduce her stepson, and when he repulses her advances, she accuses him of raping her. In this version, Hippolytus does rape his stepmother. The author’s point is that “history is written by men” so women’s truths are hidden. Here Phaedra is shown not to be the temptress the men accuse her of being but a victim of brutal sexual assault. Even Medea makes an appearance, and though she admits to killing her children, she insists, “Everyone always focused on the killing of the children. No one ever asked why.” Her explanation to Phaedra suggests she acted out of love, not revenge, but men have the power and shape narratives to portray themselves as heroes and women as seductresses and sorceresses: “any man can throw words up into the air, and it is women who must pay when those words land.”

The author wants to emphasize the sexual abuse women have suffered and how they have been silenced. Women in mythology, like Phaedra and Medea, have been maligned when in fact they should be more correctly identified as heroines. The problem is that the author’s approach is very heavy-handed. Over and over again, the plight and powerlessness of women and men’s manipulation and victim blaming are shown. No woman, from the lowliest servant to the granddaughter of two Olympian gods, is safe. All of the men are villains, all untrustworthy and self-serving. For me, the absolute vilification of men actually weakens the message.

The title is supposed to suggest that Phaedra is a tragic heroine. Unfortunately, Phaedra gets lost in the narrative. Various points of view are presented, and Phaedra’s perspective becomes one of many. For instance, even Medea’s maidservant is given a chapter in which she witnesses Phaedra’s rape. It would have been much more effective to have Phaedra narrate. Since Phaedra is only one of many narrators, the reader struggles to know her. In addition, there is nothing to differentiate the many characters whose points of view are given: there are no distinctive voices so everyone sounds the same.

It is also difficult to see Phaedra as more than a naïve young girl. Given her age, her naivety is appropriate and justified, but her continued naivety is less credible. Some growth would have made her more admirable. As is, it is difficult to see her as a brave heroine. Other characters are also one-dimensional. Hippolytus, for instance, is arrogant and obsessed with horses. The lack of depth in the portrayal of characters is a definite weakness.

In fact, most elements have a lack of depth. There is little world building; all we know is that the palace in Athens suffers in comparison with the palace in Crete. Instead there is much needless repetition. How often must we be told that the table placed in Phaedra’s room is too large? Why is there so much focus on the chiton she wears on each occasion?

This book is a disappointment. Though the theme is noteworthy, the writing style is uninspired. The lack of psychological depth and inclusion of irrelevant perspectives are particular problems. It’s another case of good intentions but poor execution.

Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.

Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).

I really like the idea of retelling Greek myths from a women's point of view and I normally go into these myths blind, not really knowing the full original story.

I think what this book lacked in depth of story telling, world building, and suspense, it instead may have delved deeper into the underlying themes of how rape and sexual allegation cases have never been (and unfortunately still aren't) taken seriously by men and how women are seen as gossips but men are seen as story tellers.

I ended up skimming the last of the book to see what happens as I found the story to be repeated a whole heap.

Phaedra is a feminist Greek retelling reminiscent of Madeline Miller’s work while the author maintains her own style and tone. Especially in these times, I know that this book will resonate with so many women. Highly recommended if you were a fan of Circe and The Song of Achilles.

Trigger warning: violence, sexual assault, death and suicide

Thanks to Alcove Press and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As is typical for this genre, this was really pretty bad. I upped my rating by one star because at least through the writing, the pace kept up unlike some of the Jennifer Saint ones I've read.

Phaedra is a new to me story, this year I wanted to read more mythology and retellings so when I saw this one and the synopsis I jumped on the opportunity. I really enjoyed this story, started one afternoon and finished the next day. The audio was perfection with the cast of characters… easy to follow. The story was powerful and heartbreaking making me want to do a deep dive into Phaedra as well as some of the others mentioned! I’m new to Greek myths and Laura Shepperson wrote a debut that makes me want to continue on my journey of reading.

Oh my goodness! I loved the audiobook for this one! Each voice for each character was perfect and all the voices coming together to do the Night Chorus part really put that into perspective! I just LOVED this book and didnt want it to end!

After reading multiple Greek retellings this year I was looking forward to one from the perspective of Phaedra, daughter of King Minos, and sister to Ariadne. The author took a unique approach to the story and the plot was different than what I initially expected. The author mentions in her Author Note how these stories were spoken over and over again, allowing for variations to the original tale. This definitely was refreshing to find something unique in a retelling

Apart of the unique perspective and storyline, I did find a lot of the book fell flat for me. There was little to no description and constant dialogue. This book is written in multiple characters perspectives, and at times it was confusing trying to differentiate a unique voice between them. A lot of the language was repetitive and there was very little character development. I found the most well-rounded character to be Theseus, and found myself wanting a chapter from his perspective as well. The Night Chorus was also an interesting part as it gave a voice to the women of this time period and their sufferings at the hand of men. Phaedra herself was labeled as naive and had few traits to make her likable.

There also were a few things that disoriented me from the time period that seemed oddly placed and almost modern. Such as clothing description or certain dialogue between the characters that didn’t seem to fit.

This story truly does have the tone of a tragedy and it did deliver on that. As a content warning, rape and suicide are very prevalent throughout the second half of the book.

I think this would be a good read for those who enjoyed similar works such as Circe or Ariadne, but I do feel that it falls short in capturing the audience.

I received a complimentary e-arc from NetGalley and opinions expressed in my review are my own.