Ariadne: The Mesmerising Sunday Times Bestselling Retelling of Ancient Greek Myth

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Hyginus. Fabulae (in Latin). 224. Qui facti sunt ex mortalibus immortales ... Ariadnen Liber pater Liberam appellavit, Minois et Pasiphaes filiam;

Always, these myths are told of the greatness of the male hero and little of the women they trample on their way to fame. Reading this retelling from Ariadne and Phaedra’s points of view was insightful and refreshing. The sisterhood between Ariadne and Phaedra was told very well, from their childhood bond to the strife and ravages of marriage and adulthood and shared sense of being wronged by men. Even though Ariadne does indeed become the wife of Dionysus and have children with him, the dynamic of their relationship doesn’t make any sense either. It was sweet in the beginning, but it soured due to the author’s choice of deciding to hide different aspects of Dionysus from Ariadne. Mainly just the author trying to come up with some sort of emotional conflict that didn’t need to happen, and would have been much more interesting to have the darker aspects of Dionysus shared and explored with Ariadne. Especially since classical art DEPICTS her participating in his rituals with the Maenads and Satyrs. So the characterization was dull and off-putting, which is something I never could have imagined for the god of wine, revelry, ritual madness, and religious ecstasy. In following Ariadne, Saint can both build a narrative that can rival any modern novel and play with the different versions of myths and how each telling is always an interpretation, which must decide which characters are to be celebrated and which are to be demoted to insignificance, or blamed for their own fates. Minotaur | Definition, Story, Labyrinth, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com . Retrieved 2023-05-10.

But...even though I think Ariadne didn't have the same impact on me Circe had...I still enjoyed it so much. It's been beautiful overall and, after careful consideration, it also deserved an almost 5-star rating. Which translates into a 5-star rating here, on Goodreads! This felt almost non-fiction. But I think that's just another cool thing about greek mythology. It feels so real because so many people believe it's truth. Another sad, expected end to another beautiful retelling. I can't wait to find my next one. With her wonderfully executed debut that reimagines the classic tale of Theseus, Adriane and the Minotaur, Jennifer Saint joins the likes of Madeline Miller and Pat Barker in forging mesmerising retellings of ancient Greek myths from a female perspective.’– Waterstones.com

One year Theseus, Prince of Athens, offers himself as a sacrifice to the beast and Ariadne is instantly infatuated with him. She decides to help Theseus kill the Minotaur, betraying her family and country.In creating a "biography" for a historicized Ariadne, Theseus' having abandoned her on Naxos explains her presence there; in assembling a set of biographical narrative episodes, this would have had to be placed after her abduction from Knossos. In keeping with the office of Minos as King of Crete, Ariadne came to bear the late title of "Princess". The culmination of this rationalization is the realistic historicizing fiction of Mary Renault, The Bull from the Sea (1962). Ariadne, Princess of Crete and daughter of the fearsome King Minos, grows up hearing stories of gods and heroes. But beneath the golden palace something else stirs, the hoofbeats and bellows echoing from the Labyrinth below. Every year its captive, the Minotaur – Ariadne’s brother – demands blood. With Ariadne, Jennifer Saint gives voice to the titular princess of Crete, known mostly as a side character in the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, placing her at the centre of her own story for once. The concept has been trialled and tested in Circe, The Silence of the Girls and A Thous Ariadne lives on the island of Crete with her controlling father Minos and her bull brother The Minotaur. As she grows up, Ariadne realizes that there is a darker side to the stories of gods and men she so often heard:"No longer was my world one of brave heroes; I was learning all too swiftly the women's pain that throbbed unspoken through the tales of their feats." Discuss some examples from the novel that bear this out. Do you think there is still a tendency in our culture to valorize men while ignoring women's pain?