I love all things mythology, and none more so than Greco-Roman! This was gorgeously written and a very interesting take on Ariadne. It was just so romantic and beautiful; it was nice to see a healthy relationship dynamic between Dionysus and Ariadne! You don't see that very often in myths! It was a fairly fast paced book and I was able to finish it one sitting!

"Ariadne Unraveled" by Zenobia Neil presents a Greek mythology retelling centered around the love story between Ariadne, a high priestess of Crete, and Dionysus, the God of wine. While the book explores a unique perspective and offers feminist and queer themes in a setting often dominated by male characters and narratives, it receives mixed reviews.

Many readers expressed excitement about delving into a lesser-known character, Ariadne, and her story within Greek mythology. However, their enthusiasm often waned due to various shortcomings in the book. Some readers found the writing style more reminiscent of young adult fiction rather than an adult novel, which created a disconnect and affected their enjoyment.

One common critique was the insta-love between Ariadne and Dionysus. Their immediate and passionate connection was perceived as shallow and lacking emotional depth, making it challenging for readers to connect with their love story. Furthermore, the plot was criticized for its uneven execution, with some sections praised for their vividness and others derided for being pedestrian or overly melodramatic.

Despite its flaws, the book's strengths included its exploration of feminist themes, a queer perspective on Greek mythology, and representation of Sapphic love. It offered a fresh angle on a male-dominated mythological world, addressing issues like consent and rape culture.

In summary, "Ariadne Unraveled" is a book that presents intriguing concepts but falters in its execution. It's an enjoyable read for those interested in Greek mythology and retellings, as well as those looking for diverse and feminist themes. However, the book's lack of character depth, insta-love, and uneven prose may leave some readers wanting more from the story.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed reading it the plot was interesting and the characters made me want to know more about them. I highly recommend.

Female centred retellings of Greek Mythology have been quite popular lately, this novel was enjoyable and stood out with its own take and voice.
It was nice to see female characters exhibit strength, independence and agency.
Very entertaining.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to it before it was archived but will review in full when I do.

We have another Greek retelling, which you know I am always down for. Unfortunately, this is not one of the best. Many people don't know the story of Ariadne, though they may know a little about her based on her part in the Minotaur story. Dionysus is the usually brought up with regards to hedonistic behaviors. In this telling, the two fall in love IMMEDIATELY, which apparently means just having sex whenever possible without any of the intimacy you would expect from two people in love. The entire book is supposed to be their love story, but I never got that feeling of connection.

I love greek mythology and retellings - this was an interesting take on Ariadne's story ! It was quite a fast read, unfortunately some aspects (pacing, style, character development) weren't to my taste so I ended up not enjoying the book as much as I would have liked..

Ariadne and Dionysus tell the narrative, which begins with their encounter before Theseus, son of Aegeus. Dionysus, Zeus’ divine son, desired vengeance on Artemis, his half-sister, and he chose Crete as the location for his plot. Ariadne, Crete’s chief priestess, took a spouse for a period of one to three years. She married him, slept with him, and offered him to the goddess as a sacrifice. Pasiphae’s mother had done the same, but she had enraged the goddess by continuing to live with her husband, Minos.

The portrayal of the secondary characters in this plot is very excellent in this book. Because the ancient tales are so dramatic, retelling Greek mythology with a new protagonist is challenging. It can be difficult to describe the narrative from a new perspective without entirely villainizing a different character when the opponents are so fierce. However, this book does an excellent job of humanizing all of the people in the plot. Although some characters have greater morals than others, and some individuals get in the way of the main character while others do not, they all feel like genuine people. This novel, on the other hand, makes a point of not idealizing any of its characters. Even heroes, like everyone else, have shortcomings.

Unlike much Greek mythology, where girls are frequently viewed as objects with little consideration, this book had a significant impact on female assertiveness and sexuality. Dionysius’s sapphic connections were also featured in the book, as was Dionysius’s interaction with both men and women. In these classic tales, I like how the author depicts the fluidity of gender and sexual roles. It makes me reflect on how current gender and sexual identities are a very new concept, and they are not universal. I hope the author continues to debunk additional urban legends. This is the ideal book for these times!

This book got to me right in the middle of my greek mythology hype and I was truly exited to read more about Ariadne, a character which imo isn't talked about much.
I don't know if my expectations in regards to the writing were too high but I ended up being disappointed. The writing felt rather YA instead of adult and I missed something from it.
Mixed with the insta love the characters experienced, this was an okay read for me but not groundbreaking.

I've been disappointed with most of the greek retellings released lately. But I just found the writing style odd and the world-building difficult to manage.

I looooved this! I thought the language was vivid, the imagery was enthralling, and the characters kept me jumping to the next page!

I chosen this ARC because I like reading about greek mythology and I knew Ariadne's story from several myth stories.

This is the love story about Ariadne and Dioniz, who fell in love (or lust) quickly to each other. The story was full of their sexual exploration, knowing each other and trying to understand each other.
There were some harsh love scenes (like BDSM style) plus a trigger warning (sexual assaut). It was almost too much lust for me at the times to read.
I liked the fact that Ariadne was strong and powerful woman.

Like any other story of gods, there were lots of good and bad things happening, but overall this was a quick read.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this book and ended up DNFing at around 25% of the way in.

I was really hoping for a good myth re-telling and a focus on romance and female perspective (which are both very ahistorical and what I was seeking) but I just found the writing style confusing and the world-building hard to understand.

Not for me unfortunately.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for a review.

A very interesting take on Ariadne's story. The writing was creative and imaginative and kept me engaged throughout. This is definitely a book for lovers of mythology and romance!

My only critique would be the lack of development regarding the characters, as well as the use of the insta-love trope, as this seemed somewhat forced at times.

Otherwise, this was a pleasant and enjoyable read!

I love reading stories about Greec Mythology. I devoured each book about it. And I was so excited to be able to read this one. But, it was hard for me reading it. I love retellings too, and I thought this was will be amazing. I don't like insta love, and I don't like the fast sex without thinking about how and why. The characters were a bit rude for me too. Maybe I'm wrong, because we all know how the things happened in the Greec Mythology, but this one is a retelling, so I was expecting something different. I'm sorry, but this one wasn't for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the copy of this book.

I struggled on how to characterize this read. There were many things I loved, but there were a lot of things that made me cringe as well.

The things I loved:
- the lush re-imagining of Ariadne's origins.
- the multi-faceted aspects of Dionysus and the portrayals of his followers.

Things that made me cringe:
- the juxtaposition between middle grade dialogue and steamy sex scenes.
- the plot seemed aimless at times.

3 "soapy, soft porny, imaginative" stars !!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and Victory Netgalley Editing Co-op for an ecopy of this novel. I am providing my honest review. This was released July 2021.

I want to start off by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this novel to a 4 star degree. This was like seeing mediocre opera. Mediocre opera is better than no opera and despite mishaps and flaws can be really quite enjoyable even though the soprano cannot reach high Cs, the mezzo is thirty years too old for the part and baritone hero looks like he hasn't showered in a few weeks.

First of all I want to say I lurved just lurved the author's vision and imagination in retelling this story through a feminist and queer lens which led to so much more variation and variety in plot and character expression. Everybody was fucking everybody in this romantic tale (or tail lol) and everybody from common servants, to princes, to priestesses, to satyrs and demigods had agency in creating destinies in beautiful and exciting ancient Greece.

Ms. Neil was able to impart the magic of the myths while infusing them with a modern sensibility,
erotic titillation and romantic haze that had this reader smiling, enjoying and wondering where this story would go to next and what intrigue lay behind door number theta !

The prose, however, is extremely uneven. There are parts that are extremely vivid and graceful whereas other sections are pedestrian and at the worst of times become histrionic and (unintentionally) extremely cheezy. It would have been also more interesting to explore the depths of the characters' psychologies as the extremely interesting plot warranted this rather than simply stereotypical feminist heroines, bisexual demi-gods and male chauvinist kings (with good intentions of course).

I have great hope that Ms. Neil can overcome some of the big flaws in this book and come out with a mythic tale that is sparkling in its entirety rather than just be brilliant in certain sections.

But remember ! Mediocre opera is better than no opera but is not better than hearing Diana Damrau sing Strauss !!

I am someone who is a sucker for greek mythology. Like to the point where I read a couple books a month on or inspired by the subject. Let me tell you... I am picky when it comes to mythology but I adored this. I absolutely am planning on getting my own copy of this book because I loved it. I especially loved this quote, "He had promised to make her his queen in Athens, to never forget how she had saved him. The promise of a man was worthless." I mean C'mon... that quote just crushed my heart a little and also made me just stop in my tracks and think YES. I loved everything about this book, from this version of Ariadne, to the romance to honestly everything. I also loved the characterization not only of the main characters, but also of the side characters as well. I truly adored this book and think that fans of greek mythology and romance should give it a try, Truly amazing.

This book sadly made it to my DNF list.

The plot seemed intriguing, but the execution wasn't to my taste.

The positive of this book is that it is easy to read and quick paced, It will be sure to get some people into Greek mythology who might not have looked into it otherwise. This is definitely an adult book, and there are some scenes that adults might enjoy that also aren't too graphic like the erotica that is trending recently. The writing style is decent (my issue is more so the subject matter.)

The negative of this book is the execution of the plot. I couldn't care about Ariadne or Dionysus even though they're the title characters. Their first interaction was so bizarre and abrupt that it instantly made me wary of them. The love between them felt very shallow and insta-love is not my cup of tea. The plot seemed like a series of inconvenience and also convenience. And the breast descriptions? Instead of saying, "Yay, feminism! #Freethenipple" I had to go back a few times to confirm the book wasn't written by a man (you know exactly what I mean.)

The side characters like Ariadne's brother and her sister did make me want to read more, but sadly the focus on Ariande and Dionysus made me lose interest. If the author wrote more Greek retellings, I wouldn't be opposed to trying them out, since her writing style and perspective is unique.

I posted this review to GoodReads, linked below
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4084518411

Thank you to Zenobia Neil for sharing your story with us, and thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing this ARC

I love greek mythology so I was immediately attracted to this story but it fell short for me. I DNF halfway.