I received a free e-ARC from the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[This review will be posted on my blog on 1 July 2021]

Ariadne Unraveled was not what I thought it was going to be. And judging from other reviews, it isn't what other people thought it would be either.

So let me tell you what it is: Ariadne Unraveled is an adult historical fantasy romance retelling of Dionysus’ and Ariadne's stories. Emphasis on the adult, and on the romance. This book has sex scenes. Mostly they are between men and women, but there are one or two short scenes between women, and it's implied that men also have sex with men.

Ariadne Unraveled is very much rooted in Greek and Minoan history, meaning that the more unsavoury aspects of those cultures, including slavery, pederasty (mentioned), and human (and animal) sacrifice are present. If you are uncomfortable with any of these things, this may not be the book for you.

Ariadne Unraveled is told from two points of view: Ariadne's and Dionysus'. I have to admit I wasn't aware of their connection in Greek mythology until I read this book, only some of their individual myths, so I found this quite intriguing.

In this retelling, Ariadne is high priestess of Crete, devoted to the Great Goddess (Artemis). Dionysus, meanwhile, is a new god, only a few hundred years old, and is the son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Semele. Ariadne Unraveled is about Dionysus' journey to becoming a god: gaining followers and spreading his cult, and finding his place in the world. Ariadne is on a seperate journey of her own; struggling to follow the Great Goddess whose favour she has lost, and eventually giving up everything and everyone she loves.

For me, the highlight of the novel was the twining of numerous versions of their myths into one cohesive story, as well as the inclusion of historical facts (such as the architecture of Knossos, including plumbing.) The author has clearly done a lot of research to place this into its socio-cultural and historical context. There are obviously elements that have been imagined, such as the details of Minoan religion, since we have only a general idea of the symbols of their worship, but I enjoyed that too. Those are the places that give an author space to play a bit, and make a story their own. I particularly enjoyed how the author developed the culture and belief system of the Minoan people. Ariadne is the feminine aspect, devoted to the Great Goddess above, while her half brother Asterion, the Minotaur, is the masculine aspect, and represents worship of the bull (Poseidon).

I've seen other reviewers criticise the romance as being a case of insta-love between Dionysus and Ariadne. I can't say they're completely wrong, but for me it read more as lust to begin with, and then grew into love. I would have perhaps liked to have seen more of this development on page, but there were a lot of other things going on in the plot so it didn't bother me too much. I wasn't a huge fan of the sex scenes, mostly because I wasn't expecting them, and I wasn't really in the mood for a sexy book.

I think the only thing that let me down a tiny bit was the character development. It's not that there isn't any, but I felt as if the other elements of the story took precedence, such as the plot and the romance. Oftentimes, the parts of the story where Ariadne and Dionysus had opportunities for reflection were quite rushed, so I understood their character arcs, but they felt a bit forced in order to move on to the next part of the plot. Still, I liked the direction they were going in. Dionysus is the child of Zeus and a mortal, yet he has the powers of a god. He struggles with feeling abandoned by his father, and all he wants is acceptance, which he believes he will get by proving himself equal to his siblings and his divine family. Meanwhile, Ariadne struggles with her faith, and how the goddess she is devoted to is becoming a stranger to her, asking her to do the unthinkable - betray her family and her people.

The themes of the novel are about change and transformation. Ariadne Unraveled is set in a time of change; a new crop, grapes, are being planted, and the harvests are turned to wine; the Athenian people's star is rising; and the dynamics between the gods and humans are shifting.

Overall, I actually quite enjoyed Ariadne Unravelled. I liked the plot, and how the different versions of Ariadne and Dionysus' myths were entwined. I loved the worldbuilding - it felt expansive and magical. And I did like Ariadne and Dionysus, and the direction the author sent their characters in.

I think this book would appeal to fans of mythology retellings, especially if they don't mind a bit of heat in their romances. It reminded me of Circe by Madeline Miller, and of Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett, which is a YA retelling of Ariadne and Theseus' myths.

CW: sex scenes, violence, murder, human sacrifice (not on page, but mentioned), blood, animal sacrifice, slavery, pederasty (mentioned), ritual self harm (not graphic), partial nudity (breasts), physical and sexual abuse (mentioned)

I was really excited to read this take on Ariadne. Ariadne is one of my favorite mythical Greek characters. However, there were some graphic scenes in the story that made it not enjoyable for me. The graphics scenes did not add to the story in any emotional way. The writing itself was very simplistic and the characters seemed to have no depth to them. Thus, it was a forgettable retelling.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am a fan of Greek mythology retellings and I was excited to request this book from #NetGalley. Sadly I struggled to stay on the book. I like the writing and how the story unravelled through different perspectives, but it wasn't enough to captivate me.

My Rating 2.5/5 Stars

This retelling of the story of Ariadne, High Priestess of Crete not only did a brilliant job of creating a complex love story for the reader to enjoy, but also put a wonderfully positive spin on a female who is so often overlooked in Greek myth.

The level of detail that has gone into the book is clear to the reader from the weaving of various recollections of the story of Ariadne and Dionysus. As well as this, the book also remains easy to follow.

5 stars!
Wow, this book is everything I had hoped it would be and more. I could honestly go on about it for days, but I’ll try to keep this brief. I’ve been looking for a Dionysus and Ariadne retelling for a while, so I’m glad I came across this book. There are, unfortunately, very few couples in Greek mythology who actually had a healthy relationship. Dionysus and Ariadne are one of said lucky pairings, and this book absolutely did them justice.

Being that so many Greek myths were passed down orally, there are many different variations of every story. This book does a great job of retelling the most popular rendition of this story (granted, with a few changes), while also alluding to some others. Although I do think anyone could easily enjoy this book, I will say that it will probably hold a lot more appeal if you are already a fan of Greek mythology. There are tons of references to note within the text that people who are familiar with Ariadne’s story will pick up on.

Now, as much as I loved this book, I will admit that I was hesitant towards it at first. The plot starts really fast and begins with some insta-lust. However, said lust makes sense in terms of the narrative, and from that point on, the relationship between Ariadne and Dionysus is beautifully written. Although I loved the romance and general plot of this book, it’s stand out feature to me is its incorporation of so many feminist messages. Unfortunately, rape is a very common feature in Greek mythology. This book, however, does not choose to ignore this in its retelling. It wonderfully addresses consent, rape culture, and the process reclaiming your body. It does a great job of rewriting women, as well as 21st century ideals, into history.

This book also does a great job with the characterization of the side characters in this story. Greek mythology is a difficult subject to retell with a new protagonist, as the original myths are so dramatic. With such intense antagonists, it can be hard to tell the story from a new point of view without completely villainizing a different character. This book though, does a great job of humanizing all the characters in this story. Although some characters have better morals than others, and some stand in the main characters way, while others do not, they all feel like they could believably be real people. That being said, this book also makes sure not to idealize any of its characters. No one is without their flaws, even heroes.

All in all, I absolutely loved this book, and am so glad I picked it up. From the romance, to the feminist messages incorporated into the story, to the overall writing quality, this book was incredible. Hopefully it gains recognition in the genre of Greek mythology retellings, because it’s truly a beautiful book.

Lastly, in case it is something that may trigger you, be warned that this book does contain scenes of attempted rape. (There’s a full list of trigger warnings at the start of the book if that’s something you need to check before picking this up)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a fan of Greek mythology retellings and I was excited to receive this book about Ariadne. I expected it would be a version of the story focusing on her point of view and story. And in a way it was, but it was also the story of Dionysus' journey to becoming an Olympian.

I was intrigued by the Cretan court and how the Pasiphae and Minotaur aspects of the story were handled. Theseus and Phaedra were not as pivotal as I expected in the narrative.

I did find the pacing slow. The story somewhat alternated between Ariadne's story and Dionysus'. I don't know if I would have felt more invested if their parts were written in first person? I felt very detached from the characters. The writing was clear and lucid but it did not grab me with lyricism or compel me with emotion. The characterization was somewhat flat and I was disappointed by that. I really wanted to immerse myself in the story and the storytelling and I felt at at remove and didn't truly engage with the characters.

I think I wanted more story as well. More about the motivations and decisions that led to the end story. I didn't feel that happened and I wished we had more of that. The narrative was slow going at times.

Overall it had some interesting aspects, particularly the differences between the Minoan and Attic cultures, but I would have gladly read more of the characters themselves.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Personally, I felt this one difficult to invest in. I found my mind wandering often and had trouble reading for more than 10 minutes at a time. There are a lot of sex scenes in this book and they started to feel a bit excessive. I am a huge Greek mythology fan so I was really looking forward to this book but unfortunately it was not my favorite read.
I will probably give it another try when the book is published though because sometimes I simply have trouble reading on a kindle format.

This was a creative interpretation that I found interesting! I liked the author’s passion towards myths and I thought the story was well written.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly as excited as I was for this and as hooked as I was by the prologue, this did not stick the middle or the landing for me. I wouldn't not recommend it, but it certainly wasn't for me.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately, I have struggled to find the time to read it this month and I don't have enough time now to read and review it before it becomes archived. I can't wait to purchase it in the future so that I can support this author and give it the attention it deserves.

#AriadneUnraveled
#ZenobiaNeil

#DNF

I like Greek mythology and retellings interest me. That attracted me to request this book from #NetGalley. Unfortunately I found myself struggling to read this book. I gave it a couple of breaks and restarted it twice but was unable to finish the read. It seemed to be a cross between a Greek myth and a romance which tied me up in knots rather than unravelling. I could not invest myself into the writing style.

The problem could be with me as a reader; and all opinions expressed are mine.

Thank you Net Galley and Victoria Editing Net Galley Coop for making the digital ARC available on request.

Zenobia Neil's Ariadne Unraveled: A Mythic Retelling explores the full scope of Ariadne's journey and Dionysus's path to godhood. Ariadne, the high priestess of Crete, is completely devoted to her patron goddess, Artemis. Dionysus is a new god, eager to prove himself through his quest for revenge. When Ariadne and Dionysus meet, their instantaneous attraction is undeniable. Artemis, enraged by their connection, declares that she will kill Ariadne if Dionysus does not leave her be. This kickstarts a domino effect that only the Fates could have predicted.

To be totally transparent, it was initially a struggle for me to get, and stay, into this book. While Neil's writing style is beautiful and it was really interesting to see a different perspective of Ariadne and Dionysus, I couldn't help but want for just a little more. I'm not sure if I needed more characterization, more explanation, or a different point of view (first-person POV instead of third-person). There were really great moments throughout this book and the fact that it's a retelling of Greek mythology definitely grabbed my attention.

Overall Rating: 2.5/5 (rounded up to 3)

Ariadne Unraveled: A Mythic Retelling will be available for purchase starting July 7th. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf and see where it's available for purchase. Also, be sure to check out Zenobia Neil's website!
I was lucky enough to be able to read this Advanced Reader's Copy through my partnership with NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I knew nothing of Ariadne’s story prior to reading this book yet it was still and enjoyable and easy to follow read.

The adventure ensures the story is never boring. It’s full of vengeful gods and goddesses, love, devotion, friendship and powerful women.

As a lover of mythology, especially greek mythology I jumped at the chance to request this one and was made up when I was accepted to read and review ...Unfortunately, whilst I do not think this is a bad book and I am sure many will love it .. it is not a book for me and I chose not to continue with it any longer once I was just skipping parts in chunks and the smut started!

I just couldn't get past that it was so so different to every other retelling of Ariadne I have come across ... maybe I have read too much mythology or maybe I've not read enough, I don't know, but sadly I just couldn't get into the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me this arc.

I love Greek mythology, and especially retellings of women myths. This one was particularly bad.
At first, I was so enthralled and intrigued by the prologue, but then came the first chapter.

This story is not the story of Ariadne, it is the one of her and Dyonysus. It is nothing else than a steamy romance in the Greek myth universe.

Although I kept browsing, and flying over the novel until the end, looking for something more than just romance and/or smut, I found only uninteresting dialogues and unhealthy relationship dynamics.

Let’s not talk about the master/slave dynamics that are really present all along the novel.

Very disappointed, would not recommend to anyone because unfortunately, even if I would have wanted to read some smut (which I didn’t) the sex scenes were horribly badly written.

For a lover of greek mythology retellings, this book was welcomed onto my kindle and embraced with open arms. I’m constantly on the hunt for a book to fill the Madeline Miller shaped hole in my heart. I would not say this book hit the mark, but it didn’t fall flat either.

Ariadne Unraveled is a retelling of the story of Ariadne, the high priestess of Crete. I was excited for this retelling because Ariadne is often an overlooked side character, used and treated as a pawn to further the story of a man. This retelling did one thing very well: made my feminist soul sing. I was utterly impressed with Neil’s subtle empowerment of Ariadne without making it feel like a political stunt. I also appreciated the approach to gender and sexual roles. The fluidity and lack of boundaries when sexuality was discussed was a breath of fresh air.

In her author’s note, Neil explained the convoluted and contradicting nature of Dionysus and Ariadne’s story. She did a beautiful job of piecing together the various myths and tragedies found across history. The attention to detail is apparent.

I do wish the authors voice was stronger. The writing lacked humor or lyrical prose. The love story did not make me feel warm inside and overall lacked emotion.

This is a love story, but more importantly it is a story of redemption, empowerment, loyalty, and self discovery. I am excited to see more from this author; the blueprint for this book is brilliant. I hope that we see a stronger voice in her future stories.



This review was posted to goodreads and Instagram.

DNFed at 60%

<blockquote><i>The promise of a man was worthless</i></blockquote>

Ariadne Unraveled is ... what the title says it is, to be honest, it's a retelling of the story of Ariadne which is a tale I'm not too familiar with and was looking forward to learn about; however, all through the 60% of the book that I read, I couldn't help but feel like I would learn more through reading a cliffnotes version of the story and, ultimately, I decided I'd rather keep myself "unspoiled" for this story so that I could come across it in another more enjoyable format.

The book is certainly not <i>bad<i/>, it's just not the type of story or genre that I enjoy. It seems like a typical insta-love romance/smut book dressed up as a Greek myth and, unfortunately, it manages to fall a bit flat on all the different aspects of its theme. As I understood, the story is a tragedy detailing the separation of Ariadne and Dionysus but there is absolutely no emotion connected to this separation because there is no emotion depicted in their entire relationship. They meet at the very beginning of the book and their whole introduction is centered around how irresistible Ariadne finds Dionysus and how much she wants to sleep with him, a fact that's initially shown to be more tied to Dionysus' "magic" and power instead of a bond between the two.

The second time Ariadne and Dionysus meet is when he's managed to convince her father to marry her off to him and from then on, we're supposed to believe these two are meant to be together despite the fact that all we're ever shown is them having sex or talking about having sex, there's no build up and there's no character development. I have nothing against romance novels or smut-heavy books as long as they're done well and they actually make you feel <i>something</i> for the characters and their relationship. For me, this came with no feelings attached.

Another aspect that fell flat for me was the writing style. Everything seemed too simplified, there was no beautiful prose, no lyricism in the style, none of the things one would normally find associated with mythology or gods and goddesses. Everything was too straight forward here, events were described as "this happened and then this happened and then 2 years passed and then this happened" and I found it hard to engage with the writing because I felt it was missing a little something extra. It felt like the outlines of a story rather than the finished product and maybe with a bit more time and more depth to the characters/writing, it could have been a much better book for me.

Overall, while I couldn't finish this book, I wouldn't say it's necessarily a 1 star book or that it's bad or anything like that. It might just be the kind of book you're looking for and it might be a good story to pick up if you're in the mood for a classic retelling. It does have a lot of information regarding the tale and does provide some nice imagery regarding the setting the characters are in. If you're a fan of the Ariadne story (or familiar with Greek mythology in general) it might be a nice book for you to read and own (love the cover btw). But, as your first encounter with the myth of Ariadne, maybe it's best to go for something else, which is what I'm hoping to do.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book. </i>

I think I had different expectations of this, which lead me to spend most of my reading time readjusting my mindset instead of fully enjoying the indeed extraordinary tale retold here.

Ariadne Unraveled is a retelling of the story of Ariadne, the high priestess of Crete, who is part of the Greek mythology canon. While she's an interesting character, she never gets to fully shine in the original saga, which made me excited for this book, hinting at focussing fully on her journey.

Usually, she's just a side character in the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur. Neil decided to rephrase her side character status for the sake of a love story centred around Ariadne and Dionysus, the God of Wine. This felt appropriate and she tied the knots together in a satisfying and plausible way, therefore offering a new reading of the oftentimes contradicting and abstract original myths.

My biggest problem with this was that the whole narration felt flat. It's a somewhat straightforward style she went for, which prevented the characters to truly come alive on these pages. Ariadne and Dionysus fall in love at first sight, which meant I as a reader was never able to fully get invested, as they were already tearing their clothes off within the first few pages. I think I was hoping for a bit more complexity and depth in that regard. I'm left believing that the only reason they're enjoying each other's company is that they are a good match in bed.

While this felt like a good blueprint, I just wished for more. More character development, more insight into how the characters are feeling and what they are thinking, more complexity in their behaviour and motivations. I would recommend this to people who don't know much about Ariadne's role in Greek mythology, as this is a very straight-forward retelling of the basic outlines, but if you care to dig deeper, there's not going to be that much to unravel here.

I am afraid I had mixed feelings about this book. As a Classicist, I did appreciate the research that had gone into some of the background details (the clothing, for example - it's often presumed that Ariadne would wear 'Greek' clothes rather than Minoan etc.), and the author had definitely done some research on the background myths of Dionysus (I particularly enjoyed the reference back to Ovid's Metamorphoses with the boat/sailors-to-animals scene).

However, I was very disappointed by the explicit sexual nature of the book overall. This is purely a personal comment, but I feel the text has been mis-advertised. To be blunt, if I had known how crude a lot of the content would have been, I wouldn't have picked up the book (as this just isn't my kind of reading..!). I am sure some readers will enjoy this, but I felt it was a shame that the story rested so much on sex and, specifically, Ariadne's chest...I feel like the author was trying to push a 'feminist' perspective, and sometimes this was achieved, but unfortunately I don't feel that this was fully successful. It is very difficult trying to add a feminist slant to a world (and to characters) that was so far removed from this concept, so I applaud the author for trying, but personally I don't feel the story was quite done justice...

3/5 as I did genuinely appreciate the effort the author put into research here.

Considering the quality of the prologue, I had high hopes for this book. A romance between Ariadne and Dionysus? Betrayals? Some yearning? I was all for it!

Unfortunately, the romance wasn't what I expected... Too carnal for my tastes. Ariadne and Dionysus meet rather quickly (a good thing as we don't have to wait too long to see them together), and they are instantly attracted to each other. Actually, they have sex right on the spot. It felt insta-love-y and underwhelming as I wanted more build-up and complexity. Plus, I never bought their love for each other: sex is all they are sharing. I'm not kidding you when I say that each time they saw each other they had to go at it again... Where were the emotions, the angst, the tension? Nowhere to be seen.

So yeah, there is a lot of smut in here, which is something I don't personally like. However, what made me uncomfortable is the essence of Ariadne's relationship with Dionysus and Thalia. Dionysus has the power to arouse the people around him: it's not his fault as he doesn't know how to control his gifts. However, he knows what his powers do but still chooses to have sex with these people. My problem is: are they consenting to this? Is Ariadne really *in love* with him or are his powers influencing her? I wish there were a substantial discussion on this.

Now, the friendship with Thalia was baffling. Sure, we're talking about cruel gods but as a retelling I would have appreciated more feminism. Ariadne tells us multiple times that Thalia is her friend and lover but there clearly was a slave/master dynamic that didn't sit well with me. Thalia was a submissive slave through and through: she was the one giving pleasure to Ariadne while the latter didn't give much back (except touching her breast, eh?). As soon as Thalia was in the same room, she had to pleasure Ariadne. Plus, Ariadne was always using the words "my slave" instead of "my friend". Are we supposed to believe in this friendship?

Because of that, I didn't like any of these characters. Ariadne was selfish, one-dimensional and naive. Dionysus was nothing more than a good-looking god. Thalia was a slave to both of them.

The story itself was quite boring honestly, I never was invested. The ending was also cheesy. Ariadne hasn't grown much as a character.

The men had too much power over the women in my opinion.