Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane is a phenomenal retelling of the Iliad with Achilles and The Trojan war, that includes some interesting twists. The characters are vivid and fascinating, pulling readers into a story in which they follow Achilles, from their life in hiding to the gift of becoming a woman onward. This story closely hits on many of the original parts of the story but adds Deane's authentic voice to the story. There are few retellings I have read where the author manages to take it to new heights. Readers can tell the importance of this story to Deane as they went to great lengths to keep the roots of the original story, yet bringing a new audience into the thrilling past of the ancient world of war with their gods/godesses. I thoroughly enjoyed being pulled into a world long lost to the sands of time yet still as relevant to today. Wether a fan of the classics or just a lover of myths and history Wrath Godess Sing by Maya Deane is a must read!

I have tried to read this book three times, in three different formats, and while I love the premise and so much of the execution is fascinating and interestingly done, this book just has not worked for me. I want to read it, and maybe another day I’ll be able to, but so far it just has not worked for me. I do look forward to seeing what else Maya will write, though!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

I may have picked this up at the wrong time, but this one didn't hit quite right for me. I may try to pick it up again in the future.

Normally, I try not to DNF things but for this book, I've tried numerous times to read this and find myself just losing interest over and over again. I love Greek Mythology. I though a gender-bend would be intriguing but I don't think this book is for me. I won't review on GR because I did not finish. Maybe in the future I may change my thoughts but for now, this just isn't working for me.

From what I read, the writing is good and style seems decent. So that is what I'm rating on.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this at about 20%. I was really intrigued by the synopsis and love Greek mythology retellings, especially ones coming from a faminist lens. However, this story grew disinteresting to me. There were too many slurs; there are other ways to illustrate transphobia than using a slur every other paragraph.

I just couldn't with this book. The amount of times the F slur was thrown around made me physically feel ill. I just couldn't get through it and ultimately DNF'd around 30% and lord knows I tried to get through it. There was just too much that didn't sit right with me and I had to stop.

"And it would be death -- the death of her self, the inexorable corrosion of her soul, until even her name was forgotten and nothing was left but the shell of a man she never was."

Wrath Goddess Sing is an epic debut novel, retelling the Iliad with a transgender Achilles. The novel is told through Achilles where we learn of her traumatic childhood, her journey to discovery and community, and her transition to a woman with godly blessings. All of the characters from the Iliad are here, noble Patroklos, beautiful Helen, Agamemnon, Menelaos, Hector and Alexander, and the powerful Amazons.

I was really excited about the idea of this book, a powerful, half divine trans Achilles. The book is full of magic and I liked that the book made the war a game of the gods and the mortal heroes mere pawns in their quest for power. However, this book was just too much. Too many languages, too many names for all of the characters and gods from many different traditions, too much geography, too many mythological references. I am fairly familiar with both Greek and Egyptian mythology but I found myself completely lost many times and unable to follow the narrative. Clearly a huge amount of research went into this book and all of the characters were interesting I just could never really get into it.

I would like to thank Netgalley, William Morrow & Company, and the author for an advanced copy of this book. My options are my own.

2.25 Stars. Wrath Goddess Sing is a lot. And not really in a great way. It was a hard read mostly because it is densely written and also deals with trauma and other heavy subject, but attempts to use flowery language instead of telling/showing how the characters actually feel. A lot of this could be that Deane is a debut author and she bit off more than she can chew, but I think it is because she also attempted to do a Greek myth retelling and give it that grand flare that so many of these retellings have.

This is a retelling of the Achilles myth in the same vein as The Song of Achilles. So if you are a fan of that book, I encourage you to check this one out for yourself. I am pretty ambivalent on greek myth retellings (when we know they are directly working with the myth and not just pulling plots and things from them) which is odd because I do love me some retellings. Just these types and this style doesn't really mesh with me.

*I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"I used to be a boy-in-body, not soul".
Maya Deane surprised the reader with a gender bender Achilles as a trans-female and along with an interesting retelling of the epic poem. The novel was written in a lyrical fashion and the original was an epic poem. The change in the format was more like reading a novel, which added to the storytelling.
"How could they not be? They can only exist in a world of miracles, where gods and magic and girls like us become mothers".I enjoyed the novel in small pieces, but I had a hard connecting all the pieces. However, I did enjoy the storytelling and the many characters that made up the story.
Thank you Maya Deane, Harper Collins Publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this novel and in return I've written an honest review.

I requested this book because I'm queer and a big fan of the Odyssey and assumed that it would be an interesting take on Achilles as a character. Unfortunately, neither the writing style nor the content really worked for me. I didn't make it very far, but other reviewers have also spoken about the racism in this book. I hope to one day find a good queer Iliad retelling, but this unfortunately is not the one.

Trans woman Achilles is there any more I need to say? A well written but tragic book that I will recommend to many of my fellow queer friends and readers I know!

Thanks to NetGalley & William Morrow for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Achilles is a trans woman in this loose retelling of the Iliad. This story was entertaining and the writing lyrical from start to finish! I loved all the twists and turns, how the gods were ruthless beasts, and Achilles is a hard protagonist to like with her stubbornness but she was still very compelling. Very enjoyable story and original retelling.

wrath goddess sing is a sort-of retelling of the iliad, though i would not know precisely because its been a good decade since i read the iliad. in any case, this book stars achilles as kallai, a trans woman, demigod, princess, daughter of athena, wild and brash; her body magically transforms into one she has all her life desired, then she is tasked in leading her army of myrmidons in the achaean battle to recapture helen from the hittites, which ends up as her personal rebellion against the manipulations of the gods and her fight to hold on to those whom she loves.i also have to say i am extremely into the following description of this trans man character, brisewos:but to achilles, everything was suddenly clear. he was like her, but a man: a man’s soul born in a woman’s body that burned and raged inside it, and finally tore it into the shape of his soul, the mirror of the way the kallai cut their bodies to be free of their shame. those scars on his chest, on his hips, belly, thighs—in her mind’s eye, she could see the blood, the rage, the gritted teeth as he hacked and sawed and laughed and shook and went into shock, the dazed days and nights half-dead, and then the horror and the anger of his sisters, who did not understand.like, this is rad as fuck. this is balls to the wall fucking cool as hell. this was fucking gnarly and awesome and i am obsessed with how clear the desperation, the absolute need to scar and maul your body to make it into something you know it should be: that’s deeply relatable, and also cool.i will say that the last couple chapters of the book, after the warring ends, lost me a bit. i can appreciate where deane was trying to take me with it, i just do not feel like i got there, you know? in any case, reading her author bio just made me think i would be delighted to have a conversation about the woman bartender and beer brewer who became king of sumer, or ancient canaanite food, or the scholarly feline apollo, or probably anything she knows a lot about because she seems cool.four out of five stars.

With the controversy surrounding this book, it seems somewhat trite to put this first, but GOD THAT COVER. Absolutely gorgeous and made me want the book just based on that. But then, as someone who loves Greek retellings, I was all in. Song of Achilles? Circe? 1000 ships? Lore? Lore Olympus?? Amazing, every one. This was a truly unique take on a well known story. Did I miss Patrochilles (Patroclus + Achilles)? Obviously. But this was such an interesting viewpoint and story...do you ever read a book and think, "how did the author come up with this? What kind of mind not only thought of this, but was able to follow through and write it?" That's how I felt about this book. I don't feel qualified or knowledgeable enough to discuss the allegedly misogyny, transmisogyny, racism, and other allegations, so I have based this entirely on the writing style and story, and I loved both!

!JUST PURCHASED A COPY! This one was really good, I got invested in every part, from the characters to the settings to the plot. So amazing!

I really was enjoying the hype around this book, but found it to contain a lot of off-putting and overtly racist and transphobic ideas. I couldn't finish it.

Thank you for the ARC! This was a creative and compelling mythological retelling, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed the characterizations and interactions in particular, and found the main character to be thoroughly compelling.

I wanted to love this SO BADLY. It sounded prefect for my tastes. I love retellings, love mythology, and love LGBTQ+ rep in books. Unfortunately, this book let me down. It's racist and weirdly transphobic even though the main character is trans! In addition, the author tried to use authentic Greek names, which sounds like a great idea, but made this book so confusing. Loved the basic idea of reimagining Achilles as a trans woman, but the execution was really bad.

this novel is hefty on research and i just want to know deane's process and can we go back to talking about crafting because this was a labor of love. i think the dramatis personae is cool and all and did use it to keep track of names (the interconnectedness of the gods was awesome), but i was itching for references page, how did you put all this together! i am not intimidated into a jealous fit about someone flexing their knowledge muscles, i'm curious! it's so refreshing reading a work that can be linked to others, that treats making art as being part of a conversation and building upon what came before.

the center relationship of this book for me is that between achilles and meryapi. i truly adored their progression from achilles trying not to like her when they first met to her fierce love, devotion (avenging her books!), and despair toward her as we move along in the story. hot agamemnon was not a problem for me because i did not read the iliad or know about brian cox agamemnon or what else was out there, i was just honed in on and crying over sisterhood! shifting the events of the iliad to further develop their relationship was brilliant to me. dolphin girls for life.

the gods are gods, incomprehensible to mortal minds, powerful as hell, always fighting each other and petty as fuck. they're not human marking off a to-do list of tropes that people are so itching to see in current fiction. helen also gets to join in on that godhood, and at first, i was like oh she's a nasty woman, i love her, and then we get to the point of no return and i'm rooting for her to DIE, because that's called being a good villain. and again, my jaw was hanging open at the end with how deane references how achilles and helen are depicted in their central myths in our real life context. as the kids say, her mind????

the prose is so easy to get into and the way deane writes action scenes is detailed and graphic. katherine pucciariello shines as the narrator and made for a good dual reading/listening experience.

wrath goddess sing and maya deane deserve their flowers and it looks like the tides are turning in her favor. if you're looking for a great retelling that's a standalone, pick it up.