Thank you so much Netgalley and Publisher for this advanced copy.

Lies We Sing to the Sea...
Beautiful title? Indeed. But, the writing style wasn't quiet beautiful like the title.

I really love the concept and the story of this book, but the writing style wasn't that good to support the concept. It was also nice to see sapphic + greek myth.

EDIT: So after some online digging I have discovered this author has not actually read the Odyssey before trying to tell a retelling of it :/ y i k e s

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Original Review:
(3 stars)


I traditionally really enjoy retellings, and Greek mythology retellings are at the top of the list. This book is incredibly engaging and hard to put down; however, the characters get reallyyyy annoying/archetypal at times and I definitely wish there were more greek mythology weaved in. Lies We Sing to the Sea shows a lot of potential for a debut novel, and I'm excited to see how Underwood will grow.

For a book who's preface espouses how much the author enjoys Greek mythology and was inspired by Our King Rick Riordan, this novel felt quite lacking in the mythos. The premise is built on an 'avenging' of sorts for the (mostly) nameless 12 maids in the Odyssey who were largely blamed and thus killed for their transgressions whilst Odysseus was gone. Underwood promises to explore the intentions of these women and the lack of agency or choice they had in such situations. So obviously this is an incredibly fascinating premise promising a lot of potential; but in execution, I feel like a lot of the mythology gets lost. Set in an alternative universe where these women get their 'vengeance'--not much other mythology/history makes it through. You see elements of other overlaps--such as the exiled sister Hecate and their belief system, but this seems very much a story on it's own, isolated from the greater universe of lore.

Additionally, the characters do get reallyyyyy annoying to read. While you do have to take this with a grain of salt--they're mainly pretty young teenagers so I get why they're all immature and angsty, but sometimes they really do get on your nerves. The characters act incredibly impulsively and myopically and have extreme bouts of jealousy--which seems out of character at times (specifically for Melantho who has lived centuries and has a self professed good sense of patience). Additionally many of the characters are extremely 2-dimensional and lack any character depth.....The traditional Evil Queen, Golden Retriever Prince, Beautiful yet Vengeful FMC who has No Idea the effect she has on others, etc. The prince had absolutely no personality, and I think he definitely could've been much better developed.

Pacing wise, I felt parts were quite off. While I get they don't want another 12 girls to die needlessly, when Leto and Melantho are essentially ageless creatures, I don't understand why they rush into their plot in a few months without making sure Leto is fully prepared for what she has to do. Additionally, the first part of the book takes place over these few months of training, but most of the action occurs in the span of 2 weeks before the Solstice. The shift in pacing is deffo a bit jarring, and it doesn't make sense to me how MUCH happens in these 2 weeks vs the other few months. This two week section thus feels a bit rushed, and I also don't really get how the prince falls in love over the span of a few days, although I guess this is a fantasy YA so not particularly atypical(?????)

While I do have a lot of complaints about the book, these were mainly small, nitpicky things and overall I still enjoyed the narrative. Underwood is definitely able to tell a compelling story and I felt quite hooked and invested in the plot line and the individual characters. It's definitely a great Sapphic YA Fantasy, and for a debut novel, hits a lot of good points.

In-depth review to be added closer to publication date

Overall - 4 stars, I enjoyed this and would recommend to people who like books written by Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes

Coming from someone who only dabbles in Greek mythology, I enjoyed this book. There were flaws, and I'm sure for those with extensive knowledge of Greek culture and society, there are probably some problems, but very few that I could point out.

This book left me ugly crying. I knew what was coming, but it still hurt when it arrived. Parts in the beginning and middle of the book dragged on, and I would have liked to see more from the supporting cast, but I loved the main three characters and their backstories.

While there is some controversy regarding the author, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I will not be reviewing this HarperCollins book in solidarity with the striking workers. I'm disappointed by the news I've heard that your company is hiring scabs as well.

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood is a book based on Greek mythology. It tells the story of a cursed, aging Ithaca, centuries after Odysseus. The heavy price to be paid is the annual sacrifice of 12 girls marked by Poseidon. Odysseus’ last descendent, Mathias, is the prince of Ithaca charged with carrying out the sacrifice.

The real focus of the story is on the victims of the sacrifices, two in particular: Leto and Melantho. Yes, THAT Melantho, often portrayed as a traitor to Penelope and Ithaca. Like any good mythology retelling, this book takes a character we think we know and offers a different, deeper perspective. We follow these two girls as they seek to end the curse and find out how far they’ll go to save the lives of hundreds of future Ithacan girls.

I enjoyed this fresh take on a minor mythological character and the introduction of new ones that I was unfamiliar with. The first bit of character and story introduction was a little slow for me but once the story moved to the main part of the plot, I couldn’t stop turning the pages. The book treats Melantho, Leto and Mathias with equal care and the relationships they form feel real and touching. The stakes are high and the ending was satisfying.

Mythology retellings can sometimes be serious and laborious but this was a fun, fast, exciting tale.

Lies We Sing to the Sea releases on March 7, 2023.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC.

(Review will be posted on Instagram @backlistblooms the week of release)

An interesting young adult fantasy involving Greek mythic time. The plot spins Theseus and the Minotaur with The Odyssey and undersea fantasy.

I saw the author's tiktoks about this book a while ago, and put it on my tbr. When I saw it was available on netgalley, I jumped at the opportunity to read it. I read it at sort of a perfect time because we recently finished The Odyssey in my english class, so it was cool to read about a very minor character and dive deep into her story. I loooovvveeee sapphic books as well, so I was super excited. Now, to get into the actual book. Unfortunately, the book disappointed me a bit. I had such high expectations, and perhaps if I didn't have those coming in I would have liked it more, but that doesn't matter. While I thought Melantho and Leto's story was very cute, I found the prince and his storyline annoying. ****MILD SPOILER**** I didn't like that Leto basically cheated on Melantho****MILD SPOILER OVER****, and I thought the prince's storyline was boring- it was all about breaking the curse, but he didn't even discover anything new that changed the ending. I didn't love the pacing of this book either. The beginning was slow, and I felt like I was just being given a ton of information, and then there's just a lot of time skips that are just not mentioned and sort of glossed over. Also, there was a loootttt of repetition (Did you know that to break the curse Leto has to kill the prince in water)??? I did enjoy reading most of it after the start, up until the ending, which I won't spoil, but I did not like. On the other hand, however, the ending was much like the ending of a Greek tragedy, so if that's what the author was going for, she did a good job. Still doesn't mean I enjoyed it. Overall, this book was fun to read! I think I would've liked it better if I could have connected more to the main characters, but this is an ARC, so I'm sure the dialogue and such will be better upon release!

Good but could be better! I really like the cover. The story was a bit all over the place and seemed to mash several myths together. Probably would not read again.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I like the concept, and I think it has promise for the right audiences. I really like the idea of a story centered around Penelope’s maids, particularly a queer story. However, I just couldn’t seem to connect to Leto and was struggling to keep pushing through. It felt a tad underwritten, and I think it could have benefitted from some elevated prose.

I’m sorry but I couldn’t finish this book. It was all over the place for me and I felt the gaps made it too difficult to connect with the characters. Do had such high hopes because I love Greek mythology retellings. This book fell short for me.

This book has so many elements I really love: Greek mythology, queer rep, a retelling of the Odyssey. The cover is gorgeous too, and I'd love the aesthetics of it on my shelf, but the book itself didn't deliver. The beginning was slow and a bit info-dumpy for me; I couldn't get into it. There's also a pretty significant time jump that's skimmed over that I found hard to engage with, because important character development happens in that time. However, once the main character reaches the palace, the pace picks up and I found myself getting into the book a lot more. The only obstacle in the second half was the love triangle. The main character, Leto, is attracted to both her fellow co-conspirator, Melantho, and the prince she's trying to kill. Everything with Melantho was really believable and compelling, but the prince fell flat for me both as a secondary protagonist and a love interest. He's not very competent; his whole arc centers around him trying to figure out how to break the curse, and he makes almost no progress without Leto's help, and the progress he does make is mostly through luck. I was constantly frustrated with him. Lastly, the ending was deeply unsatisfying to me. I don't want to spoil into, so I'm not to go into the why of it, but it felt like it ruined all of the growth in the relationships that had been at the center of the book. Overall, I had really high hopes for this book, and it just didn't end up being what I was looking for.

Beautifully written, with a world that is as rich as it is complex. I could read Underwood's writing all day, it's almost like poetry.

A slow start to a story that ends up gripping you. Poetic writing, whip smart, a YA that doesn't feel young or treat its readers like they aren't smart or thoughtful. I thoroughly enjoyed this once the pace picked up; it took a few chapters for the story to feel like it had feet, but I'm glad that I stuck with it through to the end! It definitely felt dense at times, but the longer I read the more I came to appreciate the intricate plot and getting to see it carried out through multiple points of view. A good, absolutely gut wrenching original retelling with interesting characters and a rich mythology.

I have not read Odyssey, and found I was still able to enjoy the book! However, if I wanted more of an understanding of Greek mythology, than it probably wouldn’t have hurt to have some background knowledge. Otherwise, I thought it good, and I enjoyed. But I am a stickler for repetitiveness, and this book does a lot of this. i.e., Did you know Leto has to kill the prince? Aside from that, I would recommend this book to teens.

Yes, I read the interview. Then I read this anyway with the mindset that it was based on an idea rather than a retelling. Go in with that mindset.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

I love any kind of retelling of mythology but this one fell flat. It somehow felt rushed and slow all at the same time and I didn’t get that feeling I usually get that I am reading a retelling. The story felt so modern and the historical pieces of it felt forced.

Maybe it’s because it’s more of a teen book? It also just felt soooo tragic just to be tragic. Characters purposely being evasive for no reason or trying to deliver a shocking piece of the story that didn’t illicit any actual emotion from the reader.

Sometimes it was also hard to follow especially when flipping back and forth between timelines which cause me to glaze over much of the filler

I want to thank the publishers and Net Galley for giving me an advanced readers copy of the Lies we sing to the sea. Being a greek descendant, I really wanted to read this mainly because I loved Iliad and the odyssey by Homer.

I know the author admitted that they had never read the Odyssey before writing this title, and honestly, I wanted to give it an honest chance, but the book isn't good. Sadly I couldn't get into the story. I know it's an Odyssey retelling, but I didn't get that. It seemed more like a spin-off of the original odyssey. With that being said. I didn't finish this book so I can't say if it's gotten better or not.

I was just confused the whole time while reading this. I really wished I had enjoyed it. I can't really even recommend this book to anyone.

DNF.. To start off I didn’t really find it interesting sadly. I may pick this up again for its official release, though I’m not sure. I was excited to read it, but I wasn’t compelled by anything much.

What a beautiful story of heroism and the desperate lengths to which we go for love & absolution. The world Underwood has created is so vivid, I felt like I was a witness rather than a reader. With a deadly curse upon the island of Ithaca, there is no glamorizing the hopeless situations Leto, Melantho, and Mathias find themselves in throughout the story. Yet there is something oddly charming and exciting about the lengths to which they all go to find forgiveness and/or retribution for their roles in it all.

I highly recommend this book to any reader YA and up who loves an adventurous tale with romantic twists and tragic turns. Such an incredible read!

ARC provided by NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books in exchange for a fair review.