Thank you to NetGalley and Ghost Orchid Press for this opportunity to read rage and review this arc which is available November 21,2023!

Buckle up buttercups because this dark reimagining of the Greek myth of the Goddess Demeter will leave you breathless and craving more.

Expertly spun prose, heavily leaning upon the Greek folklore we thought we knew comes the story of Demeter and Persephone that will scratch every itch you have if this genre is what you love. It was in turns lyrically devastating and darkness personified. It turns what we thought we knew in its head and breathes an almost realistic life into the tale. I cannot recommend this book enough. Utterly darkly beautiful book.

Thank you to Ghost Orchid Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this arc! CWs: (it's greek mythology so) Rape, incest, kidnapping, parental abandonment, sorta-cannibalism?

I very much enjoyed this retelling of Demeter; it doesn't villainize her as an overprotecting, stifling mother the way a lot of modern Persephone and Hades retellings do: how much they love each other, and how terrible her mother (or a similar antagonist is) for being against them. I am not Greek, nor do I claim to know much about Greek mythology; while I loved it as a lot of queer children did, and eagerly read what I could, I have not researched into it, nor am I familiar with the deeper legends, of the Mysteries, or of their function in culture.

But I truly enjoyed this. I found myself pleased with everything I half-recognized-- Eleusis, turning a child into a lizard, the fire to burn away mortality. I also really loved the connections Demeter had to her siblings; what it was like in their father's stomach, how she viewed each sister and brother, her bond with Hestia, and her decisions as an Olympian.

Most of all, I really loved how the theme of change was so great: change from being with one to being with more, change with introduction of brothers, change in the war, change in the victory, change as a mother, change as a mother of a missing child. . .and what effects changes have. Too, I also loved was the acknowledgements of how the relationship between gods and nymphs is a weighty one; all gods hold higher power, and few nymphs can truly agree or disagree.

Thank you for access to this story. It wasn’t bad but it left much to be desired. I thought the writing was decent but I felt that something was missing.