As someone who is an absolute sucker for Greek myth retellings, I was sold on this book before reading the description. I'm a big fan of the atmosphere the writing style created and the book's nonbinary rep as well (something that should be more popular than it currently is in my opinion). Caro De Robertis is an author that I would love to read more from and I'm excited to see what the author writes next!

When the goddess of desire is tasked with cursing the beautiful Psyche, her life becomes overturned when she falls in love with the young woman instead.

This was such an interesting retelling! By changing Eros’s gender to (mostly) female presenting, the author takes the already forbidden romance of Eros and Psyche and uses it to explore the perceived “monstrousness” of both female sexual desire as well as queerness.

And I was fascinated by Eros exploration of her gender expression. Of course the manifestation of desire should be able to change her form to however she wants. I was surprised that I hadn’t seen this particular interpretation before. The way, also, that Eros used her own changeability to begin to question the gods’ order of the world was so fascinating.

It was a very odd choice for Psyche’s point of view chapters to be in first person, and Eros’s to be in third. It took some getting used to, and I found myself much more interested in how the goddess processed her world, so I would have loved a more in depth exploration of her thoughts.

And the writing seemed to veer into some really flowery, purple imagery. It lost me a couple times, and I had to reread several sections. But the way that Psyche’s rage against her place, the desire of the two women, Eros’s heartbreak of betrayal, were all very powerful.

This was an all around pretty satisfying retelling of one of my favorite myths, and I can’t wait to see what this author works on next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this arc!

I really enjoyed this book, and I loved the love story between Eros and Psyche. As a genderfluid person, the descriptions of Eros were wonderful and affirming to read.

Psyche has captured the attention of men all over town with rumors of her beauty; said to be more beautiful than Aphrodite herself, the men flock to get a glimpse of this young girl. Fearing the wrath of the Goddess, her father listens to an oracle and chains her to a rock waiting for her to be ravaged by a monstrous husband.

Eros, the nonbinary deity of desire, is sent by Aphrodite to destroy the young woman, but instead finds themselves hopelessly in love. Eros hides Psyche from the watchful eyes of Aphrodite and Zeus, where the two experience unbridled passion and adoration. The cost of being hidden begins to take its toll, and Psyche isn't sure who to trust and acts on her insecurities with great cost to her love.

I absolutely adore mythical retellings, and I was so excited about this story and its nonbinary representation. The pacing and plotline of the story were fantastically executed, however, I struggled a little bit with the prose. I found some of the sentences too short, and too cliché. It is one of those instances were less was more, De Robertis had some beautiful sentences, but took the poetry a little bit too far and it took me away from the story. I have read another book on the same myths, and for that reason liked it a bit better. However, a great debut, De Robertis is on my radar and I'll be reading more!

I love Greek mythology and enjoy retelling so I was really excited about this story . Unfortunately the writing style just wasn’t for me .

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review

If you love greek mythology and the gays (though depending who you ask the two are intertwined than this is the book for you! It is very much a straightforward retelling of the story of Psyche and Eros, though i like experience reading it in the format of a novel and from a queer lens. I think it adds to the story we know to include these elements so we can engage with something familiar in new ways. What IS considered monstrous? What do we consider being free? The novel plays with these ideas in such new exciting ways that really do feel more engaging and interesting when thought of outside the straight cis-gender binary.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for giving me an eARC to review of The Palace of Eros!

It's really great to see the myth of Psyche and Eros given a new sapphic twist, exploring not just the themes of sexuality but gender as well.

Right off the bat, the prose caught my attention in this book. I've always considered myself someone who very much loves a comma, but Caro De Robertis takes that love to an entirely new level, with sentences taking up entire paragraphs and pages without ending. The writing itself was incredibly beautiful, thoughful, and thorough, though I often felt that the prose was slowing the story down, rather than adding to it. Ideas and phrases were often repeated over and over, finding multiple ways to say the same thing before moving on to the next idea.

I thought the structure of the chapters was interesting, though made it difficult as a reader. We would get one chapter from Psyche's POV, told in first person, that was very long (I was reading on my kindle and on average, each chapter would be labeled as ~30 minutes). Then, we would get a chapter of Eros's perspective, though sold in 3rd person, and it was much shorter (on average about 5-8 minutes). It made reading this book feel very long and slow, like you weren't making much progress, since you were only getting through a short amount of chapters after hours of reading.

In general, I think this book was very repetitive. Psyche weaving and painting and exploring during the day, then having hours of passionate sex with Eros at night. There weren't even that many conversations between Psyche and Eros to explore their character growth. We were just being told that this relationship was deepening without any actual evidence.

I think this is the type of book meant for someone who wants the experience of reading the word themselves to be beautiful, rather than being interested in moving the story along and what the words actually have to say. That's not the type of reading I like to do, so I struggled with this one, but I understand that there may be other readers out there who will love something like this.

The Palace of Eros by Caro De Robertis is a captivating sapphic retelling of the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche.
Caro De Robertis did a fantastic job of creating realistic characters that just leaped off the pages.
The world-building is just spectacular and the writing was phenomenal.

Thank You NetGalley and Atria Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

psyche has captured the eyes of every suitor in—and beyond—town. while these men are happy to look at her, none seem to want to marry her. this stresses out her father, who becomes desperate when the townspeople begin blaming their family for failed harvests, so he seeks out the oracle’s advice. the oracle, guided by the jealous aphrodite’s child eros, instructs psyche’s father to hand her over to a monstrous husband. instead of a monster, though, psyche is swept away to an idyllic palace, where her spouse, eros, visits her at night. psyche thinks it’s odd that her prophesied husband is neither man nor monster and that she’s not allowed to see her, but she soon falls in love with eros (who she calls pteron) and her life there. when she becomes filled with doubts, though, she breaks eros’s one rule by looking at her face, which brings about trouble in her home and on olympus…

as soon as i saw this, i knew it’d be at least 4-5 stars for me. i adore greek mythology retellings, and i haven’t seen many of eros and psyche. i was only vaguely familiar with the story of eros and psyche before reading this, but refreshing my memory with quick descriptions, this seems to have captured the essence of the story. i loved the decision to make this a sapphic love story. this representation is definitely lacking when it comes to greek mythology retellings. additionally, eros is nonbinary and i found her discussions of her gender interesting.

overall, this was a beautifully-written retelling, and i’d highly recommend it to greek mythology lovers. i can’t wait for whatever’s next from caro de robertis!

caro de robertis is a stunning writer and i'll stand by that. i loved this feminist retelling of eros/psyche and that it had a happy-ish ending.

⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review.

"The Palace of Eros" is a retelling of the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche. The story stays pretty true to the original myth, however it represents a queer relationship between Eros and Psyche, rather than a heterosexual one.

De Robertis has writing as beautiful as Psyche, but at times I felt like the prose was more of a hindrance to the story rather than helping move the narrative along. I didn’t feel like I got to know Psyche and Eros on an emotional level because it got drowned out by the writing. For this reason, I didn’t feel the need to root for their relationship to flourish and caused the book to drag on.

Still I appreciated the unique twist that De Robertis took on the myth. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Greek myths and would like to see a queer retelling of one.

In The Palace of Eros, the myth of Psyche and Eros is given a captivating new spin. This retelling combines mythical grandeur with personal struggle, exploring how love and secrecy intertwine. The prose is vivid, immersing readers in a world where divine and mortal realms collide, making every choice a matter of destiny.

My adjectives for the prose: purple, dense, florid, bloated. It sounds like I’m describing a corpse. 👀 DNF @ 15% because none of it is connecting with me, not the first-person Psyche nor the third-person Eros, nor the prose that’s turgid to the point of hyperbole. (Did I just want the chance to deploy the word turgid? Maaaaaybe. It’s such a good word.)

This was such a beautiful and enjoyable book. It was lyrical and full of rich emotional experience. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve read a book with so many, let alone any, lines I’ve highlighted, but everything was just so breathtaking.

Of course, I am always a fan of Greek myth, or any myth, and loved this even more for the sapphic queer love it centered on. It was such a beautiful representation of the love and care that women can give themselves and one another, platonically and romantically.

In comparison to the great myth retellings of Madeline Miller, Caro De Robertis’ prose do linger on the longer side and many sentences are quite complex, some may say too much so, but I had no qualms with this.

This especially made sense to me, in the telling of Psyche’s story, as she represents the deep and exploratory thoughts that De Robertis’ writing reflected. It was poetic and honestly quite magical. It certainly conveyed expansive feeling.

Psyche’s languid exploration of self, and contemplation of love, freedom, and language was such a joy to read and so beautifully done. The themes explored in this novel were woven seamlessly into the narrative.

De Robertis put such care into crafting these characters and diving deep into their minds. They were rich with expression and so real in their complexity.

I do wish there had been a bit more from Eros exploring their feelings and motives because they are such an intriguing character within the space of the pantheon. Especially as a genderfluid/non-binary character, I feel like they deserved a little more room to exist in this story to give the representation that non-binary, genderfluid, and trans characters deserve in media, especially right now.

Overall this story was just so heart-wrenching beautiful between the prose, themes, and narrative. I look forward to seeing what comes next from De Robertis.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this advanced reader copy of The Palace of Eros.

In a long line of Greek myth retellings, I was super excited to get the chance to read this sapphic retelling of Eros and Psyche that stars a nonbinary Eros. Unfortunately, as you can probably tell from my 3 star rating, it just didn’t fully work for me.

A lot of the writing is very flowery with a lot of similarities to poetry, which can be beautiful but I feel like at times it distracts from the story itself. Conversations would happen between characters, and the thoughts of either Psyche or Eros would sometimes be overshadowed by how it was written. There were a few points I got distracted reading that I missed what was actually going on, and had to re-read closer to clarify.

Also - and this might just be because I’m aroace - but I never fully believed in the relationship between Psyche and Eros. I understand that Eros is the goddess of desire within this novel, but when almost every conversation between the two is them having sex and not much more, I have doubts that their feelings are anything deeper than sexual attraction. Which isn’t wrong, but we would have scenes where Psyche would try to talk to Eros about something she wanted to know, or have clarification on, and then Eros would immediately attempt to distract her with sex (which usually worked) and then we’d rinse and repeat. But then suddenly both are acting like they’re the loves of each other's lives, and I’m just thinking that it’s been 100 years since Eros has had a lover, and this is the first relationship Psyche has ever had - so I just…don’t believe them.

I had a brief idea of the story of Psyche and Eros, but even still I don’t think I was prepared for how….boring?...the middle part of this book actually was. When Psyche is at the palace spending her days alone, only able to spend time with Eros at night in the dark - in all honesty not much at all goes on during this section. And yet, this is the longest section in the book! We spend days (and days, and days…) with Psyche as she learns how to live with this freedom at the palace, and yet also chafes at the rules inflicted on her by her lover. In contrast, the section where Psyche has to complete the three trials is so extremely glossed over that we barely see them happen on the page. And even the ones we do are resolved in only a few rushed pages, without hardly any conflict in them.

I thought the relationship between Psyche and her sisters to be a bit odd, as well. I understand their jealousy at her being so desired by so many suitors - but I’d think once it became clear that she was never going to be married, but only desired, they’d have understood her position better. During the beginning of the book, while Psyche’s older sisters are closer to each other than to her, they still seem to want to protect her from understanding too soon what being a woman is like in their world. But then suddenly once Psyche is forced to understand this very thing, they resent her for it?

I simply don’t understand why after the first time Psyche had her sisters visit, and the hostilities shown to her, that she even agreed for Eros to bring them around once again. Why not attempt to see her mother, instead? It also didn’t make sense for Psyche to suddenly listen to what her sisters were telling her to turn her against Eros, when their attempt to make her marriage as miserable as theirs was so blatant even Psyche herself notices it.

Also, much of this story, both from Psyche and Eros’ point of view, reads like we are listening to them retell this story to us, the audience. Not that this fourth-wall breaking is bad, per se, but the ending made it blatantly obvious with the over-the-top hopeful monologue by Psyche that I just internally rolled my eyes the entire time I read it. It was unnecessary and preachy, to be completely honest.

Finally, the ending didn’t seem to make much sense to me and felt rushed. Eros devises this entire plan to hide her and Psyche’s relationship from Eros’ mother, but then the minute Aphrodite finds out and (eventually) calms down, all is well? Why is Psyche allowed to become immortal in this story simply because Eros wants to be with her? Why would Zeus even share his cup of immortality with either of them, considering he’s been an antagonist the entire time up until this point?

It also kind of bothered me that every single woman in this book, other than Psyche, is a victim trapped by circumstance. Everyone - including the goddesses themselves. It just felt a little disingenuous that every other woman in this novel, starting with Psyche’s mother and including the goddess Persephone, is a victim of the men around them and without any kind of power to do anything to help their station. I’m not denying that women didn’t have autonomy - but to do this in the book and then make almost every woman Psyche interact with an antagonist and be bitter about her circumstances put a bad taste in my mouth. I think at least one platonic female relationship within this novel would have been nice, but as it is the only woman Psyche had any connection to was her own mother, who she never even attempts to see at all during the events of this book.

I do think if you like Greek myth retellings that this is a good book to pick up and explore for yourself to see what you think. I think perhaps, for me, the plot was stretched weirdly and too much focus was on our two main characters having sex but never really communicating any further than that.

(This doesn’t really have anything to do with anything, but tell me why Psyche masturbates with a tree in this novel. More than once. Hello???)

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Of the queer retellings that have been released in recent history, “The Palace Of Eros” definitely seems to be the most faithful to its original story, with only a couple changes made for characterization. (For instance, Psyche’s sisters are meant to be more than just spiteful villains in her story, and not only are they a little better than their original counterparts, but there’s more reasoning for their jealousy.) Psyche’s POV chapters are told truly like a storyteller’s, with a bit of fourth wall-breaking and indulgence in her own poetry. I liked how Eros’s complicated gender was handled in the context of the story and her relationship with Psyche, especially within the context of Greek gender roles(and how they’re guarded by egotistical gods!). All of this is told in a very flowery, lyrical writing style.

But, as you might have noticed I was hinting at, the beautiful writing of this novel is sometimes to its own detriment. While sometimes different emotions and messages get across eloquently, frequently, the prose is very purple. This is, in my opinion, worsened by the middle of this novel not having much plot to it. Even Eros and Psyche’s relationship development doesn’t feel swoon-worthy or very believable, as most of it is done through sex. Consequently, the story was a little dull until the trials.

Still though, the resolution was satisfying, and I thought the last third or so was strong. It’s enough to prevent the experience from being a waste of time, but not enough to turn this into an amazing book.

Highlights
~nonbinary Eros
~what would a queen do? do that
~All Men Are All BadTM
~Aphrodite = Mom of the Millennium (mostly)
~no laurel trees anywhere

This is going to be a weird review, because I think Palace of Eros is objectively good in many ways, and definitely deserves four stars – I really enjoyed reading it. But I also kinda hate it. That being said, I know that most people who enjoy feminist mythology retellings are not going to be bothered at all by the bits that drove me up the wall, SO. If you want to read something like Circe, but queer and with even more beautiful prose? Then I think you’ll adore this book.

Take a big pinch of salt with this review, okay? The problem is mostly that I don’t get along with books like this – I shouldn’t have requested it and that’s on me. My dislike doesn’t at ALL mean that you shouldn’t pick it up. Bear that in mind!

*

I’m quite torn over Palace of Eros – it’s not what I wanted, but it’s beautiful. It does a number of things I can’t stand, but some of those things are issues of taste and don’t make the book objectively bad. I highlighted so many passages of absolutely stunning prose, even as I rolled my eyes at quite a bit of the messaging.

Thus – torn.

Palace of Eros leaves the beaten track of the usual feminist mythology retellings by making Psyche and Eros queer, even as the template of the story is very reminiscent of Madeline Miller’s Circe and its ilk. For the most part, the writing also echoes Miller’s; sensual but accessible, although I would say that Robertis’ is grander and elevated and just generally better. But in tone? Palace of Eros is very reminiscent of Circe and its ilk, and if you love one, you’re very likely to enjoy the other.

>the hand against my hair was honey on a thirsty tongue. The glint and shudder of fish in a stream. Silk rippling through sunlight. I was sunlight, in the presence of her hand. I had not known, before, that this was possible, that a body could be transmuted into light by another person’s touch. I gleamed, I was lost, I was vast inside. Some part of me must have known even then.<

That does mean that Palace of Eros falls into the same weird traps so many of these retellings do: there’s no female solidarity anywhere, despite the ostensible ‘beauty is a weapon of the patriarchy’ moral; all men are wholly evil, without exception (don’t @ me about Hephaestus, he’s on the page for all of two sentences); and in trying to retell the myth, a lot of the worldbuilding gets broken.

Brief plot summary for context: Psyche is so pretty that every man becomes obsessed with her, to the point that they stop worshipping Aphrodite and just stare at Psyche instead. Obviously Aphrodite is not happy about this. A prophecy is made that Psyche will marry a monster; to appease Aphrodite, Psyche is tied to a rock and left for said monster to come claim her. Instead, Eros, Aphrodite’s nonbinary daughter and goddess of desire, swoops in to carry her away, and they fall in love despite only meeting in the dark every night. If you know the myth, you know the general outline of how things go from there; if you don’t, that’s more than you need to know going into the book.

Now let’s take my three big critiques point by point.

No female solidarity: the best relationship we see in the book is Aphrodite and Eros’, and frankly, there are some big, glaring problems between them that aren’t even acknowledged, never mind addressed. Psyche’s mother is supposedly lovely, but after Psyche is ‘sacrificed’ Psyche never sees her again. Psyche’s sisters, on the other hand, are spiteful and vicious – and the relationship between them and Psyche is really the only non-romantic relationship we get to see Psyche in. The gods are no better; all the goddesses of the Greek pantheon are shown as isolated and cut off from each other. The lack of women having friends, or any other kind of relationships with each other, is just weird in the context of the women must support each other message that the book pushes quite strongly towards the end.

All men suck: Zeus is unremittingly terrible, of course – although I admit that, while common, that’s a take on Zeus I find very boring – but the book literally starts with CROWDS of men watching Psyche all day every day, being disgusting because they’re obsessed with her beauty. Hephaestus is held up as a Good Guy, but he’s so briefly on-page that I wouldn’t blame you for missing him, and no other male gods are mentioned in any other context than their histories of rape. Some don’t even appear in the story, but we still get long paragraphs on how they raped this person or that person, just so we don’t forget that all men are evil without nuance or remorse, and I cannot believe I keep getting shoved into the position of yelling But Not All Men when that is the last thing I want to be doing. And yet, here I am, once again pointing out that having all your men be evil isn’t really any different to making all your women into sex-obsessed harlots breasting boobily down the stairs – neither take is good writing. It’s not even an INTERESTING kind of evil! I don’t care about the ethics of it, I care that it’s fucking boring to be hit over the head with this again and again. There are men who don’t rape! I can’t believe I have to say that! And yes, lots of the Greek gods were horrible rapists – but people still worshipped them, so clearly their characterisation was complicated, back in the day? As in, they did bad AND good/helpful things? Could we have some of that, please? I am dying for some complexity, some nuance, some three-dimensional characterisation of male characters instead of these constant caricatures. Authors, you are undermining your own messaging by only writing these simplistic straw men.

Ffs.

Broken worldbuilding: For a start, the prophecy – that Psyche must marry a monster – is never explained. We never ponder whether Eros is the monster, and if so, what it is that makes her monstrous; and if the prophecy WASN’T referring to Eros then hi, wtf? Robertis tries to explore how Eros being nonbinary affects her role as goddess of desire, what that means ABOUT desire as a concept and a force…and doesn’t come to any conclusions. And not in the ‘it’s up to the reader to decide’ kind of way. A point is made that desire existed before Eros was born…this is somehow important…but again, nothing comes of it. There’s no explanation for why the goddesses are submissive to and abused by the gods, when they’re, you know, goddesses with incredible powers, unlike defenseless mortal women. Robertis tries to, or starts to, explain how the gods’ powers work, how they’re connected to the universe, that there’s some sort of ‘web’ – and then drops it, or maybe fails, and it just. What. The gods are freaked out because Eros blurs the lines between male and female, but why the fuck does that matter? Apollo finds it terrifying: WHY? Who knows. Zeus says he never gave Eros her power, but NO ONE’s powers came from him, so, what???

>“She’s using more than she was granted. It’s an aberration. She has no right to claim the territory of both goddess and god.”

…

“I’ll strip her of her powers for this!”<

How are you going to do that, Zeus? IS that a thing you can do? I doubt it. (But since it’s mentioned, why isn’t it explored?) ‘more than she was granted’ SHE WAS MADE THIS WAY. By whatever force creates gods. What are you on? This is so random and weird and you’re implying things about how the gods work that you don’t explain or follow up on. ARGH.

But most egregiously, we learn at close to the last second that OTHER GODS EXIST, and not only is this not explained, nobody is shocked, this doesn’t upend the world order, it changes nothing, it’s not going to change anything. EXCUSE ME?!

The worldbuilding does not usually rock in the feminist mythological retellings of the post-Circe era, but I’m especially pissed off because, instead of staying away from the difficult questions posed by the worldbuilding, Robertis pointed out all these questions and issues and then failed to resolve them or do anything with them. That’s honestly kind of worse, for me as a reader, than if you’d just stayed away from the Big Questions like what are the gods even, how do their powers work, etc. You didn’t need to go there! And you shouldn’t go there if you’re going to abandon me there! It was like being teased, over and over, with the possibility of something immensely cool and interesting and unique…only to flat-line every time.

Also, you tell me Hera maybe arranged a coup against Zeus once and you DON’T give me the full story?! Where is THAT novel??? Genuinely stunned that that was just a one-sentence aside, in passing. DON’T FREAKING DO THAT TO ME!

HOWEVER.

None of this alters the fact that Palace of Eros is genuinely exquisite. Robertis’ prose is breathtaking, especially in the immersive, emotional stream of consciousness moments–

>On some days, I felt so peeled open by the intensity of my nights, so raw and bared to the world, that it felt as though my very soul entered those threads and soared through them, moved through color after color. So much color in this place, no dyes spared. The colors saturated me; lacerated me. As if my skin were dissolved by what we did in the night and there were no more barriers between my pure sensation and the colors of the world. The world spilled in, I could not filter it. A single red or royal purple could whip my soul awake even though sometimes the intensity made me weep–and even this was a great luxury, to make whatever sound my body wanted, to sob, wail, whisper, or croon in response to color. I did not have to stay composed for the sake of others. Or to seem sane. What did it mean, anyway, to be sane? To shut up and be small? I didn’t want it and I didn’t have to do it<

And where most of the Circe-and-co retellings are about making women gentler and giving them power (usually power as recognised by the patriarchy), Palace of Eros is instead focused on Psyche’s growth into confidence and her embracing her sexuality – in the sense of discovering that she is herself a sexual creature, and learning to love that instead of being ashamed of it. I will freely admit I wanted a lot more from this story – it’s 2024, a cis woman’s sexual awakening just doesn’t feel that revolutionary or interesting – but it at least this is an approach I haven’t seen before. It was something new(-to-me)! That’s not nothing, and neither is the intense, deliberate sex positivity, which is probably going to make some readers a little uncomfortable, but is, genuinely, absolutely stunning. Robertis writes sex as earthy but divine, simultaneously poetic and frank, open and honest in a way I don’t come across often. And so joyful! I don’t feel qualified to really deeply analyse sex scenes, but I do wish baby!Sia had had Palace of Eros to read, as a counter to all the repressive AFAB sexuality crap that’s so common now and was even worse when I was a kid.

Then again, Psyche repeatedly masturbates with a tree, so. *throws hands in the air*

She clutches the tree and humps it until she orgasms. Repeatedly. I wish I was making that up.

I was pretty pleased that for once, Aphrodite actually got to be a character instead of a stereotype. Too often she doesn’t, but Robertis lets her be reasonably complicated and protective of her kid and able to manipulate Zeus (to a degree) while also having a temper and bouts of pettiness. I didn’t think the pettiness was adequately explained – for example, the big deal in the Psyche and Eros myth are the three trials Aphrodite sets for Psyche, right? Here, it’s done out of spite, even though by that time, Aphrodite is aware that Eros loves this mortal. That seemed to contradict all of the characterisation re Aphrodite and Eros having this incredibly important and wonderful relationship, and I wish Robertis had given Aphrodite another motive, or else laid the groundwork for there being problems between Aphrodite and Eros. Loving parents don’t try to kill the person their kid loves, you know, that’s a whole thing. But even so, at least Aphrodite got to be written three-dimensionally for once. Points for that.

I can’t help wishing that Robertis had combined the ‘beauty is a weapon of the patriarchy’ message with the fact that, you know, Aphrodite being the goddess of beauty. I kind of can’t believe that opportunity was missed. I was SURE something was going to be done, or at least SAID, about that! But alas, no.

What else did I like? Eros. And Psyche. As people and as characters, I really loved them both. Eros has metaphorical blood on her hands; she’s done terrible things, like most (all?) of the gods, and needs to face up to that, as well as to the enormous power imbalance in her and Psyche’s relationship – but she’s still extremely loving, adoring, funny and gentle and eternally accepting of everything Psyche wants and is and wants to become. Whereas watching Psyche discover how beautiful beauty can be, how intoxicating and empowering having freedom and safety are, how good a body can feel, what it’s like to be adored – no, it wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was wonderful, and I’m not over the tree thing, but I still loved how Robertis writes about sex and sexual thoughts and feelings. It’s poignant and accurate and beautiful enough that even my sex-repulsed self was enraptured! THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN VERY OFTEN!

I do wish we’d gotten more of Eros; I wish we’d actually explored, instead of just touched on, how her shapeshifting/gender-fluidity (if that’s the correct term, which I’m not 100% sure of, but then I do think Robertis’ point is that Eros is beyond labels) ties into the nature of desire, what it says about power, the implications for the lines between and power structures of the gods… There was so much you could do with that, and there was pretty little of it, in the end. The focus was much more on how Eros felt she had to hide her shifting because Zeus forbid it – and even THEN, we never see the confrontation between Eros and the other gods. There’s just a magic wand happy ending. Zero explanation of why Zeus is suddenly willing to allow what he’s forbidden for centuries; nor do we ever see how and why Zeus gave permission for two women to marry, when that’s never happened before and all evidence strongly suggests he would never go for it. WHAT. Most of Eros’ own feelings about all of it were told to us rather than shown – that her POV was in third-person for some reason while Psyche’s was in first- didn’t really help – and overall? It was kind of a letdown, for me personally, after being SO EXCITED to get a nonbinary Eros (which is how I conceptulise Eros in the first place). I didn’t want an Issues book, and Palace of Eros isn’t quite one…but it edged quite close to the line. Much closer than I wanted.

>To be whole, to express herself as she saw fit when she saw fit and allow her body its own song, not only for sex, but at other times too, without having to warp herself into a fully male shape or stay in the mold of female, for though she relished each of those forms, neither was the whole of her; she was both of these, she spanned the realms, she held it all. Between female and male, within them and beyond them, lay more than had been given name and more than Zeus himself wanted to see manifest in the world. Play and joy and searching. Ease and art and fluid truth. Body as lake. Body as sky. Body as wind and flow. The unscripted dance of what Eros knew could also be.<

The ending was rushed. I think even people who unreservedly adore Palace of Eros will admit that. The trials Aphrodite sets for Psyche are arguably the biggest deal of the myth, but here they’re quick and not really given any importance, especially not to the narrative. One of them doesn’t even happen on-page! Which, come on. I get that the trials are not the part of the story Robertis cares about, but then either don’t include them at all, or choose another myth, or write something that’s not a retelling/not such a close retelling. Practically hand-waving them was not the answer. And as I said earlier, I hated the way Aphrodite went about them, felt about them, her motive and intention for them.

Did I love Psyche’s arc, and where it ended? Yes. I love this Psyche, and I love where she ends up. I do wish our Happily Ever After didn’t include a pregnancy, because it’s a cliche and has no impact on the plot whatsoever, and I think if you’re going to play that card it should matter more. But the happy ending is told to us, not shown, which is part of the reason it feels so rushed, and I thought it was a huge shame not to get to see how Eros got permission for everything, not to see the wedding, not to see what Psyche gets to become.

I don’t know. I thought this book would be for me, and it wasn’t, and that’s not its fault, or Robertis’ fault. Is it what Robertis meant for it to be? I think so – I think it’s an excellent example of the feminist mythology retelling sub-genre, easily my favourite, and I already have a bunch of Robertis’ other books lined up to read. But this was definitely my last attempt at enjoying one of these retellings. I officially quit them.

I mean I'll start by saying this cover is stunning. Now the book is beautiful. Like the way it explored gender/gender fluidity to me was an interesting take. I loved how real the relationship felt even when Eros did save Psyche. It never felt forced and they were so cute. Overall, I loved this. I enjoyed this and I want more people to read it.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"The Palace of Eros" by Caro De Robert is a beautiful and evocative sapphic retelling of the classic Eros and Psyche myth. In this version, Eros is reimagined as a non-binary woman, adding a fresh and compelling layer to the tale of love and discovery.

As someone who went into the book without any prior knowledge of the original myth, I found myself completely immersed in the story. The writing is a true highlight—it's strong, poetic, and poignant, drawing you in with its lyrical quality. The tone of the book is captivating, creating a vibe that is both enchanting and deeply emotional.

However, there were moments in the middle where the pacing lagged a bit, which slightly disrupted the otherwise smooth narrative flow. Despite this, the story picks up again towards the end, leaving a lasting impression.

Overall, "The Palace of Eros" is a memorable and enjoyable read, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in mythology, romance, or LGBTQ+ retellings. It earns a solid 4.5 stars from me.

I am not familiar with Greek mythology retellings. It is a genre I am wary and unfamiliar with, but The Palace of Eros exceeded my expectations.
The story is lush and expertly written while maintaining the author's own direction and substance, making it their own.
I will recommend this book to friends who love Greek myth, because compared to a different overhyped Greek retelling, I prefer this one.