DNF at 40%

As a mythology enthusiast I am willing to give new interpretations and adaptations of classical myths always a try, however, this was not the book for me. It kept dragging in ways I did not think it was possible, and although I got through most of the book quite fast in terms of how long I was reading vs how fast I got through it, to me it felt like I was spending HOURS in each chapter.

The formatting and layout of each chapter is odd, the story repeats itself a lot of times, and the inclusion of Dali feels so odd and arbitrary, in a lot of ways the author could have used a fictional painter and it would have been the same, having a historical character in your historical fiction does not legitimize the story more. The romance was stale at best, and there is no way to just not make Ignazio the obvious endgame love interest and there is no teasing or convincing the author would have written to make him seem like a better option, even if after the 40% mark he gets better, I hate the way he is depicted. Julia feels like a basic female MC at times, not a lot of substance other than her vaguely "revolutionary ideas" and stances on women and art, and how the seemingly good characters are all in love with her, where Dali and Gala seem to only see her as an object

In the Garden of Monsters had a fascinating premise. There are many books based on ancient myths these days, but this one was certainly unique in its approach. The descriptive passages were atmospheric and much was made of the food that was served throughout the story. The inclusion of real figures gave the book a distinctive flavour; although, I sometimes wondered if they took over events a little too much. The story made some fairly drastic revisions to the original myth. That didn't worry me; however, I would have liked a little more romance between the Persephone and Hades characters. There was attraction, but I felt the pull between them was too weak to drive the story the way it needed too, and that may be because Dalí ended up taking over the narrative more than he should have. Nonetheless, for fans of myth retold, this book offers a very original take that is worth checking out. I am giving it four stars.

(Review on blog will go public at the link provided below on 23 Sep 24)

The story was captivating, both dark and hopeful at times. It probably could have used a tighter edit because really, how many times can we be told that someone is the most handsome man ever? And some of the phrases that were used just felt like they wouldn’t have been used in 1948. But with all that said, I did enjoy the book and it feels perfect that it’s coming out a little over a month before Halloween since it is spooky at times. If fantasy/mythology/surrealism is your thing, I think you’ll enjoy it. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advance copy.

Really, this is probably more a 3.5. It’s probably great for someone who likes historical fiction with a slight fantasy/gothic twist. I just couldn’t get into it. I probably went into it with the wrong understanding of it…when I hear “Persephone and hades retelling” I want a twist on the original myth not just nods to it. I prefer my retellings with more fantasy elements.

This gothic novel is beautifully and hauntingly written, with ample descriptions of food, as you'd expect from a King novel. It’s an incredibly inventive retelling of Hades and Persephone that I truly enjoyed. The twists and turns kept me hooked, making it nearly impossible to predict what would happen next. I especially appreciated the parts where the author seemed lost in the writing—it felt natural and immersive.

I am so thankful I was able to receive this book as an
ARC! I love a Hades and Persephone retelling. I'm a little torn on this review because I think I went into this one in the wrong headspace. I was expecting romance and swooning mixed with a gothic setting. What you really get is a wonderful atmospheric gothic setting with a lot of historical fiction aspects as well as art history and mythology. If you love art history or reading epic food descriptions this one l'd definitely for you! I just wanted more time with the Hades and Persephone characters and less time with the food. (Even though the food and setting descriptions are wonderfully done and the setting is a real place with lots of history according to the authors note)

Thank you for the opportunity to read In the Garden of Monsters by Crystal King
This was a great gothic retelling of Hades and Persophone in ITaly!

Loved all the imagery and the terror.

Pretty torn on this one.
Here’s the things I liked: the cover is gorgeous. A unique hades x Persephone retelling.
The things I didn’t like: the pacing. So so so slow to get started. Really wish the ending was more spread out, but it kind of just ended and that was that. Didn’t feel worth pushing through.
All in all, it was fine. But not my favorite

ty to netgalley & harlequin trade publishing for the arc • 3.25 ☆

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i am once again conflicted.. the premise was very promising because 1. i love greek mythology, 2. i will read anything about persephone and hades, and 3. i am a sl*t for fantasies. but with that said, it all felt.. just okay to me. it was slow to get going and the end (literally ch. 22) pulled me out of the entire experience. YES, i know it’s the ending but it seemed like a weird info dump that could have probably been peppered in throughout the story instead.

i had every intention of rating this higher but the more that i read, the more it seemed to really slow down. but i did still enjoy it for the most part! if you’re a fan of persephone and hades retellings, this could be a good read for you.

The gorgeous cover is what first got my attention, but the story is what kept it. I loved absolutely everything about this book. With its atmosphere, art, and great characters, I found this retelling of Persephone to be - perfect.

2.5

The author seems knowledgeable about art history and mythology which made me enjoy getting through this book. The twist on the Persephone and Hades story was actually very original and intriguing.

What made this book a miss was the writing. It was more tell then show, repetitive. The feelings and situations were overly described, where a one sentence explanation would suffice. Context clues is more than enough. I could tell when the author got lost in the writing because I actually enjoyed those parts. It didn't feel forced and unbelievable.

Dali was her best written character. I loved how she brought him to life. He was so believable and I could tell she had fun writing him.

Saying this book is surreal is a cop-out because what can you expect with a book that features Salvador Dali as one of the characters? But it is surreal in the most wonderful ways. This retelling of the story of the goddess of the underworld, Persephone, takes place in 1948 in the Garden of Monsters, which is a real locale in Italy. Julia, an art student, is hired for a ridiculous amount of money to model for Dali. They go off to Sacro Bosco where strange things happen. Julia is drawn to the house's host, but in a dangerous way. Lots of twists. Lots of hallucinogenic happenings. This gothic novel is beautifully and hauntingly written. And, as in all of King's books, there are ample descriptions of food. An incredibly inventive novel that I truly enjoyed.

NetGalley provided me with the eARC of In the Garden of Monsters.
This is a gothic historical romance retelling of Persephone and Hades (Proserpina and Pluto in the book) set in post WWII Italy and includes the famous artist Salvador Dali and his wife Gala.

Julia is an art school graduate living in Rome that is works as a model to supplement her income. She is hired by the eccentric Salvador Dali to spend a week as his Persephone muse in an old estate in Bromarzo. Julia has a form of amnesia that no one can figure out. She doesn’t remember her past and where she came from. When she arrives at Bromarzo, she has a sense of familiarity that frightens her and she can’t quite understand.

Dali is obsessed with Julia believing she is the real Persephone and keeps trying to get her to eat pomegranates that the estate host Ignazio keeps adding to the food. Julia feels a connection to Ignazio that scares her and causes her to not trust him.

Throughout the book, Julia sees ghosts and has visions that she can’t make sense of, and Dali’s decent into the madness of his art continues to unsettle her.

Food is a major component of this story as each meal is painstakingly detailed. The meals definitely fit with Dali’s surrealist and eccentric behaviors.

I feel like there was more time spent into the scenes with the meals and less time spent on character development. At times I felt like the book would never end, but there were just enough elements of suspense that kept me pushing through. The ending felt rushed and a little disjointed. In regards to the Ceres subplot, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I feel like that subplot was not fully teased out and lacked a little more backstory.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with this arc.

This book was fascinating, one woman supposed decent into madness at the hands of an artist and his pose while staying at an Italian château created the perfect twists and turns that make a good fantasy "psychological horror". While I understand that this is not a horror book, Julia seeing visions of a past that isn't hers, the strange events at the house, the mysterious deaths that had previously occurred in the gardens and finally the too real comparisons to Persephone. As a reader, I always have a hard time actually believing a book when it is advertised as "hades x persephone" as usually that is never an accurate description of the mmc and fmc.
While I am not an expert by any means on Dali and his wife, Gala, I do know enough to know that this was not that much of an exaggerated persona for him. Again I am unfamiliar with Gala and her behaviors, she was horrible the entire book to Julia, she acted as the perfect antagonist towards Julia. I think this was a really well done book in terms of hades x persephone, as well as incorporating history into a fantasy novel.

3.5 rounded up This is a gothic twist on mythology, reimagining the story of Persephone. Throw in ghosts, Salvador Dali and an equally bizarre setting. Then add gorgeous descriptions of exotic food. The characters were either mundane or ridiculously eccentric, but there was something here that kept me reading.

7 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2024/09/10/in-the-garden-of-monsters-by-crystal-king-review/

Historical fiction—historical ROMANCE—is about as far from my comfort zone as it gets. There’s very little fantasy about this, although it’s not entirely bereft. There’s intrigue, mystery, romance, and what pretty much amounts to food-porn (understandable considering the author has previously written two books, both of them food-fiction—a genre I was legitimately unaware of before now), with but a touch of fantasy realism throughout. Mostly you’ll notice it at the end, but that doesn’t mean the story is boring. After all, this utilizes frickin’ <i>Salvador Dalí</i> as a main character. And the dude was anything but dull.

In her afterword, the author said she was concerned about including Dalí at all. After all, Dalí was… well, ‘eccentric’ is probably an understatement. ‘Polarizing’ is likely closer. Honestly, I think she made the right call. Because—to take nothing away from the story itself—the inclusion of Dalí pretty much made the book.

As a personal aside: I’m not a great art lover. I like nature, and some landscapes, but “fine art” bores me a bit. Dalí, while certainly skilled, is just a man, to me. A highly profound man—if by “profound” one means “chaotic”. I do know about him; mostly his life, his career, his eccentricity, his marriage to Gala. And the inclusion of him in this story was key—in part because the author seemed to capture his essence so well. The mystery was made oh so much better by his polarizing presence, both at times a great boon as it was a frustrating distraction. It made the mystery seem deeper, the tale itself darker, and the story (essentially one where a grown-ass woman has convinced herself that if she will die if she eats any pomegranate arils) that much more tense and believable.

The setting was fantastic, if a bit over the top, particularly where the magical realism comes in. To be honest, I probably would’ve liked it better toned back a bit on some of the more outlandish scenes, instead focusing on the provocative ones. Though the romance itself was at times similarly absurd. The food-porn was also a bit much, but—acknowledging the author’s history—I think it’s probably fair.

TL;DR

In the Garden of Monsters may be a book well outside my usual comfort zone, but there was more than enough within these pages to enjoy, and more than enough to recommend. The mystery and intrigue were quite something, if, at times, a bit over the top. The setting itself was amazing, particularly the imagery the scenes invoked, which matched up so well with photos of the actual Sacro Bosco itself. The inclusion of Dalí made the book—or, at least, added a greater element of chaos to an already complex plot. The food-porn wasn’t something I’d ever have gone for by itself, but it did usually make me hungry. All in all, quite good, but with a tendency to overdo. So, maybe check this one out when it drops later this month—but always remember to keep a snack handy while reading.

Very interesting take on Dali and his work as an artist. When Julie wakes up in modern times, she can’t remember anything about herself or her life. But could she really have been living the same death over and over again? The story is interesting and compelling about reincarnation and true love. The story was different than what I expected. The mythology of the characters was a new take and I did enjoy the book.

3.5 stars

This haunting, atmospheric novel is inspired by the myth of Hades and Persephone. Aspiring artist Julia pays her bills by modeling, and is hired to sit for Salvador Dali in the role of Proserpina. When she arrives, however, Dali is obsessed with casting Julia as the perfect springtime goddess - feeding her pomegranate seeds and refusing to call her by her real name. In addition, she is being followed by ghosts that look just like her and share her name, and seeing spooky lights in the garden. Throughout the book are terrifying events in which it’s difficult to ascertain what is real and what is not. An overall intriguing read, though Ignazio was impossible to sympathize with and the Ceres sub-plot made very little sense.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

In the Garden of Monsters by Crystal King is a first person-POV historical fantasy reimagining of Hades and Persephone. When Julia, an art student, is hired by the famous painter Salvador Dali to be his muse for a new painting, she leaps at the chance to learn from an artist held in such high regard. When she arrives, she meets Ignacio, who is much more than he seems and so is his home and Julia herself.

I rarely comment on covers, but I adore this cover. I love the blue, I love the minimal color palette and how bold each color is, I love how it conveys the Hades and Persephone details with the pomegranates but feels almost horror, it’s painterly. It’s a brilliant way to say exactly what the book is and its themes and probably one of my favorite covers for the month of September.

I struggled to categorize In the Garden of Monsters because it’s definitely a historical fantasy given the time period of Salvador Dali in his prime and with the Greek myth detailing. But it also has this atmosphere that feels almost horror or like a psychological thriller. The genre-blending was handled really well and I love a book that knows how to blend genres. It’s not a romance, but there are erotic elements and this dark romantic thread that continues throughout.

The food takes a real center stage, going back to the pomegranate seeds of the original myth. Julia, Dali, Gala (Dali’s wife), Paolo (a photographer), and Jack (an American who is also serving as a model) are served elaborate, multi-course feels that ultimately are designed to get Julia to eat six pomegranate seeds, which she is very resistant to due to her personal dislike of the grittiness and then because she knows something will happen if she does, but she’s not exactly sure what will happen to her. Ignacio has the food prepared and is very determined to have Julia eat the seeds but doesn’t eat the food himself without Julia directly prompting him.

As a POV character, I liked Julia a lot. She’s very passionate about art and she’s honest with herself about how she feels getting Ignacio, Jack, and Dali’s attention and how she’s getting the attention. Ignacio and Jack are both very much romantically interested in Julia (much to Gala’s annoyance), while Dali’s attention is more focused on her eating the seeds and as a muse but some of his comments are inappropriate. I don’t know a lot about Dali beyond his art, but I believe it is entirely possible he was like this in real life.

I would recommend this to fans of Hades and Persephone reimagings that want less romance, readers looking for a Greek mythology base in a different time period, and those looking for a genre-blending novel

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review - below is my review of the book!

succulent, suspenseful, deliciously written. these are the first words that come to mind when reflecting on Crystal King's 'In The Garden of Monsters'.

take a stroll through a mysterious garden riddled with sculpture, prophetic mystery & dynamic character involvement. I chose to request an ARC for this book based off of the sheer fact that Salvador Dali & his wife Gala are key players in its story - I quickly fell in love with the FMC, Julia & her story as it unfolded in the Garden of Monsters. I truly adored how King tied in the historical story of mythology & created a sapphic twist in this Hades & Persephone retelling.

Although i enjoyed this story, it fell short for me near the end. A couple of moments felt rushed or underdeveloped & sometimes felt unnecessary for the overall plot. Overall, i enjoyed reading this book.

If you enjoy ancient Greek mythos, suspenseful mystery, romance, delectable descriptions of food, wonder & creepy musings from one of arts most controversial creators, then this book is for you! King did an incredible job researching Dali & Gala, traditional foods of the era & place, the actual garden itself & the stories behind the the monsters in the garden.