Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Dell for sending me this ARC!

Wow, this is such an interesting concept for a book! It combines mythology with the story of the vanished Roanoke colony to create a completely unique tale. You must get through the first 15% or so where the story doesn’t make a lot of sense before it all starts to come together.

I will say, however, that this odd/unique combination of mythology and the Roanoke colony felt disjoined at times — the dual timeline aspect was helpful in clarifying parts (but definitely not all) of this disjoined-ness. I’m curious what assisted the author in coming up with such a combination?

And, if using the colonies and settlers as a main setting, it would make sense to focus on colonization, rather than skirting around it as this book did. As other reviews have stated, it’s a bit odd to use the colonies and call the men “treacherous”, yet not acknowledge the impacts of this on the indigenous people. I read the authors note where she details her reasonings for not including this, however I feel it should’ve been addressed at least a little more within the story. Not only is this important to address in general, it also would have added depth to the plot and an extra layer as to why Thelia focused on this group.

The story itself had potential, if only my above issues had been addressed, it could’ve been rated much higher. Perhaps a different setting without a background in genocide without addressing it?

2.5 stars

I had to DNF this at 20%

Unfortunately this style of writing just wasn't for me. I had a really hard time trying to get into this story because I personally just didn't connect with the prose. At about 20% I found myself doing a lot of skimming to try and get the story before deciding to throw in the towel and admit defeat.

There are people that are going to love this book, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

The myth of Hades and Persephone is my favorite, so, while I’m less keen on Roman mythology, I was intrigued by this one. Those Fatal Flowers isn’t exactly a Proserpina retelling, though Proserpina does feature somewhat. Instead, it takes a look at what the lives of Proserpina’s former handmaidens, who were turned into the Sirens, might have been like, and what might have happened if one managed to leave the island and come across the lost American Roanoke colony.

When Proserpina is kidnapped, Thelia and her two sisters are punished by being turned into monstrous Sirens doomed to use their voices to lure ships of men to their deaths, and sentenced to a life of exile on Scopuli. Centuries pass, and ships begin to dwindle, and Thelia and her sisters become desperate. When one last ship arrives, Thelia and her sisters, with the aid of Proserpina, manage to turn Thelia back into her godly form with the goal of finding more offerings to permanently return all three of them to their godly forms. She travels on the sea and eventually washes ashore, where she’s taken into the Roanoke colony and believed to be a princess. Men vie for her hand with promises of riches and security falling from Thelia’s lips, but a young woman who looks just like Proserpina catches Thelia’s eye. But her power hungry hosts have other plans for her, and her island.

Split between Now and Then, Those Fatal Flowers tells the story of Thelia both as a Siren and as a woman on the hunt for a big enough offering to Proserpina so she and her sisters can permanently resume their godly forms. I liked the way both timelines were twisted together, but it often made one or both feel like they were moving agonizingly slowly at various times. It took half the book for both timelines to really become interesting, so the first half came off as slow where nothing interesting was happening in either timeline. The setup was almost agonizingly long, and the pay off felt too little. I did enjoy the way this one ended, but it also felt almost anti-climatic and almost too easy and convenient.

Thelia wasn’t my favorite person. Unfortunately, the entirety of the story is told from her perspective. In the Then timeline, she spent most of the time obsessing over her love for Proserpina, tormenting herself with all the terrible things her goddess was probably suffering at Dis’ hands, and feeling guilty at being the one to point Dis in Proserpina’s direction. She sounded more like a love sick fool than a heroine, and I quickly tired of her. Her sisters, though, while little more than cardboard cutouts, were a little more interesting, doing their best to live with what they had and finding different pleasures. In the Now timeline, she’s fixated on Cora, who is betrothed to her hostess’s son in the colony, and, weirdly feels some tumult over the fate she’s dooming the men of the colony to by being there. She swings from being lovesick over Cora because she looks just like Proserpina to being bloodthirsty, so it made my head spin a little. It was impossible to pin her down, possibly because she didn’t even know who she was or what she wanted.

The romance was strange. So much of the story is painted to be a romance between Thelia and Cora, and yet most of their romance feels little more than imagined. Cora spends most of the story angry at Thelia for stealing away her betrothed or skittering away from Thelia because she’s feeling things for Thelia that she shouldn’t. Most of the time, they’re dancing around each other, and Cora seems to despise her. I suppose little separates love and hate, but it made the jump into romance in the second half feel a little like it came out of the blue. It only kind of made sense because Thelia spent so much of the Now timeline obsessing over Cora.

But Those Fatal Flowers did manage to deliver a few interesting bits. I did love that it remained true to the mythology. I liked that Proserpina never abandoned her faithful handmaidens, and I loved the glimpse into her as the wife of Dis. This also offered a possible explanation to what happened to the Roanoke colony. Of course, it’s quite convenient, but it worked well and I liked the way it was executed. It was fantastic to get the story of the Sirens and the life they might have been consigned to. It was brutal, making much of this novel brutal and bloody, and yet it was never gratuitous. After all, Proserpina becomes goddess of the dead. But it was sometimes a little too gory for me, so be warned.

Those Fatal Flowers and I didn’t really click. While there were a few things that I actually liked, most of the story bothered me. I didn’t feel the romance, but I did appreciate the vengeance Thelia took on men who would take advantage of women. I also grew tired rather quickly of Thelia, but some of the secondary characters were interesting, and I would have loved to see more of them. This was interesting in that it offered some interesting solutions to a mystery, and I liked that it crossed Roman mythology with history, but there were too many other problems that just rubbed me the wrong way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I have mixed feelings about this book.

While the writing was strong, the combination of an extinct indigenous people's story with Greek mythology gave me an uncomfortable feeling. Although I believe the insensitivity was unintentional, it still casts a shadow over the narrative.

I do enjoy a well-executed dual-timeline story, which Shannon handles flawlessly. I also appreciate the sapphic love story. However, I was initially thrown off by the use of Roman names for Persephone and Hades (Prospernia and Dis). Although I eventually adjusted, it was a distraction for me at first.

Overall, it was a good story, once I navigated the uncomfortable aspects. I honestly feel that if the author believed she did not have the right to tell Indigenous stories, she should not have included them in her book and could have chosen a different approach.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell, and Shannon Ives for the ARC of this book. I am voluntarily leaving my honest opinion.

I wasn’t sure where this story would take me at first. As usual, I went in blind, only reading the synopsis about 15% into the story. This was my first time diving into a historical fantasy with a romantic subplot and a hefty dose of feminine rage—seriously, a lot of rage. Initially, Thelia’s anger toward the male sex felt extreme, especially when it extended to small children. However, as the story unfolded, it became clear that her rage was justified, given the treatment she and the women around her endured at the hands of most men in the story (with one notable exception, Will).

The dual timelines added an intriguing layer to the narrative. One follows the sisters’ lives after being banished to Scopuli, while the other focuses on Thelia, who escapes and infiltrates the Roanoke colony disguised as royalty. The true purpose of her mission in Roanoke is revealed in the latter half of the book, which is when the story truly captivated me.

The author’s prose was beautiful—rich and evocative, drawing me into the world effortlessly. That said, the pacing could be uneven at times, particularly when it came to the passage of time, which made some transitions difficult to follow. Despite this, I appreciated Thelia’s character development and the poignant exploration of how monsters are made, not born.

I am deeply uncomfortable with the author's approach to the Indigenous characters in this book. Setting part of the book on Roanoke just to have Indigenous characters only really exist to basically provide set dressing and violence is absolutely unacceptable.

If you like: mythology, sapphics, yearning, and female rage, THOSE FATAL FLOWERS is the book for you. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for the advanced copy!

I do have mixed feelings about this book, but most of them are good! I love books connected to myths and legends, and Those Fatal Flowers is a combo of two wildly different ones-GrecoRoman attendants of a goddess' daughter are cursed into monstrous siren-like forms after the daughter is kidnapped by Dis (the Roman name of Hades, so obvs this is another side of the Persephone and Hades myth) AND the lost colony of Roanoke in the Americas.

For plenty of reasons, I really don't like reading about the colonists who came to America in fiction. And though I was almost meh about it here, I thought it was interestingly done. One of the aforementioned sirens has set off to find new people to bring to their island to kill, and honestly, who better than some white male colonizers who are awful to women and Indigenous peoples! This book packs in a ton of feminine rage, queer longing, and absolutely brutal scenes. There are quite a bit of content warnings (I believe found at the beginning of the book, so do check) and I would call a good deal of this book horrific.

I stayed entertained for the whole story, but the pacing was inconsistent. In both POVs, there were parts that dragged and parts that gave you whiplash. The ending was sorta conclusive, but then forgot about everyone but the main characters, which left me with a ton of questions.

Thanks to Dell and Netgalley for the e-ARC!

Those Fatal Flowers presents an intriguing premise, and I did enjoy the protagonist, Thelia. However, I struggled with the connection the author tried to make between an ancient Greek myth and the colonial settlement of Roanoke in North America. To me, this combination felt somewhat forced and, frankly, absurd.

While I appreciate the author’s effort to incorporate feminist and LGBTQ representation, using a colonial setting like Roanoke for these themes didn’t sit well with me. It felt off-putting, especially given the historical context of such a settlement.

Overall, while the writing and Thelia’s character offered some enjoyment, the blending of mythology with colonial history didn’t work for me. It might appeal to readers looking for something unconventional, but I personally couldn’t fully connect with it.

This book was certainly an interesting concept. It mixed mythology with colonialism, of all things (she ends up in the colony of Roanoke). It’s full of men you want to hate and sure to incite your feminist rage. I did find some parts slower than others, yet a well placed comment about the uselessness of men would perk my interest back up. Add in budding romance and you’ve got yourself one great book.

Those Fatal Flowers is a unique and beautiful tale of love and femininity.

Thelia is the young lover of Proserpina and a siren. When Proserpina is captured by Dis, Thelia is cursed by Ceres, banished to remain with her sisters on a lonely island. Centuries pass, and Thelia seeks to finally free Proserpina and her sisters. She impersonates a princess, shipwrecked on the coast of colonial Virginia. Eventually, Thelia becomes close to a young woman in the colony, and she seeks revenge on the violent men who have harmed her and others. But will her sacrifice be enough to save her sisters, Proserpina, and herself?

This was a really interesting and unique story. While I appreciated some elements of the story, I felt it was lacking in other areas. The prose was beautifully written, and I enjoyed the shifting timeline of the Greco-Roman past with colonial Roanoke. The sapphic love story was well written and the yearning for Cora was excellent. However, the lack of indigenous characters was an odd choice - despite being a historical fantasy, it still felt like a huge missing piece of the story. The feminine rage was also a huge element of this book, and it was nice to see another reinterpretation of women and women's power in historical settings. Overall, the story was interesting, and a unique approach to this ancient myth.

As a side note, there are some difficult elements in this book - I suggest readers sensitive to certain issues review the content warnings and take care reading.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and to Random House Publishing - Dell for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

An intriguing premise of a book that I found hard to put down. Roman mythology meets with the mysterious disappearance of the Roanoke colony in this dual-timeline novel of love, female fury, and the lengths one will go to protect or avenge those they love.

By weaving the origin of the Sirens from Homer's The Odyssey with the lore of Roanoke, the lost colony, the author creates a narrative that feels both fresh and timeless. I was particularly drawn to Thelia’s perspective: her transformation into a monster—both literal and metaphorical—is a powerful exploration of lost innocence, betrayal, and the darker sides of the gods when you fall out of favor. The Siren sisters exemplify the struggle to retain empathy and compassion in a place where no one is left to give it.

One of the novel’s most striking elements is its depiction of female rage—a searing, elemental force born from centuries of injustice, exploitation, and subjugation. This anger isn’t just reactionary; it’s deeply rooted in the experiences of the characters, from Thelia’s personal tragedy to the systemic oppression of women in the colony. Similarly, the female colonists—depicted as possessions or mere tools for the ambitions of men—highlight the pervasive dehumanization women endured and embody the resilience and quiet defiance in a world that seeks to strip them of agency.

Ives doesn’t shy away from examining the costs of this rage, showing how it can be both empowering and destructive. This theme also intersects with historical injustices faced by Native Americans, a point the book touches on briefly, adding a broader dimension to its exploration of power and oppression of the white colonists and men.

Ives’ lyrical prose is another highlight, drawing readers into a richly imagined world and guiding them through a rollercoaster of emotions. Fans of Madeline Miller will likely appreciate the poetic style and mythological depth.

Readers should be aware that the novel tackles heavy themes, including sexual violence, graphic violence, murder, and the loss of children. All triggers are listed at the beginning of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Shannon Ives, and Random House Publishing for providing an advanced e-copy of this book.

Two legendary islands separated by time—the Sirenum Scopuli and the lost colony of Roanoke—are united in Those Fatal Flowers, a historical romance bridging millennia and cultures. At the center of the story is Thelia: once the companion and lover of Proserpina, now cursed to live with her sisters as a monstrous siren for the crime of not protecting the young goddess from being kidnapped by Dis. As the years roll on and the sisters suffer for Ceres's entertainment, Thelia searches for signs from her lost lover: and one day, she finds them. The sisters can be freed from their curse with a sufficient blood sacrifice, and a certain island is full of men who will make fine sacrifices for the Queen of the Underworld.

Disguised as a human princes seeking a suitor, Thelia ensconces herself in the New World colony. Amidst the residents' unfamiliar religion and rules, she initially witnesses signs that all human males will inevitably turn out as hateful and violent as Dis. But her slow-burn infatuation with Cora—a local woman who bears a striking resemblance to Proserpina—and her growing understanding of the settlement force Thelia to contend with her past preconceptions. There is indeed revenge worth seeking, but against whom?

Those Fatal Flowers appears at first glance to be front-loaded with mid-2010s gender essentialism—the belief that men can be nothing but violent and women can be nothing but their victims without literal divine intervention—but that is our narrator's initial notion, not the message of the book. Thelia is equal parts strong and flawed, her assumptions understandable but also fragile, and her journey in this story challenges even her deepest-held beliefs. The fact that she tells this story in the first person and present tense means we are always given her most current ideas. It also means we can watch those ideas be challenged and changed in real time. There are so many mythological retellings that, in their desperation to modernize, make sweeping backwards motions; this is not one of those books, though Thelia's early mindset is a clear acknowledgment that those books exist. Those Fatal Flowers shows a deep love and understanding for two foggy historical eras. And, as a Virginian who's seen my fair share of Lost Colony-inspired retellings, I was excited to see Ives do something legitimately new with the concept. Despite the darkness threaded through it, it's a book that preaches hope and second chances, especially in its final chapters.

I received a free eARC of "These Fatal Flowers" by Shannon Ives in exchange for a honest review. I fear I honestly would have enjoyed the book much better were it not set about the "mystery" of Roanoke in America.

Ancient Greece and Rome had colonies which came to mysterious ends as well. It wouldn't have been hard to imagine a Siren washing to shore as supposedly it happened in Neapolis or Leukosia were the tomb or shrine of the Siren could be found.

I am also of the opinion that the Sirens weren't cursed to be monsters but served a psychpomp function for sailors to Persephone/Demeter, so it fell a bit short of expectations for me feeling more like Wonder Woman mixing Beauty and the Beast set in the Age of Discovery rather than a Greek myth, which isn't bad, but could have been it's own book and didn't need to have Sirens in Roanoke.

I did read this at the start for the intriguing take of a queer Siren and Persephone, but that stopped being the focus of the story and romance once Cora came into the scene.

Regardless, Thelia's (or Thelxiope) story starts at the side of Proserpina with her sisters Raidne and Pisinoe, where she's in love until a terrible mistake sends her and her sisters in search of Proserpina as Sirens, bird bodied winged women with songs to send sailors to their doom on the shores of Scopuli, lost, like the lost Proserpina.

Until a living man washes up on the island and Proserpina's voice sends Thelia on a quest to undo their curse with the blood of evil men. Coming ashore she plays at being a princess with wealth for her wedded husband to come to Scopuli.

While away from her sisters and helpless in human form, she encounters men and women as she's never known them. She finds love and treachery in both and must still sway the colonies most oppressed to free themselves and her cursed sisters.

Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives combined Greco-Roman mythology with the mystery of the Roanoke colony in a very interesting way with the added bonus of queer characters all wrapped up in beautiful writing. The author mentions some content warnings at the beginning, which readers should take care to read through, because the content is definitely not for everyone. I liked the dual timeline narrative that explains Thelia's backstory and how she gets to Roanoke alongside the present, which is what she does at Roanoke. I've always been curious about what happened at Roanoke, and I think what the author does here is inventive, but the parallelism between the patriarchy and colonialism felt a bit clumsy.

The characters were okay. I'm not sure it was completely necessary that Cora look similar to Thelia's ex-lover, Proserpina. It added some intrigue in the beginning, but it made me wonder later if Thelia would have been interested in Cora at all otherwise. Their chemistry could have been better developed. Will was my favorite and seemed the most complex character, so I'm not a fan of what happened to him. Thomas kind of seemed like a caricature of a Terrible Man, and didn't have that many layers. That said, I do like what happened to him.

The writing is gorgeous. Ives paints the scenes beautifully, both externally and internally, sometimes to the point where I thought it was a bit excessive.

Overall, I enjoyed the read with some caveats. The beginning was a bit slow, but it did pick up and landed with a satisfying ending. I'll definitely keep an eye out for Shannon Ives' future works.

This combined some very odd bits of mythology, conspiracy, and history to create something that I can tell wanted to be boundary pushing but I think it pushed boundaries that are meant to stay in place. While I appreciate feminine rage this didn’t quite hit the mark for me and often left me uncomfortable with the take on American history and North American indigenous peoples.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine, Dell and Random House Publishing Group for this advanced copy. You can pick up Those Fatal Flowers on January 21, 2025.

Shannon Ives weaves mystery and mythology into this heart-wrenching tale about Thelia, a siren and former Greek handmaiden who's now infiltrating the Roanoke colony in "present" day America. While this premise sounds exciting and intriguing, after reading the content warnings at the beginning of the book, I decided to put it down. That doesn't mean others won't be swept away by the magic and beautiful writing in this book. If you enjoy feminine rage, mythology, and sapphic, historical relationships, then this seems to be your book!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

Those Fatal Flowers follows Thelia as she tries to break free from a curse after the woman she loves is taken from her.
The narrative goes back and forth between the past and the present which is one of my favorite forms of storytelling and I think it worked well here. I liked the contrast between the Greco-Roman mythology inspirations and the setting of early America. The characters were well rounded and complex, especially Thelia.
The writing was very polished and beautiful. Ives is excellent at scene setting and descriptions. There were a few times where it felt a little repetitive but that’s just me being nitpicky. This book doesn’t shy away from gore and violence but I think it’s fitting for the story. Overall, I liked it! If you want to read a unique book based on Greco-Roman mythology, I recommend this one.

So there's a lot to be said about this book, and most of the other reviewers have said it much better than I could. I'm not Native American nor do I claim to know everything about the history BUT even I can tell you the setting and use of colonialism was odd. It's so unfortunate because I would have given this 5 stars if it were in almost ANY other setting. The writing, the premise and characters were so interesting it just made me feel weird that they were in Colonial America and yet it wasn't really addressed.

I had initially jumped at the chance to read this book because it was seemed like a good way to branch out of my comfort zone. Though I slowly realized as I got through it that this book wasn’t quite for me. I found the book to be well written but for me it just felt a little all over the place, some parts moved really slowly, while others moved fast; there is potential here though it just missed the mark with me.