As someone who adores Greek myth retellings, I really wanted to love Seeds. But, unfortunately, because these stories have been told time and time again, there needs to be something special about the new telling to set it apart. And while Seeds had a few unique aspects to it, I found that Angie Paxton's prose, pacing, and overall depth was lacking.

That's not to say there weren't aspects I didn't enjoy—I thought the dual narrative was interesting and added to the overall story and I did want to see how everything would play out. But, rather than racing through, I felt like I had to keep pushing myself to finish the novel. I also felt like the timing in the romance between Hades and Persephone felt a little off; it wasn't quite zero to sixty, but it did feel slightly abrupt in some aspects.

I do think Seeds will have a hard time standing out from the other retellings. In full transparency, I read a retelling of the same myth earlier this year and while that has sat with me for months on end, I already am forgetting details about this novel after only a few weeks.

True rating is a 2.5 stars.

Seeds was a fairly true to mythology telling of the story of Hades and Persephone, but there were some unique twists added that I really appreciated. I loved that it was dual POV, and that it was really the mother/daughter relationship of Demeter and Persephone that was at the heart of the book. I’ve always been fascinated by their dynamic in the original mythology. I also appreciated Paxton’s characterisation of Hades, as I felt it added a really humanized element to the god of the underworld.

A good enough story but not rich or lush enough in terms of my taste. I would have preferred prose similar to Madeline Miller.

Seeds is Angie Paxton’s debut novel which I was very drawn to as I love Greek mythology.

The story follows Persephone’s (Kore) journey to the Underworld, where she is forced to go by Hades, alongside Demeter’s relentless efforts to retrieve her daughter using every means possible. The dual point of view from the two characters immerses the reader in the narrative.

I truly enjoyed the writing, which felt appropriate for the time in which the story unfolds and was notably refined. Persephone is like a flower in bloom; she begins as an unsure young woman, largely influenced by her relationship with her mother, and gradually transforms into a strong individual with firm ideals. Although there is a scene where her selfishness annoyed me, throughout the book, she truly shines.

Hades, who initially did not impress me, evolves into a loving and caring character. It was heartwarming to witness his growth, as he learns from his past actions and develops a profound respect and love for Persephone and his subjects.

Demeter embodies vengeance, allowing us to see a mother’s wrath through her perspective. While she may not be the most nurturing character, her intensity adds a compelling twist to the narrative.

The romance is a slow burn, one of my favourite tropes. However, I felt a lack of chemistry between Hades and Persephone; it seemed that in one moment she was terrified of him, and in the blink of an eye, she was desperately in love. I wished for more consistent tension to build between the two of them.

Overall, this is a solid debut and definitely worth a read if you’re a fan of Greek mythology.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Rising Action Publishing Co. and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Seeds by Angie Paxton.

If you are a Greek mythology and romance fan, I would recommend this debut novel. It’s well written and I found the setting of the Underworld to be very interesting. I also enjoyed reading and seeing the relationship between Hades and Persephone’s grow over the course of the novel.
The book switches off each chapter from Persephone and her mother’s Demeter’s POV and I personally was not the biggest fan of Demeter’s chapters. Those were the hardest chapters for me to get through because I found myself just not as interested, though I understand why Paxton wanted to give the reader Demeter's POV. I was more drawn to Persephone’s perspective- her journey of falling for Hades, recognizing her own worth, and how she had to come to terms with and overcome her mother's emotional abuse.

A bit of a lackluster retelling with some brighter flares throughout. In a crowded mythological market, I found SEEDS unlikely to stand out. A lot of the prose and emotion fell flat where it should have been a gut-punch. I enjoyed reading it--as I finished it and it held my interest--but there are better Greek mythological retellings out there.

An interesting retelling of the Persephone myth. The language feels a little stiff though and the beginning where Persephone thinks she’s an ordinary girl who thinks she’s cursed feel off.

The story of Persephone and Hades is literally a tale for the ages. This novel explores a new side to the myth, where we see what happens through the eyes of both Persephone and her mother Demeter.

I've always been partial to the legend surrounding Persephone; how Hades stole her away to the Underworld and yet she comes to love him and spend half the year in his palace. This version by Angie Paxton (in her debut novel, congrats!) goes in to depth on why this happened and how the god and goddess came to care for each other. I felt the romance was well fleshed-out and truly embodied the mythology between the two lovers.

This novel also explored Persephone's relationship with her mother, the goddess Demeter. Because we get Demeter's POV, the reader can connect more with how Persephone feels growing up human and with a mother who is incapable of truly caring for her. We see their submissions and arguments, and how that all played a role in Persephone's connection to Hades and the Underworld.

There are some hidden and not-so-hidden gems, with mentions of other myths and legends of gods, goddesses, and the mortal lives they mess with. It was fun to read some of the stories and they linked well with the plot and helped to drive it forward.

Angie Paxton, in her Acknowledgements, mentions that this novel took over a decade to publish. I think it was well worth it as this version of the classic tale will stick with me for a long time.

This story gives a slightly different take on the Persephone and Hades story of Greek mythology, with Hades in particular being far from the one-dimensional character we usually read of. I enjoyed it, but it was perhaps a little overlong in parts, with some errors which I assume will be edited out prior to publication.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

Just another re-telling.

I was drawn to this book because of Hades and Persephone, but in the end I just wasn't as into it as I hoped I would be. I enjoyed the story, but it was rather slow, seeing as for me nothing truly interesting happened until the halfway point in the story. I loved Hades and Persephone, and I felt for Demeter for a small portion of the story, but her selfishness and hatred just took over and made her unlikable. Other than Hekate, the other gods introduced were truly background characters and just weren't fledged out enough to make me care about them.

Persephone truly undergoes a maturing transformation at the end of the story, and it was enjoyable to follow her journey even though there may have been times the decisions she made made me want to scream. Hades was obviously my favorite part of the book with how gentle and caring he is, especially when he surprises her, when she believes he would react as badly as her mother had when she failed to meet expectations. My favorite part is when he praises her for being able to bring life into the underworld.

Will I ever stop reading books which focus on Greek Myths? No, I won't.

The story is the one of Persephone, forced to go the Underworld, and her mother Demeter trying to get her back.

What I loved about the book was the growth of the characters: both Persephone and Hades evolve throughout the story; Hades eventually becomes more caring, and Persephone gains more security in herself.

What I loved the most: The dual Pov between mother and daughter! Nice to see female characters given more space, and Demeter's pov in not something we usually see in these types of books.

What I liked the least: The story feels a bit flat, I wish the author had put her personal touch in the story. I suppose she did not want to stray too far from the original story, but it's what it made the book not stand out in the end. Nevertheless, I found it an enjoyable read.

As someone who loves Greek Mythology and retellings, I really wanted to like this. However, this book was pretty disappointing. These are characters and a story I already know and yet for the first time I was not interested. There was no depth to anyone in this book which made it so hard to stay engaged. I liked that there was more than one POV, but even that didn’t add as much as it could have. I thought this book would have some sort of new take on this story or their relationship but it did. Overall this was just boring and I felt disconnected from the characters the entire time.

Thank you to Rising Action Publishing Co. and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was my everything! Those that know me know that I am a sucker for anything Hades / Persephone. I will devour their story and any way that it's told. This was no exception, it might even make the top of my list of tellings!

This is the story of Persephone and Demeter. I like the approach with this re-telling. It's more about mother-daughter relationships than it is about Hades and Persephone. I really like the generational trauma and curses. It really went into detail about how each generation had their own struggles and it all came down to being women.
I think there is some good stuff in this book, and I really recommend it to all women.

Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to review this book and give my honest opinion.

I’ve always been a fan of Greek mythology, so when I saw the opportunity to read "Seeds", I seized it! I was not entirely disappointed. This is a 3.5 stars, for me.

The story follows Persephone’s journey to the Underworld, where she is forced to go by Hades, alongside Demeter’s relentless efforts to retrieve her daughter using every means possible. The dual point of view from the two characters immerses the reader in the narrative.

I truly enjoyed the writing, which felt appropriate for the time in which the story unfolds and was notably refined. Persephone is like a flower in bloom; she begins as an unsure young woman, largely influenced by her relationship with her mother, and gradually transforms into a strong individual with firm ideals. Although there is a scene where her selfishness annoyed me, throughout the book, she truly shines.

Hades, who initially did not impress me, evolves into a loving and caring character. It was heartwarming to witness his growth, as he learns from his past actions and develops a profound respect and love for Persephone and his subjects.

Demeter embodies vengeance, allowing us to see a mother’s wrath through her perspective. While she may not be the most nurturing character, her intensity adds a compelling twist to the narrative.

The romance is a slow burn, one of my favourite tropes. However, I felt a lack of chemistry between Hades and Persephone; it seemed that in one moment she was terrified of him, and in the blink of an eye, she was desperately in love. I wished for more tension to build between the two of them.

Overall, this is a solid debut and definitely worth a read if you’re a fan of Greek mythology. Congratulations, Angie Paxton!

I was drawn to this book because I’m interested in Persephone beyond the beautiful goddess who unknowingly ate the pomegranate seeds and condemned herself to becoming part of the Underworld. In this retelling, the only thing Hades did against Persephone’s consent was bring her to the Underworld and keep her there as his queen. As two ostracised individuals, Persephone comes to see parallels between herself and Hades, and gradually grows to love him. All the while, Demeter is distraught at the loss of her daughter and will go to all lengths to bring her back, no matter who suffers for it.

In theory, this book should be for me: it explores tensions in mother-daughter relationships, and it presents to me two lonely gods who grow to become each other’s salvation. But the execution didn’t really do it for me. Persephone’s hot and cold attitude towards Hades for most of this book before the two of them finally reconciled after a certain tragedy she indirectly caused, became frustrating to read, even if she’s a young woman who makes questionable decisions. There was a lot of attention paid to desires of the flesh that got tiring after a while—the gods acted far too human-like to be divine. To me, a lot of the gods (save Hekate, who was easily my favourite) lacked nuance: Demeter is extremely self-serving most of the time, Hades is a creepy-seeming but terribly misunderstood softie who wants only for his new wife to be happy, and Hermes is a disrespectful misogynist who speaks like a cishet man in the locker rooms. I really think people should stop slapping Madeline Miller’s name onto an attempt to sell a Greek mythology retelling written by a woman just because it’s a Greek mythology retelling written by a woman.

That being said, this book wasn’t terrible, I just think the first 60% could’ve been a lot shorter and less repetitive. I actually really liked the later chapters, especially from the moment Hades and Persephone encountered Orpheus in the Underworld and things finally picked up. I liked following Persephone’s growth past the abuse of her mother, as she learns to bloom in the relative freedom and kindness of Hades’ companionship, I just wished she stopped acting like a petulant teen sooner.

Thank you for sending me this ARC - unfortunately, while the writing was good, there was too little originality for me to keep reading past chapter 6 and I gave it a good go! There are so many Hades and Persephone retellings and this one just didn't stand out to me. I hope the author goes on to write other Greek retellings that are less well known which might help the reader become more invested.

A fresh retelling of the myth of Persephone set against the fascinating backdrop of Mycenaean Greece. This version of the myth dives deeply into the strained mother-daughter relationship between Kore (later Persephone) and her mother, Demeter. It sheds light on the complexities of parental control and emotional isolation. Persephone is not a naive girl but a young woman searching for her identity, wrestling with her mother's bitterness, and finding empowerment. While her mother is fiercely protective, she is overbearing and trapped in her trauma of the past, which has defined Kore's existence. Kore accepts a life of repression until she encounters the Olympian Goddesses and learns she is, too, a goddess. Persephone's abduction by Hades develops into something unexpected. The romance between them unfolds by their shared loneliness and the solace they find in each other. It's a modern examination of the emotional trauma left by controlling parents and exploring whether forgiveness must always follow, so be warned. Fans of the myth will find this version of Persephone's journey both haunting and inspiring.

I received an ARC ebook for my honest review. Thank you, NetGalley and Raising Action Publishing.

Seeds is the retelling of the myth of Persephone. For those of you that didn’t take Greek mythology as an elective, the myth of Persephone tells how Hades fell in love with the beautiful Persephone. After asking Persephone’s father (his brother Zeus) for her hand in marriage, he kidnaps her, bringing her to live in the underworld with him. Demeter, Persephone’s mother and goddess of the harvest and agriculture (she’s also the sister of Zeus; Game of Throne’s Targaryens have nothing on the Olympian Gods when it comes to incest), is so distracted and distraught by her daughter’s disappearance, that she neglects the earth, causing flooding (from her excessive tears) and crops to die. When Zeus hears of this, he demands that Hades return Persephone. However, as Hades has tricked Persephone into eating food of the underworld in the form of pomegranate seeds, she’s forced to spend half the year in the underworld with Hades, only allowed to spend half the year above world with her mother.

In this book, the focus is on the relationship between Persephone and Demeter with the slow-burn romance between Persephone and Hades as a strong subplot. The book is split between the limited third person point of view of Persephone and Demeter.

It starts with mother and daughter living as mortals in a small village. When one of the villagers goes into labor, Persephone goes to help only to be reprimanded once again by her mother. This leads Persephone to leave the village to live in a cave near a meadow. In the meadow, however, she meets several fellow goddesses who tell Persephone about her own goddess-hood; shortly afterwards, she’s kidnapped by Hades.

I found this book fascinating, despite being familiar with the myth and thus how it ends. I love how Persephone has a much more active role in her life in this retelling than in the original myth and how Demeter’s action of searching for her daughter take on a different motivation. I think in both versions, Demeter wants to protect her daughter, but in Seeds, it’s for more selfish reasons – she doesn’t want to be alone.

I think this is echoed in the various relationships in the book. The relationship between Persephone and Hades is an interesting foil to that of Persephone and Demeter; ironically, Demeter is the goddess of growing things but managed to keep her daughter’s growth stunted. In fact, in the beginning of the book, I thought Persephone was 11 – 13, not her actual age of 20. In contrast, Hades, the god of the underworld, helped Persephone grow, teaching her new skills and showing her love and kindness. In several instances, this is highlighted by Persephone’s thoughts; she notes Hades is acting with kindness, but her mother would frequently act with kindness followed by cruelty. She’s shocked when he doesn’t follow his kindness with cruelty.

Highly recommended. I received a copy of this from NetGallley.com that I voluntarily reviewed.

This book was a nice retelling of the Persephone myth, which explores the complexity of the mother daughter relationship between Persephone and Demeter. I liked that this book had dual perspectives showing Demeter's love and desperation for her daughter, while we see Persephone's self discovery journey. In this story, Hades is portrayed as gentle and misunderstood, which allowed the romance between him and Persephone to feel rewarding. This is a great book for fans of Greek mythology retellings.