I loved this book! The prose is beautiful and descriptive of both places and people. This book is absolutely for people looking for queer stories in Greek mythology, but I wouldn't come here looking for a traditional romance. Phaidros' emotional journey and their growing relationship is gorgeous, and I would definitely call it a love story, but not a romance.

I love me some brutal fantasy and this absolutely delivers. Dionysus' godhood makes him simultaneously very human and very inhuman and capable of both great kindness and great cruelty. He's a human but More, with everything that entails. I would read more about him and Phaidros forever. I feel like I need to immediately read it again because I must have missed something the first time, not because it's impossible to understand but just because there's so much here to roll around in. (As soon as I have a physical copy in my hands, I will be reading it again to be sure.)

If you want beautiful prose, emotional healing, and a blast of divine intervention, this is absolutely a book that's well worth your time. I have a lot of feelings about this book that I can't get into without speaking specifics (all positives, and all full of love), so you're just going to have to read it.

I absolutely loved this novel and can't wait for it to be out in the world so I can tell everyone to go read it.

I think Natasha Pulley is a very gifted writer and I have loved what books I have read of hers in the past. This one unfortunately just wasn’t for me and I struggled to get into it.

Beautifully complex and thoughtful-- just what I've come to expect from a Natasha Pulley novel. If you enjoy books by Madeline Miller or Jennifer Siant, definitely pick this up and give it a try!

Thank you to Natasha Pulley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

i really am a greek girlie okkkkk!!! i ate this up. i don't know much about dionysus, but the writing was so easy to follow i didn't feel like i was missing something. the author did a fantastic job laying the foundation and building up tension. this is my first book by Pulley and it won't be my last!

Heavily inspired by (though not a retelling of) Greek mythology, this book is really about what it means to be human and all the ways we release and come back to ourselves. Pulley's weaving together of myth and original fantasy and romance and humanity is brilliantly done.

Very conflicted about this book. Some of it felt very dreamlike and I enjoyed the imagery of nature, other parts dragged on for too long with too many disjointed scenes (maybe like a dream in that sense).

I’d recommend it for someone who enjoys mythology retellings, and while I finished the whole book I am unlikely to reread it

WOW! What did I just read??? I love Greek myth retellings and this one felt like it was on another plane! Imaginative and tender filled with magic, adventure and longing with writing that just captivates you wholly! I am in awe of how beautifully Pulley reimagined Dionysus's story and I feel like it is no small thing to believe that Dionysus would be proud.

This is another amazing and imaginative offering from the always intriguing Natasha Pulley. This one goes back into basically prehistory and reimagines the story of Dionysus. There is magic, adventure and a tender gay love story along with an interesting array of characters and creatures.

I loved this book so much that I knew I had to wait at least a day before writing my review. Oh my god, this was so good.

I have a one-line pitch for it that immediately sold my sister so much that I preordered a copy for her birthday even though it doesn't come out until March, but it's a bit spoilery about the ending, so I'll put that at the end. But basically if you love books like Madeline Miller's or Greek mythology in general, and you love queerness and hope while still not feeling like a lighthearted fairy tale, this is the perfect book for you. I was so drawn in to the characters and their world, while also being so stressed the whole time about how it would end. I loved the way it was written, and the themes, and the things you come back to, and the resolution we get for all the questions and mysteries. Genuinely dare I say a perfect book??? Idk. I just know I'm going to be recommending it to everyone I can.

Spoilers ahead!! What I told my sister is that it has some Orpheus and Eurydice/Achilles and Patroclus vibes while also having a happier ending. Like, it's not just a HEA type thing, but the ending was much happier than I expected given how these sorts of stories usually go (and given how it wasn't marketed as a romance, at least not by the time I read it). Like, if The Song of Achilles and/or Hadestown broke your heart, this will put it back together again, just a little.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the chance to read and review this ARC!

This had several of the elements that I love about Pulley's work: captivating and flawed characters, mystery, sweet slow-burn romance, and excellent world-building. The main characters, especially Phaidros, drew me in right away, and there were several supporting characters that were delightful (another Pulley characteristic). Lush, intense, thought-provoking, and both sad and hopeful, fans of Song of Achilles and Greek reimaginings will love this!

Thanks to NetGally and Bloomsbury for the advanced reader copy!

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I really liked Mars House, but Pulley in this new book returns -- sort of -- to her m/m romance historical novels. Though, in fact, we're in prehistory in this one. The novel takes place in Thebes just after the Trojan War; Dionysus arrives, in the middle of a drought, and chaos ensues, but in an entirely therapeutic fashion. The main character, Phaidros, is delightful; he mostly outshines Dionysus, but I still enjoyed their romance.

Actual rating 4.5 stars.

The Hymn of Dionysus is wild like the cover, strangling you in the ivy that grows through the pages and grips you by the throat. At the same time, the story burns your patience down until the smoke of the fire suffocates you, and you feel like you’re getting mad, just like Phaidros, the main character.

While reading, I had no clue what I was going to write in this review. I’m not a huge connoisseur of Greek myths and gods, and once again (I always do while reading Natasha Pulley’s books), I read slowly, full of fear I’d miss something relevant, confused because I didn’t understand what was going on, and in awe of the vivid world Natasha Pulley built. .

Even though I did understand the underlying themes from the beginning, it took me almost two-thirds of the book to understand the story itself. I just let the words carry me on their journey through an ancient world, and I waited and waited. Until something finally clicked, and I was internally shouting: You fool! You know this is Natasha Pulley's writing! I couldn’t let go of Phaidros by then, so of course, I read the rest of the story in one sitting.

This story is about duty, about honor, about doing what you’ve been told. About suffering so much that it turns people numb and cruel. But what if there’s another world, too? One where you feel like you can breathe again and just let go? With only a bit of suffering and bursts of joy, and maybe a little madness. Natasha Pulley madness, that is …

Now, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Natasha Pulley's sequel to Valery K, which she apparently wrote, will be the next book she releases. I already said it before: We need that book!

This was wonderful, but I didn’t expect anything less from Natasha Pulley. Beautiful and complex and funny and sad and unflinching. This is what a myth should feel like.

I am a sucker for all things Greek mythology and I will say that I know a lot about each god and Dionysus is one that I feel gets the least love.

This was a wild ride, it was intense, thought provoking and an overall fantastic time for me. This has made me want to read everything I can by Natasha.