Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron for providing an advanced copy on exchange for an honest review. Ultimately, ARIADNE would have benefited from a dual narrative (a la The Lost Apothecary) or the addition of a third focal character (Pasiphae seems an obvious choice, and there’s certainly enough material there). Saint’s writing certainly isn’t at fault this is just a case of thin source material and, I suspect, an unwillingness to depart from it for the sake of better storytelling. I was powerfully tempted to Google what happened to Ariadne and be done with it. While the first 20-or-so chapters of ARIADNE offer excellent balance between narrative interiority and external action, the latter half of the book is slow and plodding, and relies overmuch on Phaedra and Ariadne thinking their thoughts and feeling their feelings.
While both writers share a concept – Greek myth, but with the rich interiority of a novel – Saint chose to focus on a character whose canonical presence in Greek myth doesn’t provide sufficient opportunities for plot production. Jennifer Saint’s debut shows a lot of promise, but comparisons to Madeline Miller will harm this book more than help find its readership. Saint knows exactly when and where to linger in her scenes to capitalize on the emotion therein. Ariadne / Jennifer Saint / eBook ARC / pub date: / Flatiron Books (US) /fiction (adult) The prose is gorgeous from start to finish, and the alternating first-person POVs between the two sisters invites a sense of intimacy.
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