Myth lost in the novelization

I appear to be in the minority who was not blown away by this book, but y’know, the world takes all types. It’s not that I didn’t like the book, it’s just that I somehow found it a little bit forgettable. I’ve got a soft spot for ancient mythology and the way that somehow nothing and everything makes sense, and by filling in the holes it lost some of the magic. Which is hilarious, in a book about a witch (or goddess of magic, however you want to tell it).

See? Isn’t it better when it’s everything and makes no sense?

Also, I do apologize, because I realize more and more that my reviews have little to do directly with the books themselves and are much more about my reactions to them, which really tell you nothing but my own mindset. I don’t always articulate why I do or do not like something. Maybe I wrote too many papers in school and it all got wrung out of me.

On paper, I’m a great candidate for reading this book. I’m currently 20+ hours into Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and LOVING it and, again, I’ve always had a soft spot for ancient mythology. I had a copy of D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths when I was a kid and I think a few pages fell it out it was reread so many times. The idea of reading a developed story of one of the teeny tiny branches? Totally hooked.

Man, that was a way bigger page in my memory.

And I am here for the feminist retelling! I loved seeing this minor character in Greek mythology who got a little bit bigger in The Odyssey fully becoming her own character with her own motivations. At least I think she had motivations. They mostly seemed to be “exist”. And then “protect my child”. Fleshing out the idea that Odysseus was kind of a jackass? Love it. Penelope getting even the tiniest bit of her own story? YAS. The rest? I wasn’t sad to be done.