Hera

WOW. Knocked it out of the park. 🤌🏻

They're always asking the muse to sing of the wrath of Achilles, but when it comes to rage he's got nothing on Hera. Two thirds of the way through this book, I'd say it was a toss up between survivor narrative or villain origin story, considering the Olympian levels of toxic relationships going on.

This is the first of the Greek myth retellings I've read where I didn't know where it would go, how it would end, even if I could surmise certain plot beats, but I am so, so pleased with how Saint chose to end it.

It's a little depressing to realize that she had to extend past canon to make a worthwhile ending because Hera's tales really are that dark, discouraging, she is for the most part a thwarted wife and mother who visits vengeance on everyone else because she doesn't have the power to strike directly at Zeus.

As someone familiar with the majority of the incidents depicted, I found it impressive to see the author weave them together into one narrative, but I do worry that those not familiar with the many times Hera finds herself in a no-win situation, will find it a special kind of exhausting to see her encounter what is broadly the same issue, Zeus wins and nothing goes her way, over and over again, before the plot proceeds to anything different.

The ending is worth it to me, because it subverted my expectations and went a different way than I've seen any of these modern retellings go, without truly changing any of the myths we know, but again, if I went into this with less knowledge of her story, I might be frustrated that there wasn't a more cathartic climax to compensate for the torturous tone preceding the ending.

I appreciate that Saint didn't quite aim for reconciliation or resignation, at least not between Hera and Zeus, because that definitely would have read as loving her abuser/accepting her victimization territory.

Part of me is very curious about what Saint does next, because I'm not sure how you top this take on the Olympians as an ensemble cast, the relation to mortals, the ultimate fate of the Olympians, as antiquity slowly fades into a modern view of the world.

I owe the author a lot for finally presenting me with a version of Hera that I don't just sympathize with, but actually enjoy the existence of. I'm a lot happier imagining her where this story ends, and would gladly see more iconoclastic myth retellings.

⚠️SA, misogyny