Early Reader Review: Lies we Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

Source: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood  
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date:  March 7, 2023

 

Format: Ebook


Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

Each spring, Ithaca condemns twelve maidens to the noose. This is the price vengeful Poseidon demands for the lives of Queen Penelope’s twelve maids, hanged and cast into the depths centuries ago.

But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand.

The prince of Ithaca must die—or the tides of fate will drown them all.

Sarah Underwood weaves an epic tapestry of lies, love, and tragedy, perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Alexandra Bracken, and Renée Ahdieh.

Review: 

Lies We Sing to the Sea is a retelling/story of the twelve maids of Penelope from the Odyssey/Iliad. We follow a girl named Leto who is doomed to die for a curse on Ithaca. Every year 12 girls are killed and given to Poseidon so that he doesn't flood Ithaca, and this has been happening for as long as everyone can remember. Leto is strong and determined and puts up a fight to not be doomed to this fate, but sadly it comes for her. 

So the story follows a few POVs - Leto, the prince of Ithaca Mathias, and another 'maid' Melantho. Leto and Melantho are working together to try to kill the prince to end the curse for Ithaca, and all of the characters have secrets. 

I wanted to love this book. I love Greek mythology and really enjoyed reading the Odyssey in school when I read it a long time ago, but the story felt ...off... as a retelling. There was not much there of the Odyssey. I understand that the story focused on the maids which are only briefly mentioned but still. Then after completing the read, I saw an interview with the author in which she notes that she didn't read the originals in their entirety... and now it made more sense. I felt like the book was lacking the strong epic storytelling of a Greek myth retelling... I didn't need it to actually be an epic, or in verse, but as a telling of a Greek tale, even as a retelling, it was rough in that respect. 

So what I liked - There were many elements of myth (more generally) included. The Sapphic romance was a win, I liked the relationship Leto and Melanthos shared and its progression. And the character growth was well done. There was a lot of learning and adapting that everyone had to do to get to the ending. I found the overall story ok. The plot was convoluted at points and boring at others, and while I think it lends to the story well to have the 3 POVs, I think that at times one of them was very boring (Mathias). I disliked the pacing of the second half of the book, it was slow... I wanted to put it down, and at times I felt like I wanted to skim just to push through... I read it all though. 

I think that this story has a lot of good qualities, if you don't think of it as a retelling, I think you will set yourself up better than I did for expectations. The characters were good ones and had a lot of promise and I was rooting for them all pretty equally at times, so that is a win. Overall if you are looking for an interesting story with some mythological elements, this might be a good one for you.