Ariadne

A Novel

By: Jennifer Saint

Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik

Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

A mesmerizing debut novel for fans of Madeline Miller's Circe.

Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. But will Ariadne’s decision ensure her happy ending? And what of Phaedra, the beloved younger sister she leaves behind?

Hypnotic, propulsive, and utterly transporting, Jennifer Saint's Ariadne forges a new epic, one that puts the forgotten women of Greek mythology back at the heart of the story, as they strive for a better world.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"Jennifer Saint's Ariadne is a shimmering tapestry of two sisters bound by deceit and the shadows of family history...With a fresh voice and keen insight, Saint adds flesh and bone to an ancient myth, drawing the reader into an uneasy world of ever-afters." (Yangsze Choo, New York Times best-selling author of The Night Tiger)

©2021 Jennifer Saint (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

We've been spoiled for choice

After listening to A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes I said in my review that we've really been spoiled for choice when it came to modern reinterpretations of the Greek myths. I think we owe a lot of this newly discovered passion for Greek mythology to Madeline Miller's flawless works Circe and Song Of Achilles. Since her iconic opus was released we've had feminist interpretations of Briseis, the women of Troy, and even Clytemnestra. We've gotten LGBTQ+ interpretations of Achilles and Patroclus. We even got a three book long comedic take on the entire Greek pantheon by the great Stephen Fry. We've also been fortunate in how consistently great these books have been. Disparate and distinct in their themes and styles but uniformly poignant, well-written, and powerful, Madeline Miller, Pat Barker, Colm Tóibin, Natalie Haynes, and Stephen Fry have all taken some of the western world's oldest and best known myths and said something fresh and relevant with them.
Jennifer Saint continues that work and delivers a solid entry with Ariadne. With a good pace, excellent narrator, and compelling main character, the author kept me invested from word one. While it at times reads like a YA Circe, the sympathetic main character and author's deft writing style make it an easy listen and a powerful story. The author is excellent at character work and I'd be interested in seeing her interpretation of one of the more classicly "villainous" women of Greek mythology like Medea or Medusa. It'll be exciting to see whatever it is she does next but I sincerely hope she sticks with ancient Greece as she has a great grasp on the culture and meaning of the myths themselves while also making the story relevant to today. If you find you've enjoyed Ariadne as much as I have and you're looking for something similar in story and quality definitely check out the aforementioned Circe or Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes, The Silence Of The Girls by Pat Barker, or the Mythos series by Stephen Fry.

Dionysus my love

LOVED IT. If you love Greek mythology in anyway read this book. They include true Greek stories in such a great way

Beautiful, sad story

For fans of Circe and Greek myth, Ariadne is a wonderful retelling with many twists and turns in the labyrinth of her story.

Great Story

I am a big fan of Madeline Miller Circe and Song of Archilles and was excited to listen to this one...it did not dissapoint i would of liked to have seen maybe a bit more of how Ariadne could of helped more woman that came from the 'cult' but other than that very well written!

Read it

I got this for book of the month and devoured it. I was so sad I put it off as long as I did!! amazing! read it!

No Spoilers… Even if it is Actual Ancient History

I was familiar with the initial part of the story set on Crete and the initial part on Naxos, so it took me until chapter 8 to really get into the story. I was also familiar with “The Bacchae” by Euripides (405 BC), which tells of Dionysus and his maenads. But prior to book I has never known, or at least remember, the god of wine’s connection to Ariadne.

I would consider this a lovely story of female empowerment (despite the end fit for any traditional Greek Tragedy), weaving different tales of other women of Greek mythology seamlessly into Ariadne’s. Ariadne is a strong, independent thinker, who is underestimated by several characters throughout the book. But she never ceases to rise to the occasion.

ended too soon!

SPOILERS.
A huge missing part of this myth is D's katabasis to deify Ariadne. :(