Ariadne

A Novel

By: Jennifer Saint

Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik

Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

"An elegant performance by narrator Barrie Kreinik recounts the life of Ariadne...This production, with its outstanding narration, makes the classic story new again. Kreinik is the perfect voice for Ariadne, a noble young woman who bravely stands up for her values." (AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner)

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.

Disappointed.

Perhaps I have been spoiled by the research and writing of Madeline Miller's Circe and Song of Achilles. However, the writing was not nearly as strong and the reading was not personal enough - too stagey. I can't tell which caused which. Regardless, I was hoping for something as emotional and artistic as Miller's work and I did not get it.

Good but left me disappointed

So I absolutely LOVED Madeline Miller’s books, Song of Achilles and Circe. Both were so well-written and enthralling that I sought to find similar books since those are the author’s only two books out. Ariadne sounded very promising and I did enjoy it ….but I would’ve liked more romance for one. I was so excited for Ariadne to finally get with Dionysus and it was just like “and we got married” blah, blah

It was more like “this happened then this happened etc” I wanted to know what was it like to kiss and be with a god??
Seemed like a lot of male-bashing going on and it just got boring to hear it after a while.
Another thing was the ending…in the myth I’m familiar with, Dionysus gets Semele and Ariadne from the Underworld and takes them to Mount Olympus. I think the narrator did a great job, especially with Phaedra

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

Real Housewives of Ancient Greek Mythology

I really enjoyed this book. I didn’t think I would because as I was getting through the book I knew what was going to happen but the drama! Loved it! I really wish it had a better ending but all of these stories just always have a tragic end somehow.

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.

Either follow the myth or don’t

The author picks and chooses which part of the myth she follows which is frustrating. It’s marketed as a book about feminism but there is nothing feminist about this book or the characters.

There is a lot forced emotional conflict and a lot of the time the book fell flat. There were instances that didn’t require detail that got whole pages (like descriptions of the weather or the scenery) while there are more important themes or situations that were so vague and hardly received a sentence.

Don’t read expecting Circe level novel

While good this book is NOTHING compared to Circe in story prose relatability or meaningfulness. It appears to attempt to rewrite parts of Circe or make it its “own” while clearly trying to copy the hype regarding Circe. Huge disappointment

Lost Me In the Middle

The beginning and end was a joy to read. I had trouble keeping interest in the late stages of the book. Overall a good read.

Disappointing

This book was extremely disappointing. It was incredibly moralistic, Ariadne had almost no character, and the characters come off as stupid. I don’t recommend it.