There was parts of LIES WE SING TO THE SEA that I really enjoyed. Underwood is at her strongest when she’s focused on character relationships outside of romance; I really enjoyed the parts when Leto, Melantho, and Mathias are teaming up to try and break the curse.

However, there are glaring errors that repeatedly pulled me out of the story. These range from basic ones, such as a horse’s coat being described as fur (never done) to Delphi being described as an island (it’s on the mainland) and oil being used in a similar fashion to butter. Characters repeatedly use forks, when they wouldn’t have been a common eating utensil at the time the book is (vaguely) set.

This leads to my three biggest problems with this book:

1) The book is set three to five centuries after the Trojan war, which roughly sets it in the period of the Peloponnesian war between Sparta and Athens, of which other Greek states were dragged into. At this time, it would have not been safe for anyone from Athens to travel by ship, and Ithaca itself would have at least been aware of the conflict.

2) At the time this book was set, Athens is a (rather famous, even for then contemporary times, as it was considered a great experiment) democracy. It has no monarchy, for centuries by the point when the book is set. Not only would it have been unsafe for an Athenian princess to travel to Ithaca by sea, there would be NO Athenian princess or royal family. The story has roots in Greek mythology, but these are real events that we know happened.

3) People are named after the gods or godly associations: Selene, Hecate, Leto, and Olympia, for example. This makes no sense considering how the Greek gods are generally depicted, particularly in how involved they can be in mortal lives. Naming your child after a god is like shining a(n unwelcome) flashlight upon them. None of the characters have any resemblance or link to the gods they’re named after. Mathias is also named with Christian connotations, which feel jarring for an Ithacan prince.

Underwood shows a lot of promise, but I wish more care had been taken with this book. Historical fiction always takes creative liberties, but these should have been addressed in an author’s note, especially details that directly go against well known historical details or events.

I didn't get around to reading this book after seeing quite a few negative reviews about it and questions regarding cultural appropriation.

to be honest I'm tired of Greek retellings that's written with Madeline Miller-esque style. Since this one is for YA, I really thought it would be different and refreshing. But after finding out that it's apparently felt like that I immediately lost my interest, never mind the plot

I kept putting this one off to the point that when I've now decided to read it it's archived and no longer on my kindle...my bad.

Will pick up a physical copy in the future!


Sorry!

Prepare yourself for a rollercoaster of emotions. Sarah Underwood has woven a truly beautiful tale, inspired by the myth of Penelope and her 12 maids. Lies We Sing to the Sea is packed with a will to break a curse, love, heartbreak and hope.

I can’t say much about this tale without going into spoilers but the way Sarah moves the plot along whilst also ensuring each of her characters inner struggles are explored is wonderful. But be warned, the ending may break your heart.

Lies We Sing To The Sea is a lyrical masterpiece Underwood should be proud to call a Debut. In this retelling of the Twelve Hanged Maids from Homer's Odessey, we finally get to put names, faces and justice to the women who were so heavily ignored and undermined in the iconic historical text. I loved the colourful characters and LGBT representation throughout the book, even the heartbreak it caused me. I would say it is helpful to know who the characters are before you read it, but this isn't a requirement, just makes it more understandable and exciting. I'm not a huge fan of retellings unless they fall into this sort of genre where we pull out a minute character that I need more information on, and this book does that incredibly well.

This book was pretty good, the characters were all pretty interesting and getting to view points from each of them was great and helped in understanding the thought behind some of the actions taken by characters, but also on the other hand made it confusing on the way Leto acted sometimes in the story when she interacted with each of the other two main characters.

The storyline is a really interesting concept and takes the tale of the 12 Maidens and brings them to the forefront while also adding in a curse which just makes it’s even me interesting and had me invested in finding out if there was other ways to break the curse - and finding out THE other way and how to book ended was beautifully done but I do wish we got just a little extra to see how things in the world were after it all went down.

Overall an enjoyable read but a few too many little things that bugged me to give it a higher rating

I cried at this and when I say cried I mean I properly sobbed it hurt me in every single way and you know what? I loved every single second of this book I cannot wait to see what else the author writes in future!!

An interesting premise with a lot of well known mythologies thrown into the mix, but something was missing for me. Found the Odyssey-retelling angle misleading as it's what happens in The Odyssey's aftermath.

Thankyou to NetGalley and Farshore, Electric Monkey for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm relatively new to Greek Mythology books but i found that this was very easy to get into and to understand.
I really enjoyed the characters and due to having 3 POV and short chapters it ended up being a really fast read.
The beginning was by far my favourite part. The set up of the story and explanation of what had happened and how to solve it was done really well.

I did find that the middle had a little bit of a lull, not a lot happened and it felt a little like immature bickering between the characters.

I had a lot of love for one of the POV and because of this the ending really gutted me... i almost wanted a "they lived happily ever after" but naturally this is a Greek tragedy and the ending makes total sense... i did cry though!

I love retellings, especially when, as with this book, I don't know much about the original story as it makes me want to learn more. I really enjoyed it

LIES WE SING TO THE SEA is a fun (tragic) Greek mythology inspired tale of a desperate attempt to end an ancient curse by people who aren't quite sure if they can bear the cost.

This book is most certainly not a retelling. It takes ideas from Greek mythology, concepts that are common all over the place, and plays with them. In particular, it takes the gods' pettiness in Greek mythology, the way they want to punish for small crimes with disproportionate anger (and yet always hurt the innocent), and how the fall out is nearly always on the women. From these, a story is created.

Yes, it is scaffolded from the idea of the maids of Penelope, hanged for being "sullied" after sexual violence, but it is not retelling the Odyssey - or even the return of Odysseus, like ITHACA does. This is set years later, when the full truth of what happened has been forgotten and all that's left is suffering.

The book is narrated by Leto, Mathias (the prince), and Melantho. Leto has the most page time but I really liked getting into Mathias' head. Given the story calls for Leto to feel attraction to both, seeing that he wasn't totally OK and merrily going along with the murders helped there. He is trying to stop it - albeit it late and floundering in the dark.

It did feel like there was not much forward momentum plotwise during the book. Like they don't do much in terms of actually progressing towards their goals for much of it - just attraction and vibes and not killing Mathias when they have very good opportunities for… reasons? It was a fun read overall, but it did feel like there was a lot of not much happening at times.

One thing I was very pleased about was the ending - I thought it might end all happily, but it didn't, and I liked that. The entire story and world is built around cost and suffering, and so a sad ending fits that much better. It's the bittersweet sort of sad, where there is hope for the future, but the characters aren't going to get that in the way they were expecting. Also, I like a tragedy.

I quite enjoyed this book and was shocked to read other reviews and see that there is a small storm of discontent related to it.
Firstly, this is not the Penelopiad and that book is a beautiful example of a modern book using the Greek mythology as a jumping off point. This thought is young adult fiction so is much more simplistic but nonetheless still a really enjoyable read.
Leto is a great protagonist. Smart, strong willed and loyal and Mathias and Melantho were well drawn and interesting. I loved the burgeoning sexuality in Leto and Melantho’s storyline but it did worry me when Leto later also falls for Mathias that the author was straying into the hackneyed old stereotype of the bisexual character always being unfaithful and feeling entitled to sleep with both men and women at the same time regardless of what those other partners think. This does no favours to the bi/pan community and in a world where most young people are pretty switched on to these old tropes it could potentially turn off readers from this authors work.

The beginning of the book did feel a little slow but soon built and by the end was quite the page turner. The ending was beautiful, simple and complete with even the very earth reacting to the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Bumping this up slightly from a 3.5 to a 4 to counteract some of the negative criticism, I'm aware of the controversy surrounding this book, which seems to have been driven by a comment the author made during writing her first draft about not having read the Odyssey at that point in time (Underwood apparently later clarified that by the time the book was finished she had read multiple translations). The amount of people giving a one-star review without thoroughly researching this or having read the book itself is just frustrating. The book itself is only loosely based on the Odyssey and only features one character who appears in a minor role in the original text.

As for the book itself, in a market saturated by feminist Greek mythology retellings, this does stand out slightly as being a different interpretation rather than a straight retelling. I liked the general concept behind the story, and while the characters were slightly two-dimensional, I did enjoy the narrative. The ending in particular was satisfying.

"A reclamation of a story from thousands of years ago,", this is part of the blurb.
I never invoke the cultural-appropriation but I found this phrase disturbing as I come from a Mediterranean country and Ithaca is not far from my country and I think that a very ancient a complex story cannot be reclaimed as this one belongs to humanity.
That said let's forget Homer and Odissey and let's forget Margaret Atwood's Penelopliad, this is a romantic fantasy set in ancient Greece.
A nice YA romantic fantasy, not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

This clever reimagining kept me guessing until the very end.

When Odysseus eventually returned from Troy, twelve slave girls received brutal punishment at the hands of his son. But one girl wasn't willing to go without a fight, and the curse she enacts on Ithaca will cause thousands more deaths, for generations to come. To end the killings, twelve princes must first die in Poseidon's watery domain, at the hands of the girls they sentenced to death.

Lies We Sing to the Sea is a story of a brutal curse and unthinkable sacrifice. I always love a Greek retelling, and I liked that this was something a bit different - it was less a retelling, more a loosely linked sequel, taking a small feature from the very end of the Odyssey and turning it into a story of its own. I am especially interested in Greek retellings at the moment and will be reading a lot of them over the next few months, so expect a lot more reviews to come! I have just started reading Herc by Phoenicia Rogerson which is completely different to Lies We Sing, but just as exciting and engaging.

If you like Greek reimaginings, complicated love-triangles, and stories following multiple, conflicting protagonists, you will really enjoy this novel.

I sadly wasn't the biggest fan of Lies We Sing to the Sea.
I found the characters a little dull and the writing was just okay.
This was not a bad book so I do think some people will enjoy it.
Sadly I wasn't one of those people.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

On the Island of Ithaca, twelve girls are chosen by Poseidon each year to be sacrificed, and this year Leto is one of them. Her defiance doesn't save her, but the sea does, delivering her to the beautiful Melantho. Together they work to break the curse on Ithaca, hoping to spare other innocents from Leto's fate.

I really enjoyed this book, which I thought was brilliantly written and had a fantastic plot. I had no idea who I was rooting for throughout the book, and the ending was phenomenal. Definitely one to pick up!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

didn’t really like it. The characters were flat- one being too goody two shoes, the other one a selfish jealous person who could not think of anything else. Nothing about the story was particularly interesting and I didn’t care much for what happened so yeah. Maybe a good story to those who like Greek Mythology vibes but not really well written

To elaborate:
Melantho was so annoying and always moody. Jealous about Leto flirting with Mathias even though she was telling Leto to seduce him in the first place?? Everything was so convenient, especially the ending. It was too easy. Like he was just happy to go through with it?? The relationships seemed so fake as if Leto was just fancying whoever in the moment. I did like Mathias but he didn’t have much depth either.

And what actually happened to Leto’s mother was completely brushed aside??? She was agonising over what happened to her and then discovered she was basically chained and starved to death and NO REACTION after that. Just oh noooo I have to kill Mathias what do I doooo

This is a novel loosely based on certain events in the Odyssey, not an Odyssey retelling as many have stated. Should the author have actually read the Odyssey? Of course she should. You can't write a book based on something like Greek mythology without reading the actual myth itself. However, I'm not going to turn this review into an attack on a young author who has made a mistake at the start of her career. I almost didn't read this after looking at the reviews online, but I'm seriously glad I did.
I am a sucker for a Greek myth and I love all the new imaginings and view points. Lies we sing to the sea is the story of Leto, who centuries after Odysseus returns to Ithaca, is one of the 12 chosen girls due to be sacrificed in order to appease Poseidon and the curse placed on the island by Melantho.
I adored the three main characters and the way their stories intertwined. It was refreshing to see a main male character who was good and kind.
I felt this was a strong novel and instead of attacking a young author and trying to shut her down, more effort should be made to help educate. I'm pretty sure she knows she's messed up. The novel itself was a wonderful read, well written and had me sobbing by the end.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc in return for an honest review.