Lies we sing to the sea is now one of my favourite greek mythology retellings. I loved every moment of this book!! The book follows Leto one of the twelve girls condemned to death that spring, but death isn’t what she thought it would be when she wakes up she is met by a girl who can control the sea called Melantho. There is one way Leto can stop hundreds of girls from being killed to kill the prince of Ithaca. This book was so beautifully written and I kept wanting to read more!!! This book is perfect for fans of greek mythology and is a brilliant retelling!!!

5 stars

*I will also post my review onto instagram closer to the release date and then adda link to this review

A passable teen novel set in Ancient Greece. Don't go in expecting this to be like reading Pat Barker or Madeleine Miller; this is YA fantasy not high brow literary fiction. The actual relation to Greek mythology is much less I expected and I think this is largely down to how the author and publisher have marketed the book, placing far too much emphasis on how it links to The Odyssey. Obviously there has been some controversy around that and the author, but putting that aside on the whole its fine to read. It reminded me a lot of classic YA stories from the 2000s and 2010s like Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc.

I've been putting off writing this review because there's a lot of factors to consider and I'm overwhelmed. I keep fluctuating between 2 and 3 stars so I'll give my reasoning for both, I suppose.

3 stars- this does not factor in anything outside the book or any interviews the author has given. This is based solely on the content itself. Firstly, I did finish the book, but I had to push myself to get there. I was at around page 230 thinking "whew, at least it's gonna end soon. That wasn't so bad." Dear readers, it did not end soon. it took another 200 pages. I almost DNFed it at that point. There just wasn't anything happening and I was so bored.

The characters were a bit flat to me, but not so bad that I hated them. Also I've already forgotten everyone's names. The backstories were sorta blah and throughout I didn't get much passion from everyone. Also, I hate love triangles and this was one of the worst. Why was it there? Why was it so weird?

My main positive is that it's sapphic (which is why I read it in the first place), but it's not a particularly good sapphic story... Again, I got no passion. But maybe if I was 13 and coming off reading Percy Jackson I would like it. Scratch that- if I was 13 and not coming off PJ, because those books have a lot more action.

2 stars- this reasoning is probably obvious by now. Of course, all the previous reasons can bring it pretty low but Underwood's weird interview is also why. She didn't read the Odyssey and said there's not good Greek-themed YA or sapphic YA or something like that, both of which are red flags.

Part of me in confused because this book is NOT an Odyssey retelling. I don't know why she's saying it is? At best, it's a loose fanfiction. In which case, I don't think it's as big a deal that Underwood didn't read the Odyssey. There's tons of Lord of the Rings fanficy stuff (dungeons and dragons, etc) that people can make and enjoy without reading the series. Although this book doesn't read as well as a good fanfic, I just don't see it being an Odyssey retelling at all and I think that's really weird to claim of it.

On the other hand, Underwood was pretty disrespectful of the Odyssey and Greek myths in general when she really didn't have to say anything about it at all. A lot of the things she said did show a lack of research not just in Greek history but literature and current publishing trends in general.

I personally don't care enough to go in hard with condemning her for all that, but I also didn't enjoy or care about this book enough to defend it, so, do with that what you will. I usually give 3 stars to books I could at least finish, but I don't know with this one cause I really almost didn't finish... if you see me editing this review from 2-3 stars every other day, no you didn't.

Lies We Sing to the Sea is a young adult novel based on Greek Mythology. The story is told in third person from three POV's of Leto, Mathias and Melantho. In Ithaca during spring twelve maidens are sentenced to die, This is what Poseidon demands due to Penelope's twelve maids. This fate comes for Leto but she wakes next to a girl called Melantho but the Prince of Ithaca, Mathias must die. I liked the idea of this and the cover is gorgeous and definitely played a part in me wanting to read this book. The writing is technically good and it flows well. The chapters aren't too long either so the story is easy to fly through. The book also has LGBT elements which is obviously great because representation is really important. However, I didn't really have a good time with this. This has been compared to Madeline Miller and I don't agree with that comparison at all. There was some controversy with this author as they said they hadn't read The Odyssey before writing this book. I knew of this issue but still wanted to give this book a go and I went into it with an open mind. However, it is obvious the author hasn't read the Odyssey because this book doesn't feel well researched at all. It feels as if the Greek names like Ithaca and Poseidon were just shoved into this book. I never felt as if I was in ancient Greece like I have done in Jennifer Saint and Madeline Miller's books. I don't think this should be marketed as a Greek mythology retelling because it isn't one. You cannot write a retelling without first reading the source material. The romance came out of nowhere and wasn't built up well. It just felt shoved in. This also felt very childish and I won't be reading any more young adult retellings because they just don't do the mythology justice. There was no real stakes and I never felt any true danger even when the bad things happened. I skimmed some parts, it was boring, dull and flat. There was no passion or drive. I really can't recommend this, I suggest reading The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood instead.