DNF @ 55%

As a lover of Ariadne and Elektra this hurts to DNF but the Jennifer spark is missing from this one for me.

I enjoyed learning more about Hera and her story but I wasn’t compelled to keep reading I simply wasn’t interested enough and it honestly does make me a bit sad. Maybe I’ll return to it at some point in the future and have a more positive experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book!

Although I am a real Jennifer Saint fan, unfortunately Hera didn't quite hit the mark for me. I felt the story of Hera was not centred, but more places amongst the rest of the God's.

The tale also felt too long.

A solid tale, but not up there with the rest of her books.

Another retold Greek myth. This time it is Hera’s turn. We meet Hera as a young goddess hidden from her father lest he kill her like her siblings before her. Then we learn of the battle that she fought with Zeus, her other surviving sibling, to over throw her father. Over time she goes from being a confident power sharing goddess to the undermined goddess of wives, whilst being the wive of her adulterous brother. Zeus was not someone you would trust with your daughters. I loved reading Hera’s story but did wonder how you would finish a book about an immortal heroine but Jennifer Saint does this with aplomb.

♡ —actual rating 3.5

a copy of this book was given by netgallery in exchange for a fair review.

i was interested in this book what with my love of greek mythology retellings and i think it did a good job of adding the authors own take to it.

the first part of the book was really good. there were a couple pacing issues but it still kept me interested. i wasnt super happy with the portrayal of aphrodite but i guess thats a personal preference. it felt a little like she was just reduced to ares rude flighty girlfriend and made me a little annoyed.

from the second part it felt almost stilted. the plot just wasn’t moving as quickly as it was being introduced. and it felt like everything was just being regurgitated. i did like the ending though.

I'm very fond of greek retellings and jennifer saint's work in general, Ariadne was one of my top reads in 2021. But this didn't hit like Ariadne did. This book runs into the problem of the otherworldly, immortal character being a bit too otherworldly. Hera is not a character I can sympathise with, I wasn't rooting for her and I found myself pitying her more than anything. This book was 25% failed plots, 25% gods and 50% walking (or flying) around.

The driven young goddess sets out with so many ideals about creating a better life, after having been hidden away from her savage father and his followers. So at times, it was hard reading the steady erosion of those ideals as Hera’s powerbase – initially every bit as powerful as her brother, Zeus – is steadily chipped away by his ruthless machinations.

While the Greek culture was a wonderful flowering of poetry, music, architecture and art – as their myths only too clearly demonstrate, women weren’t regarded highly. I sometimes wonder if the chauvinism hardbaked into our own culture didn’t originate from all those impressionable public schoolboys studying the Classics. Saint keeps the pace up, as Hera increasingly finds herself blocked. I liked the fact that Hera isn’t depicted as some helpless victim at any level. She’s an Olympian goddess with formidable power – and acts like it. We also see another side to the monsters Gaia nurtures, which I really appreciated.

This could have so easily turned into an entirely bleak read. However, I love how Saint winds up the story, so that Hera’s experiences make her stronger and more flexible in the face of what befalls Olympus and all its inhabitants. If you’ve enjoyed other Greek myth retellings, then you’ll enjoy this one. In the meantime, I’ll be tracking down Saint’s other offerings – she’s an accomplished writer, whose vivid characterisation and descriptions held me throughout. Highly recommended. While I obtained an arc of Hera from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

Such a unique take on the character of Hera. Jennifer Saint has always been a success in my eyes when it comes to her retelling Greek myth's from a female perspective, and this book is no exception. This book is also unique in the fact that for the first time, Saint gives us a retelling of a goddess rather than of a human from Greek Mythology.

Hera is a universally vilified character for her actions against others, especially the lovers and illegitimate children of her husband, out of jealousy and vengefulness. Instead, for the first time that I have ever encountered, we see Hera's actions as a response to her own trauma that she faced. Now this is not to say that her actions are entirely justified but this book certainly humanises Hera's responses and actions.

I was impressed by just how much of Hera's history this covered, considering that as an immortal, her history spans the length of the Olympian reign. We see how she is forced into her role as wife to Zeus, Queen of the gods, and how she navigated these roles she did not choose for herself. We see her come to terms with the beginning of humanity, becoming a mother, becoming a grandmother, and more.

I enjoyed the vast array of characters we encounter through this book, and the relationships we witness between them in a way I've not seen before. I was particularly fond of the relationship between Hera and Hestia as sisters.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author, for the chance to read an advanced copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

I am a novice when it comes to Greek Mythology but I found this book particularly absorbing and interesting to read. Hera is force to be reckoned with and her determination to get what she wants is evident ,where males are dominant. Hera is married to Zeus who is a formidable God. We meet his children Ares , Apollo , Artemis to name a few. I loved the monsters in this story , the sea creatures and snakes. Heras jealousy of Zeus and his lovers takes over and she punishes them even though they have no choice but to be with him. I found myself on Wikipedia looking up the various Gods and felt much more educated after reading this absorbing tale. Sometimes it pays off to explore different genres and I throughly enjoyed this

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - A 5 star read, and I would give more if I could.

I’ll be honest here, and I’ll start saying that I might be *slightly* biased due to my unconditional love for Ancient Greece, its myths and its history. However, as someone who grew up asking her grandma all about the Greek gods and their stories instead of just listening to the more conventional fairytales, this doesn’t really come as a surprise, does it?

Nevertheless, it’s fair to say that this book isn’t a mere retelling, this is a theogony in its own right, and it’s all about one of the most misunderstood goddesses of Ancient Greece.

I might risk revealing my age here, but honestly, before reading this book, what came to mind when thinking about Hera was either the comic dominatrix in Little Pollon (a Japanese anime people my age will definitely remember), or the vengeful goddess in Hercules or Xena, two tv series extremely popular in Italy in the early 90s. And even after studying Ancient Greek, together with the Odyssey and the Iliad during high school, I still considered Hera just as “Zeus’ vengeful spouse”.

At last, this goddess found its voice in this incredible work by @jennifer.saint.author

Her power, her rage and her righteousness are perfectly conveyed by Saint’s lyrical, even epic, prose.

Betrayed by her own brother and misunderstood by her entire family, Hera will spend her existence trying to right a wrong she couldn’t believe actually happened, something she knows she didn’t deserve to suffer. Labeled just as “angry”, she is a being made of complex emotions. But her complexity is all human, even if she doesn’t know it, and it’s precisely what is going to save her in the end.

I absolutely loved this book - if you loved Circe by Madeleine Miller and you’re looking for something with the same atmosphere, the same “vibes”, with a strong female character focused on her own empowerment, that’s it, you found it.

Hera is one of my favourite, and most misunderstood Greek goddesses! I enjoyed reading her story from her perspective, and hearing her reactions to all of the drama she had to endure. It was also refreshing to read about her softer, and more caring moments as too often she is villainised as an evil woman.
The only limitation in my opinion is because the story of Hera is so broad, the story often felt rushed on to cover the big hitters in mythology. Overall though, a great read!

I know Hera as an imperious and vengeful queen, full of jealousy and spite. This retelling of her story by Jennifer Saint gives us a different perspective and one that I really enjoyed reading.

We begin at the end of the war between the Titans and Olympians that sees the latter victorious and Zeus, Hera and their siblings installed on Mount Olympus.

‘That it was Hera and Zeus who first formed an alliance against Cronus goes unspoken, but acknowledged. The victory belongs to them most of all. Hera doesn’t want this superseded by anyone else.’

We start to see a few inklings of the jealousy and perhaps fear that Hera is known for, as the deities start to spread their wings and bear children, she is concerned for her position.

‘There are other ways to rule. Sometimes the true power is in the shadows. Someone who stays out of the light, and watches others shrivel and burn in its glare.’

Zeus assumes control, giving roles to his siblings but leaving out Hera, and she is angry. He wants her as his Queen, to strengthen himself.

‘it must be for Hera to break the pattern. To prevent another tyrannical king from crushing everyone…. A world under the rule of benevolent goddesses, instead of power-hungry gods….. perhaps Hera can.’

Hera is Zeus’ Queen but she is not happy about it..

‘A reminder, now and always, that no matter who she was before, in the eyes of the world, she is only his wife.’

It is interesting to see a different side of Hera and where her reputation perhaps comes from. The frustrations of being Zeus’ wife and his abusive actions are laid bare.

‘All she knows is that he leaves a trail of broken women in his wake, and she is the most broken of them all. It makes her dangerous, and he knows it. ‘

She tries to stem the tide of Zeus and his offspring but is thwarted at every turn. She wants to be equal at least, to rule the heavens. I feel for her, it’s a tale of womankind after all. She is rebellious, resilient and powerful and at last takes control of her own destiny. Hers is an ageless story, I’m sure it will be retold many times, I loved this version of Hera, a survivor.

An epic of a book for an epic Greek Goddess. I adore Hera as a mythological character, so I had high hopes for Saint's take on the Queen of the Gods. I feel like it opened strong with a fair minded and modern take on the women scorned through her early years on Olympus. Saint captures a new wilder, free-spirited side to the Goddess who is so much more than Zeus' wife (which I greatly appreciated).

I feel like the pacing greatly slowed towards the end of the novel (perhaps as par the course of the story of the Gods) and I meant I was left wanting more out of Hera's final moments despite the poetic final chapter.

I finished Hera by Jennifer Saint a couple of days ago and am only now managing to sit down and try conclude my feelings for this re-telling. On one hand this story is incredible, the writing powerful and evocative, the battles exciting, and the underhanded, clandestine behaviour of the gods highly entertaining. It is so much more than just the story of Hera, in fact the volume of content could fill several books. But on the other hand, the narrative so closely mirrors stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Homer’s great epics that much of plot could be anticipated and offered nothing new. And so lies the conundrum.

If you are not familiar with Ovid, are you the desired audience, is all that content exciting or overwhelming. And if you are familiar with Ovid, Homer and the Greek playwrights, can you still be entertained by retellings that so closely mirror the path of the original sources? I honestly cannot decide.

Either way it is a confidently written piece of fiction, feminist and provoking. I would love to hear your take on it.


Thank you to the author, @netgalley and @headlinebooks for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Feminist greek mythology retellings are my go to favourites, so when i saw this i HAD to read it
Hera is such a complicated character! I sympathised, pitied and disliked her and wanted to RAGE with her at the same time.

I love Jennifer Saint's books on Greek Mythology. I love hearing about the women in men's stories and them being made their own.

Hera is more than a jealous wife from the stories of Heracles, Apollo and Artemis, the list goes on.

The story is well written, fast paced and full of gorgeous prose, if you've read Jennifer Saint before then you get the perfect Greek retelling that you expect.

I will definitely be purchasing this one to go with the collection!

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for this ARC!

Sorry I found this really difficult to understand the world. Too many characters introduced too quickly for me to be able to picture where everyone fits in

I found this book so interesting and loved that it was from Hera’s point of view. In all mythology she is perceived as a jealous and manipulative goddess but in reality she’s not. She’s put up with Zeus’ infidelity and cruelty just as much as anyone else. I have never personally hated Hera but I know so many do. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a Greek mythology book with hints of fiction. I will definitely be collecting the rest of this series.

**I would advise anyone to read the trigger warnings before reading.

Thank you NetGalley, headline books and the author for sending me this arc.
All opinions are my own.

The goddess of marriage is more than a jealous wife.

A lot of different aspects of Hera are represented in this book, not just that she was a jealous wife. Her reasons for punishing the women who Zeus cheated with come from a very different place. She is insulted by his treatment of herself & the other beings he dallies with/abuses, and enraged by her own position in which she is trapped. As a goddess, her journey to understanding & modifying her own behaviour takes a lot longer than you might expect which can make her a frustrating character, glad I read this exploration of a character from the Greek myths that otherwise I haven’t had much understanding of. Now I have, since the story is from her perspective and usually she is a side player in the myths, giving out punishment with no motive other than jealousy.

I enjoyed this book & earlier books by Jennifer Saint & can’t wait for her next.

This is Jennifer Saint’s fourth foray into the world of Greek mythology, and she continues to demonstrate the strength of her position within this genre. Hera is, in my opinion, a much more dynamic novel than last year’s Atalanta, due, most likely, to the inclusion of various gods and goddesses that maintain the narrative momentum. Thank you to Headline for the arc!! 3.5/5

Absolutely incredible, I don’t know what more I can say.
Anyone who knows anything about Greek mythology will happily tell you the same thing: every god, mortal, monster, creature - absolutely everyone, is a terribly flawed person who does awful things at one point or another, no matter how ‘godly’ they may be. (Perhaps with the exception of precious unproblematic Hestia who’s just hanging out by the hearth bothering nobody). But for some reason Hera gets painted in a worse light than most. She is the jealous one, the irrational one, the judgemental one, the misogynistic one who takes it out on the women instead of taking it out on her husband.

And for this reason this book is so incredibly powerful, cathartic and freeing. It is full of nuance, asks important open ended questions about the way we view and treat women, and explores the grey area of what it means to be a bad person, or rather to be a person who simply does bad things, and how this comes to be.

More importantly this book is just some plain old fun for anyone who is into Greek mythology - I think I’m just the perfect audience for it!

The continuous and cyclic nature of the way it tells its story, starting from the beginning of the reign of the gods until its end (sort of!) and stopping by all the most most well-known myths, is incredibly satisfying. I’ve seen people complain about it and say that the book is too unfocused but I think it was a perfect way of making Hera and her character development the sheer essence of the book. Everything unfolds around her.
It also kept the story fast-paced and makes it utterly delightful to anyone already familiar with the stories, with so many references or re-interpretations of what we already know of love.

I just genuinely really enjoyed my time with this book, and the end was beautiful and poetic and so much more nuanced than a simple ‘good vs evil’ moralistic take on things could ever be.