This retelling of Eros & Psyche follows the original closely, but with the major difference that Eros is a woman (most of the time, she's fluid in gender too). If you're familiar with the story, the book will be fairly predictable, but the characterization and writing were quite good and engaging, I could finish the book quite fast.

Psyche is a mortal girl who never did well fitting into the mold of a ancient Greek woman and future wife and I like how het relationship with beauty was explored. Psyche was so beautiful men came as suitors purely to see her and claim she's more beautiful than Aphrodite and Psyche is deeply uncomfortable with all this attention.

Eros is the daughter of Aphrodite and sent to punish Psyche because Aphrodite is jealous, but instead falls in love with her. The circumstances of their relationship aren't ideal and I love that this retelling explores how the secrecy really wasn't fair to Psyche.

I also really appreciated the characterization of Aphrodite and Eros's relationship with her. Aphrodite is the antagonist of the original myth, but here she's a complex character and ultimately Eros does want a good relationship with her mother and they have a the two of them against the rest of the gods sort of relationship.

I would recommend this to fans of books like the Song of Achilles and Ariadne who would like to see more sapphic myths.

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC copy.

This book had me grabbed from the blur straight away, but it's going to be a DNF for me. I managed about a quarter of this book, and I've just had to stop. I just found myself bored it started well, but then I felt it was going nowhere ....im gutted as Greek mythology is my go-to....I suppose you can't love every book you pick up.

I was really excited to read a queer retelling of the Eros and Psyche myth. I was disappointed.

I could not stand the writing style. Lyrical writing can be poetic, this was bloated with unnecessary similes and metaphors. The words start to lose meaning.

The dense prose distracts from the utter lack of plot or real character depth.

The author made the baffling decision to have Psyche’s chapters in first person and Eros’ in third person. Eros was the more interesting character, first person would have given more insight into the character.

3.5 stars

Loved most of the book but it just did not have the magical charm I expected.
I still really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to others.

While we all know the story of Psyche and Eros, we as readers may not realise the full impact that there story had on others. A beautiful story about the power of autonomy.

A story of fighting for one’s autonomy among so many uphill battles, Psyche shows so much strength in that journey for true happiness and love. Could Eros give her everything she wanted and more? Or would their palace only become yet another cage with rules that are hard to follow whilst also being authentic to herself?

For me, the mark of a good book is one that I don’t want to put down - and The Palace of Eros by Caro De Robertis was absolutely that. This is the tale of Psyche and Eros, but it’s also the tale of what happens around them - the other lives they touch, and how their stories and interwoven in to the tales of other people, other women, other gods.

As a huge fan of Madeline Miller I was SO excited to read this – and I wasn’t disappointed. This novel is heart-wrenching, hard-hitting, beautifully written, sumptuous, poetic, romantic, and (because Eros is the goddess of desire) utterly scorching in places.

I loved how the author switched between Eros and Psyche’s point of view in this novel, and I personally loved the switch between first person (Psyche) and third person (Eros) as I think that mirrored the distance between Psyche and Eros in the novel, the gap between humans and mortals, and was a perfect mirror to the darkness that conceals and veils their relationship from the prying eyes of vengeful gods (like Zeus! Gosh that was an amazing subplot).

A gorgeous retelling, and one I will no doubt read again!

A big thank you to the author, Netgalley, HarperFiction and Borough Press for my advanced e-copy.

2.5/5 I was all in for a lesbian retelling of Greek mythology, but somehow just couldn't get into the book. I might give it another go a few weeks later, but for the moment, it's a DNF.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

a bold, daring and sensuous retelling of the myth of eros and psyche. beautiful prose with stream of consciousness that follows both the main characters, entangling the reader in their thoughts and internal conflicts. an interesting take on gender and sexuality, with characters unapologetic about who they are or who they want to be.

i was very entertained by this book and will be checking out more books from the author :)

a big thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing this arc!

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC of The Palace of Eros, out in the UK in August! Cantoras is one of my all time favourites and so I had high hopes for this one - which I’m glad to say were met!! I did think this was going to be a perfect, no notes read (the first half was for me), and while it wasn’t flawless, it’s still in my top reads for the year so far and is just such a gorgeous depiction of desire, love and gender fluidity.
.
I’m not at all familiar with Greek mythology, which may be a benefit to me - it meant I could just appreciate this story of Eros and Psyche as it was, without comparisons to the original. In Caro de Robertis’ version, Eros is a nonbinary deity (using various pronouns throughout) and as you may expect in a novel about the goddess of desire, it gets spicy 👀 But it was like, flowery spice - the prose is absolutely gorgeous, all honey and silk and the like. Nothing is generally stated in simple terms but that doesn’t stop the spice.
.
Psyche whisked away from a miserable life being subjected to male desire constantly, apparently bringing shame to her family despite them encouraging the lecherous mens’ behaviour. Aphrodite grows jealous of this mortal woman drawing attention from her, and sends Eros to sort it out. But Eros falls instead, devising a plan to whisk Psyche away to a palace built just for them.
.
In a way my feelings about the book mirrored Psyche’s journey - enraptured at first, but slowly beginning to want more. Eros’ palace promises freedom - all the food and sex and painting and weaving Psyche could desire - but that freedom has its limits, both physical and metaphorical. I want to stress that I did not lose interest, but once the problems started to occur, I was a tad less mesmerised by the story. However, still a lot of good stuff going on, particularly around gender and power and the way women are expected to be passive and shallow, but Psyche realising that she has the capacity to be anything she wants to be. I obviously also loved Eros being nonbinary, refusing to exist in one box or another, as others would prefer, but to exist completely without boundaries.
.
I have seen some other reviewers comment on whether the attitudes of other Greek gods towards Eros was ‘accurate’ in terms of that society, but here my obliviousness about Greek mythology plays in my favour, as such details did not detract from my enjoyment of the story at all.
.
Overall, stunning prose, incredible chemistry, gorgeous characters, just a beauty of a retelling!

A poetic retelling of a sapphic Eros and Psyche, where Eros being gender-fluid felt perfect and truly suited their character. I loved this interpretation of them.

However, I struggled with the depiction of their relationship in the book. Eros and Psyche's bond quickly devolves into a purely physical connection over a few rushed days. This made it difficult to believe their love was anything more than sexual lust. You get very little insight into their true feelings, which is crucial given that the lack of sight plays a significant role in many chapters.

~ ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review ~

3/5 ⭐️

i love that this myth was retold as a sapphic story in this novel because it makes so much sense. i also love the fact that eros and psyche’s story isn’t the only myth retold in this novel and we get to see how these figures influence other stories in mythology, such as, daphne and apollo.

i enjoyed eros’ explanation of what it meant to be gender fluid and how she likened it to another god’s transformation - ‘you don’t have to be male to ravage someone […] when he changes into a swan, eagle, serpent, any animal form, that part of him as far as we know has stayed the same’ .i also LOVE the zeus hate.

‘though she relished each of those forms, neither was the whole of her; she was both of these, she spanned the realms, she held it all’

my main qualm with the prose in this novel was that it felt like it was trying too hard at some points to be profound. there truly was beautiful writing, but at times i felt that my eyes were wandering down the page and skipping parts of the writing because so many unnecessary words were used. that being said there were nuggets of gold in the rubble and some of the narration of eros and psyche’s intimacy was beautiful.

i also liked that eros’ perspective is in third person as it maintains some distance from the reader that mimics the distance between eros and psyche. i would have liked to spend time inside of eros’ head though.

i think with some tightening of the plot (too much time in the palace imo) and of the writing i think this book could have been very amazing, but i have been left slightly disappointed.

2.5
I love Greek mythology and retellings but sadly this just didn't hit the mark for me. It had so much potential but I just didn't connect with the characters so I just didn't particularly care? I did finish it though as I wanted to know what happened and I did really enjoy some aspects so it wasn't a DNF or 1 star.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC.

The Palace of Eros by Caro De Robertis had an interesting premise, with it being a queer retelling of the Greek myth of Psyche and Eros, and the start of the novel was very promising. I enjoyed the way they introduced Psyche and her childhood, and how Eros viewed her at the beginning. I also liked the way the author dealt with Eros' gender fluidity, it fits with the character, and it was a unique conception of the character.

But as the novel went on, it was hard to get through due to the fact that the scenes felt repetitive and it did not feel like much was happening until the very last section of the novel which felt a bit rushed, The relationship between Eros and Psyche felt emotionless, and I did not feel like there was enough development there, and would have liked to see that. I liked the prose for the most part and how lyrical it was but there were sections where it felt too over the top. The relationship between Eros and Aphrodite was interesting and I would say it was my favourite part of the novel.

While this novel had potential and there were parts that I did enjoy reading, most of it felt dragged and I feel like more development is needed.

I expected more from this book and was a bit disappointed when it didn't reach my expectations. I love Greek mythology, so I was quite excited to read a retelling of Eros and Psyche.

It started of quite well and I was hooked, but then, around the middle, it got quite repetitive. It felt like the author had a word count to reach since I felt like I was reading about the same scene over and over again. This made reading the book for me a bit boring. However, I did like the final part even though it was a little rushed.

Another thing I liked was the relationship between Eros and Psyche (thank god, because that's what the book is about). They had a lot of beautifully written scenes, but again, a lot of repetitive scenes.

Overall, I had fun reading this, but it sadly didn't hit the way I thought it would.

Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you Netgallery for this advanced readers copy for an honest review.
The Palace of Eros by Caro De Robertis had some incredible writing in it. From the beginning I was captivated with how poetic it was and loved the idea of this mystical story.

It does sadden me to write this review a little as the idea of a queer Greek mythology retelling sounded incredible.
My issue with this novel, was that the relationship between Eros and Psyche didn’t feel as though it was actually there. At times so many words were said without anything being developed or told properly. I truly believe I would have loved this book so much more if their relationship was more developed and had more emotion in it. I also found that at times there was a severe lack of dialogue which could sometimes make the novel difficult to follow.

Without a doubt Caro De Robertis can create such beautiful writing which is a joy to read but this book just wasn’t really for me.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I was so ready to absolutely love this book. I was so ready to dive into a beautiful Greek mythology retelling that featured a non-binary Eros. I loved the summary, and I was excited!

For the first 80 pages or so, I enjoyed the book. I thought Psyche’s childhood and how she grew up was very well explained. Although I felt the prose was trying just slightly too hard to be lyrical and purple, I was enjoying what I was reading! However, around the 100 page mark, things started falling flat for me. I’m unsure why, but I fear the pose just got too much.

The sentences were wildly run on. There is one where a full paragraph was ONE sentence. There’s also a lot of repetition, almost as if the author was attempting to hit a word count or something!

However, I do want to note that I did finish the book. There are scenes and descriptions that I loved, where the prose wasn’t too purple, and then there were scenes I had to skim because it was far too much.

I do recommend it for fans of Greek mythology retellings. I will recommend it to friends who enjoy those books. But unfortunately this book fell flat for me.

Believe me when I say I so wish I could have liked this more. When I was approved for an e-arc that I requested based on the very basic premise of this novel being a queer sapphic retelling of a Greek myth, I was HOOKED, but this was a disappointment through and through that I’m having trouble finding anything positive to say about it apart from the fact that it exists.

I’m not the biggest Greek Mythology fan out there, I didn’t know the original myth before diving into this novel, but I do know that I will always be here for a queer retelling of ANYTHING. As a queer reader myself, keeping a balance between “I’m just glad this queer story exists no matter how good or bad” and “telling queer stories isn’t an end in itself, they need to accomplish something” isn’t easy. This novel will, for some people, undoubtedly be exactly what they needed and have always looked for, and that’s great, but I wish it had at least been GOOD.

I know taste and enjoyment are subjective, but I buddy-read this with a friend of mine and we were both in agreement that this book is severely lacking in almost every major department, including writing (style), plot, and dialogue.

PSA: I received a digital reader advanced copy of this novel and can’t say what changes this will go through before being published. However, while it’s very likely that small details will change, I don’t think the writing style will.

If there is one thing I will forever do it’s comparing every Greek Mythology retelling to The Song of Achilles. It’s unfair, it’s biased, but I can’t help it. Madeline Miller set a gold standard that many writers will struggle to achieve. However, when comparing De Robertis’s writing to Miller’s, it falls flat on its nose. Where Miller’s prose is just the right shade short of purple, De Robertis’s takes elaborate and flowery to a whole new level. Similes follow metaphors follow too luscious imagery follows hyperboles on every page, constantly, so that the plot itself, the words’ meaning is completely lost, and needs to be uncovered before one attempts to understand it.

There are nuggets of gold to be found, for sure:

“All of time collapses in the immediacy of desire.”

“Those of us who’ve been broken have more shards inside us than we know – and who among us has not been broken, as women in this world?”

Beautiful quotes, no notes!! 💕💘❤️

Other quotes, however, looked like this:

“A chance at everything, I thought, to hear only what’s inside me shouting true, I want to let the rest of the world’s noise dissolve, even if only for one night, I don’t know what I am or who I am but tonight, right now, I know what I want, and so what if the laws of gods and men would slay me for it, who cares, they already tried to slay me and here I am.”

That’s so many words to say nothing. 😩

“She came here on some winged creature through the night sky, she is a woman free to roam the sky, a woman with a palace, a woman whose days are hidden from you, a woman who can do outrageous things to another woman’s body, a woman whose power is mountainous, whose strength is vast, whose charm is boundless, you’d never imagined such a woman could be, yet here she is, and far be it from you to anger her when she’s already given you so much, how could you ask for more, when she has chosen you for this adventure for some inscrutable reason you’ll never understand, just as it’s impossible to understand how this adventure can exist or what the scope of it will be, but there it is, the need to clasp it close and not let go because you want this life she’s offered you, want it with every fiber of your being, yet also want to hold on to your own knowing, however tiny it may be compared to hers.”

no, you didn’t misread, that’s one sentence. ONE effing SENTENCE. And this is not an anomaly. There are several paragraphs in this book consisting of a single sentence covering a good ten or more lines.
The writing was already hard to digest with how densely flowery it was, but this took the cake.

I find that in general, it seemed like the author really enjoyed the sound or flow of their own writing, which I’m usually fine with as long as their words are saying something!!

“I longed for so much that I almost longed for everything, which is a feeling so vast it curves in on itself, toward the start of the circle, where everything becomes nothing, and the longing for everything blurs into longing for nothing, a subsuming in the longing itself, pure, raw, swallowing you whole.”

Like god, I wish I could find something inspirational or true in-between those words, but every time I tried, I got the biggest headaches, I simply stopped trying after a while and was just reading the words, not willing to try to comprehend them.

Aside from the writing, I couldn’t get behind the author’s decision to write Eros’s POV in the third person but Psyche’s POV in the first person. Since Psyche isn’t the most interesting character ever conceived, spending a lot of time immersed in her inner thoughts and feelings became tedious.

Eros, as the non-binary goddess going by she/her pronouns, would have been interesting to explore in 1st-person POV, not only because she is an outsider in the pantheon of gods and goddesses, but also because some of her actions (like not divulging her true identity to Psyche, taking her against her will, keeping her imprisoned in her dream castle etc.) definitely paint her as more of a morally grey than a 100% good person.

Given how even the original myth lacks plot and excitement for the entire time in-between Psyche’s arrival at Eros’s dream castle and Psyche’s leaving the dream castle, you would need to be a darn good writer to not let that part of the story become boring pretty quickly. This is when to use beautiful and flowery writing to fill the space and support a basically non-existent plot.

De Robertis does this well in writing about Psyche’s musings about art and poetry, the beauty of nature, about lust and affection, but even though Eros’s and Psyche’s shared nights are filled with heavy longing and desire that are passionately explored and beautifully expressed, that part of the novel did drag immensely. Psyche spends every day painting and weaving– occasionally superseded by minutes or hours of masturbating – and every night Eros and Psyche make love.

Not only could this segment of the novel have been tightened immensely, but it was also filled with non-sensical dialogue that, to me, didn’t come across as authentic in how two people would converse with each other:

“But there is room for them.
It’s not for them.
It’s all for me?
Yes.
So, then – what you’re saying is, this is my home?
Of course it’s your home.
And what I want matters? You don’t own me?
You already know-
You said it before. But what about now?
How can you say such a thing?
Why won’t you answer?”

I just- OUFF. 🥲

“How will I live through this? How does any creature live? What is alive keeps going. Keeps listening. Watching. Taking the next breath and the next.”
Me when I have to hit my word count for this review. ✍️

“Could this moment be real? What is real? What is the world?”
Me when I have to hit my word count for this review. ✍️

While the story itself is ultimately queer- and non-binary affirming, uplifting, and while it deserves special attention for being a Latin-American own-voices narrative that poses interesting questions about the assumed heteronormativity of Greek myths, the novel comes with a lot of flaws that hindered my enjoyment of it severely.

As always, thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for granting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a queer Eros and Psyche retelling with a nonbinary Eros. This was good the writting is lyrical but it got a bit repetitive. It's also very smutty wich i wasn't expecting

The Palace of Eros by Caro De Roberts

This is one of my favourite reads so far in 2024! I picked this book up because I love stories surrounding Greek Gods and mythology, but this turned out to be so much more than that.

The author sensitively explores many difficult topics; such as gender fluidity, sexism, female desire, jealousy, female sexual shame, gender roles, toxic family relations and many more. These topics were all hard hitting but definitely all added up to make this a story I certainly will not forget for a very long time. There most definitely needs to be trigger warnings for sexual assault, but the author handles these harrowing subjects with overwhelming empathy and sensitivity. This book gives off a very feminist vibe which I really loved; the author clearly is trying to leave a clear message in the reader's mind about the importance of consent, trust and honesty.

De Roberts writes beautifully captivating characters and I thoroughly enjoyed the way we were able to get inside each character's head from a really psychologically informed approach. In particular, watching Psyche's story at the beginning and seeing her experience such terrible trauma's was terrifying but incredibly well written. Being able to dive into Psyche's head and see her spiralling thoughts, her shame, her helplessness and her inner rage was so fascinating, raw and honest. The same can be said for Eros and the underlying storyline between her and Zeus, and the very scary incidents that occur between the two of them. Eros' struggle between family loyalty and following her heart was interesting and difficult to read as, we as readers, could see the toxicity surrounding Eros, her mother (Aphrodite) and the other Gods. I adored the sapphic romance between Eros and Psyche, and also really appreciated the way the author explored gender fluidity through Eros. The author also explored the topic of sexism and gender roles through Psyche's parents, and also through the sisters, who are condemned to miserable lives simply to protect the family honour/image and because the father wishes it. The characters were stunningly crafted, but each of them carried a terrible trauma of some sort with them, which made for a very sad but psychologically fascinating read.

Overall, I adored this book. Caro De Roberts writing is exquisite, and this book makes really hard-hitting critiques about society, prejudices and stereotypes which the many readers can relate to or sympathise with. The story is beautifully sad, but also an incredibly sapphic love story where two women come together against all the odds and threaten the downfall of the Gods just so they can be together without judgement. Uhhh! I cannot tell you how much I loved this, there will never be enough words to describe how much I enjoyed the experience of reading this (and believe me there were many tears involved).

I rated this 5 out of 5 stars. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Caro De Roberts for the ARC