📖 Blog Tour ~ Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

  

 📖 Delighted to host today's stop on this blog tour 📖

Wildfire Books
29 April 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and to RandomThings Tours for my invitation to the blog tour

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur - Minos's greatest shame and Ariadne's brother - demands blood every year.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods - drawing their attention can cost you everything.

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's ambition?

Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. 

📖 My Thoughts..

What a fascinating story this turned out to be ! 

I started reading Ariadne with some trepidation as the ancient myths and legends of Greece are not something that I am overly familiar with and whilst I had a smattering of knowledge about King Minos of Crete and the legendary Minotaur, I had no idea of his creation as the son of Queen Pasiphaë, or his fate at the hands of Theseus of Athens.

Ariadne is the daughter of King Minos and is considered to be little more than a pawn in her father's ambition. When Theseus arrives as part of the annual consignment of sacrifice to the Minotaur everything about Ariadne and her world falls gloriously apart. Forced to flee, Ariadne is abandoned on the Greek island of Naxos where she comes into contact with the God Dionysus and the course of her life changes forever.

Making the ancient Greek world accessible in such an enjoyable way is no mean feat, and all credit to the author for making this story of Ariadne, Princess of Crete, into such a fascinating study between good and evil, love and loss, sibling rivalry and ultimately, male dominance in an Alpha male world. I especially enjoyed Ariadne's life on Naxos, her relationship with Dionysus is done in a thoughtful way, which brings the frenzied nature of this charismatic God of the harvest, wine-making and fertility to life in a vibrant and exciting way. It was interesting to discover the association of the Maenads, Dionysus' lady followers, who are often inspired into a state of ecstatic frenzy by Dionysus, hence the term frenzied Maenad.

The story of Ariadne is based on what is known in mythology about this classical princess and it rejuvenates the story for a new audience of readers to enjoy, and even if, like me, your knowledge of the ancient world of Gods and Goddesses is painfully lacking there is still much to enjoy in this fascinating journey into the myths and legends of Ancient Greece. 

About the Author 

Due to a lifelong fascination with Ancient Greek mythology, Jennifer Saint read Classical Studies at King’s College, London. She spent the next thirteen years as an English teacher, sharing a love of literature and creative writing with her students. ARIADNE is her first novel and she is working on another retelling of ancient myth for her second.

Twitter @jennysaint #Ariadne

@Wildfirebks @headlinepg

@RandomTTours

A very Happy Publication Day to Scorpions in Corinth by J M Alvey..

✨✨Happy Publication Day✨✨

Published by Orion on 5th September 2019, paperback original, £8.99. Also available in eBook. 

Orion
5th September

My thanks to the publishers for the opportunity to share this information

Popular playwright Philocles and his actors are hired to take his latest play to Corinth, to promote goodwill between the two cities. But on arrival, their guide and fixer Eumelos drops dead - a victim of poison. 

Philocles is convinced someone is out to sabotage the play, and to find out who - and why - he must first uncover the murderer. 

But in Corinth the ruling oligarchs seem more interested in commerce than justice. And with the city's religious brotherhoods pursuing their own vicious rivalries, asking the wrong questions could get an outsider like Philocles killed . . .

About the Author

J M Alvey studied Classics at Oxford in the 1980s. As an undergraduate, notable achievements in startling tutors included citing the comedic principles of Benny Hill in a paper on Aristophanes and using military war-gaming rules to analyse and explain apparent contradictions in historic accounts of the Battle of Thermopylae. Crime fiction was always relaxation reading and that love of mysteries and thrillers continued through a subsequent, varied career, alongside an abiding fascination with history and the ancient world. These interests have all now come together in the first adventure of Philocles Hestaiou, comic playwright and pen for hire in classical Athens.

Twitter @AlveyAuthor

@Orionbooks

Review ~ The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault

Virago
(VMC 640)
August 2015

Ancient Greek history has never been something that I have felt comfortable with, due, I suppose to my education in this area of history being sorely lacking. My high school wasn't the sort of place where the classics sat comfortably, so perhaps the fault is that I never grew to understand the pull of ancient mythology at an age where I might have soaked up it with rather more interest.

So, when offered the chance to read this reissued book by Mary Renault, originally published in 1956, I started with an open mind, after all the introduction to the novel, tells me that Mary is an exceptional story-teller, and to some extent I would agree with that statement,  she certainly does have the ability to weave a tale around the ancient world. She paints her characters with a yearning passion and her vivacity for the world she recreates, is evident in the way she controls the story. She doesn't shy away from portraying the intricacies and subtle nuances of history and graciously allows her characters enough space to tell their own story.

I'm not going to lie and say that I found this book riveting, because I didn't. In fact, in places it was hard going, but by the end of the novel, and I have to admit that I skim read my way through a lot of it, my opinion remains that classical history is something I still find really difficult to totally enjoy.

And yet,undoubtedly there are readers who love Mary Renault's books and I am sure that they will be delighted that they are being reissued as modern classics by Virago. 

Best read with copious cups of strong tea and an entire packet of chocolate hobnobs.

About the author

My thanks to the Curtis Brown Book Club and Virago for the opportunity to read and discuss this novel.

~***~

Reviews ~ Tim Leach (Atlantic Books)

Atlantic Books - 2014

The Last King of Lydia ~ Tim Leach

This interesting historical novel takes the mythological story of King Croesus, one time ruler of Lydia, who after his defeat by the Persians in the 6th century B.C faces death by execution. Reprieved at the last minute by Cyrus, the Persian King, to whom Croesus becomes a slave, allows a glimpse into a mythological world which abounds with treachery and deceit on a grand scale.

Lyrical and poetic, the narrative is peppered with fine observations, and the reworking of the tale of Herodotus about the search for true happiness is sensitively and intelligently explored in fine detail.

The author clearly understands this topic and writes with great authority about a subject of which I know very little. Throughout the novel there is fine attention to detail, however, for ease of understanding, I discovered that this novel was easier to read in short bursts as there is much to take in, both in terms of the history and mythology, and also in the author’s distinct style of writing.

Shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2013.

Atlantic Books - 2014

The King and the Slave ~ Tim Leach

This book starts ten years after the fall of Babylon and King Cyrus is on the march again. His slave, Croesus, once king of Lydia, is no longer a young man, but he continues to support his king and Cyrus's heir, Cambyses. When Cyrus is defeated and killed in battle, Croesus attempts to guide the new king with disastrous results as Cambyses is every bit his father's son but without the essence of mercy.

This is a continuation of the author's first book  The Last King of Lydia and continues the theme of mixing ancient mythology with a more modern rendition of historical fiction.

If I'm honest, I preferred The last King of Lydia, to this one which I felt was rather hard going in places. However, if you enjoy classical history then do give these stories a try.

My thanks to Atlantic Books for my copies of these books.

About the Author

~****~