Quick Synopsis – Thelia was Proserpina’s handmaiden and when Proserpina is taken by Dis the God of the Underworld, Thelia and her sisters are damned to be monsters on the isle of Scopuli. Centuries pass and Thelia as well as her siren sisters are starting to fade when Thelia takes to the sea.

Luckily, an unfamiliar island appears on the horizon: Roanoke. Posing as a princess arriving on a sailboat filled with riches, Thelia infiltrates the small English colony. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that this place is dangerous, especially for women. Thelia formulates a plan to save her sisters and enact revenge on the violent men she’s come to despise.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Monster -King Princess

Publication Date – Jan. 21, 2025

Content Notes – There is a graphic scene in this book that depicts an almost second term miscarriage. There is a lot of sexism, homophobia, misogyny, and just general violence. There is off page rape and both off page and on page sexual assault.

Spicy Rating – 🌶️🌶️

Overall Rating – ⭐⭐out of 5

Review – Before I start my review, I want to note that there is a graphic on the second page regarding miscarriage. The scene lasts several pages, and I just want other readers who may be sensitive to that kind of thing to be aware.

This book wasn’t for me. I love a good retelling, but to me this was more like taking a myth and growing it, not a true retelling. This book tries to do too much and ends up being really heavy-handed. It’s hard for me to put into words how much I didn’t enjoy reading this. I liked the sapphic love story sort of, but even that I didn’t love. The author is trying to say so much about sexism, classism, and homophobia not just throughout time, but as it relates to current times. To have so much to say about so many topics but completely ignore the massacre of Native Americans by colonists is something else. There is only a brief mention of how the colony got started and that there are natives outside the borders of the village. There is not a single native character. It felt more like erasure than respect for a culture that isn’t the author’s.

Again, this book felt like it was trying so hard to have a message, and it just came across as messy. The women in the story have almost no agency. Even Thalia and her sisters act within the confines of their punishment, never really questioning for centuries. They lure sailors to their death and sacrifice them to Ceres in hopes of abating their punishment. Which I get; in the scheme of a lot of mythology, women are punished for men’s actions. But I wish there would have been more of a feminist twist or any change to the story. Most of the characters’ actions are just in reaction to men’s violence, with the exception of Agnes, who is like the prodigal white woman in power.

This just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.