Daughters of Olympus

May 13, 2024
Lynn (the Grecian Women series) frames this vibrant retelling of the myth of Demeter and Persephone as “the story of a mother’s loss.” After Demeter is raped by her brother Zeus, she gives birth to twins Core and Iacchus. While Iacchus emulates his father’s violence, Core becomes the center of her mother’s world. Zeus again devastates Demeter by killing her mortal lover, Iaison, with a lightning bolt, prompting Demeter to take Core from Olympus to her home on Earth. There, Demeter allows Core to roam freely, leading to her abduction by the love-starved Hades, who’d misinterpreted Core’s friendliness to him during a brief encounter centuries earlier. Lynn impresses with her ability to make her divine characters come across both as impossibly powerful and deeply vulnerable, portraying Demeter’s anguish at the loss of Core, who renames herself Persephone in the underworld, and Core’s despair over being separated from the open air and greenery she’d reveled in. This stands out from the pack of feminist takes on Greek mythology.

Starred review from July 1, 2024
As the daughter of a Titan, Demeter is immortal, but the life of a goddess is brutal and difficult. Raped and impregnated by her younger brother Zeus, Demeter gives birth to twins--a son, Iacchus, and a daughter, Core. After Iacchus dies and Zeus kills her mortal lover, Demeter and Core retreat to Siphnos, an isolated island where Demeter can keep Core safe. But Core longs for independence, and Demeter allows her to leave Siphnos, as long as she promises to return by sunset. A chance encounter sweeps Core into a passionate affair with a Ione, a free-spirited mortal, but relationships between gods and mortals inevitably end. Left vulnerable when Ione dies, Zeus promises Core to Hades. Banished to the underworld, Core is shocked by Hades' gentleness and patience, leading to an understanding and then love. By focusing on Demeter and Core's backstory, Lynn (Queens of Themiscyra, 2024) brings a fresh perspective to the familiar myth of Hades and Persephone. Her writing is full of lush detail and thoughtful explorations of both motherhood and womanhood, and both women's stories are highlighted through alternating perspectives. Lynn is a rising star in the world of mythology-based fiction; suggest this to fans of Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes.

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July 26, 2024

This retelling of well-known Greek myth puts the tale of Demeter and her daughter Persephone into the hands of the women at its center, at the point where Demeter's hero-worship of her brother Zeus brutally ends with his rape of her body and her innocence, resulting in Persephone. Then Zeus offers Persephone to Hades as his kidnapped bride. As Demeter brings endless winter to the world above, Persephone has a chance to take power at the side of Hades--if she is willing to step out from her mother's long shadow and seize that power no matter how it came to be. VERDICT Readers who enjoy mythic retellings, particularly those that tell these familiar stories from a woman-centric perspective, will be thrilled to find this classic myth seen through the eyes of the women at its heart instead of from the point of view of the male gods who barter and imprison them. Those who have flocked to the recent trend in feminist reinterpretations of familiar tales, like Medusa's Sisters by Lauren J.A. Bear and Medea by Eilish Quin, will want to add Lynn's (Queens of Themiscyra) latest to their to-be-read lists.--Marlene Harris

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