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Title: The Dark Wife
Author: Sarah Diemer /![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mermaiden
Published: 2011
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 245
Total Page Count: 126,948
Text Number: 369
Read Because: personal enjoyment, gift from my maternal grandparents ($5 says they didn't read the product description)
Review: As Persephone comes of age, she's introduced to the gods of Olympus—and to Zeus, selfish, violent, and powerful. But when she meets Hades—to her surprise, not a god but a goddess—she discovers something new: choice, and freedom. The Dark Wife is a pointed lesbian revision of the Persephone myth, and desperately well-intended; it's also an amateur effort. As such, it's as often good as bad: Hades is compelling and inhuman but vulnerable (and like her, the Underworld is beautifully envisioned); Persephone's inner monologue leans bombastic, but her journey is fueled by self-determination and love. It's exactly the character arc I want, but it's all a bit too good: the morality is simplistic, Persephone's battle for choice is too explicit and grows repetitive, and the romance—although sensual and well-developed—is saccharine. It's good YA, reading swift and easy, containing the best intended messages of character growth, but it wants refinement: tighter editing to bring out the descriptive potential of Diemer's voice, and a story somewhat more oblique so that the good intentions can blossom around the reader than than battering her over the head. As it is, The Dark Wife has all the right components but it rings slightly hollow; I recommend it only moderately.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Sarah Diemer /
mermaidenPublished: 2011
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 245
Total Page Count: 126,948
Text Number: 369
Read Because: personal enjoyment, gift from my maternal grandparents ($5 says they didn't read the product description)
Review: As Persephone comes of age, she's introduced to the gods of Olympus—and to Zeus, selfish, violent, and powerful. But when she meets Hades—to her surprise, not a god but a goddess—she discovers something new: choice, and freedom. The Dark Wife is a pointed lesbian revision of the Persephone myth, and desperately well-intended; it's also an amateur effort. As such, it's as often good as bad: Hades is compelling and inhuman but vulnerable (and like her, the Underworld is beautifully envisioned); Persephone's inner monologue leans bombastic, but her journey is fueled by self-determination and love. It's exactly the character arc I want, but it's all a bit too good: the morality is simplistic, Persephone's battle for choice is too explicit and grows repetitive, and the romance—although sensual and well-developed—is saccharine. It's good YA, reading swift and easy, containing the best intended messages of character growth, but it wants refinement: tighter editing to bring out the descriptive potential of Diemer's voice, and a story somewhat more oblique so that the good intentions can blossom around the reader than than battering her over the head. As it is, The Dark Wife has all the right components but it rings slightly hollow; I recommend it only moderately.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
