Daughter of Darkness is NOT marketed as a retelling of any kind. It is so utterly important to point out that the blurb states the story is "inspired by the mythology of ancient Greece". Therefore, you can not learn any real mythology from this book, which is completely okay. In fact, I love when books market themselves in this way because readers are informed that the book is not educational. So the authors of Daughter Of Darkness get a momentary round of applause from me for this alone.
Despite not being able to learn any real myths from this book, we do get a bunch of fun storylines, settings, and characters taken from Ancient Greek literature. The Orpheus and Eurydice myth is used as a base from which the story can spring from, the various realms of the Underworld are given a whole new spin on them, and even gods like Hades and Thanatos made an appearance. However, there were elements to this story I just did not enjoy, possibly because I'm a classicist and simply couldn't wrap my head around them. It seemed like every time one of my internal questions was addressed, I ended up with 3 new ones. For example, Hades appears to be some kind of shape-shifter in this book. I actually don't mind this on its own, but I struggled after this new godly quality was introduced due to its lack of explanation. Why is Hades a shape-shifter? Why would the god need this power? Aside from turning into a mouse (a little anecdote we are given at one point in the novel), when would Hades need this power and what would the god use it for? I felt as though this detail (in particular) was lacking a lot of exploration that the story could have benefitted from. Also, where was Persephone? And if Thanatos and Charon are in the Underworld, where is Hecate? She is mentioned in the book a few times but doesn't make an appearance, which I thought was odd. I obviously have more grievances along these lines, but we'll be here all day if I decide to mention them all ... but you get the picture though.
I gave this book only one star because even though it's correctly marketed and does have some fun mythology shoutouts, I felt as though there was something missing. Yes, there was drama and action and everything in between, but there was an "umph" lacking somewhere on the pages. Possibly the lack of explanation I was mentioning above? I can't quite put my finger on it. But a part of that was definitely the overall lack of enemies-to-lovers resolution by the end of this 400 page book. Mythology aside, that irritated me, I must say.
But regardless, I'll still be reading book 2. If book 2 manages to tie up a lot of these loose ends and answer all of my questions, then I'll be more than happy to admit that I incorrectly rated book 1. Time will tell.
Grab The Book Here Using My Affiliate Link - amzn.to/3iLugky
Follow Mila -
KZfaq: / @alexandrianarchives
Instagram: / alexandrian.arxhives
Follow me on -
Facebook: / moaninc
Instagram: / moaninc
Twitter: / moaninc
Find The Full Article At: www.moaninc.co.uk/books/daughter-of-darkness-katherine-and-elizabeth-corr