The Dark Wife
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4.5 • 63 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Three thousand years ago, a god told a lie. Now, only a goddess can tell the truth.
Persephone has everything a daughter of Zeus could want--except for freedom. She lives on the green earth with her mother, Demeter, growing up beneath the ever-watchful eyes of the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. But when Persephone meets the enigmatic Hades, she experiences something new: choice.
Zeus calls Hades "lord" of the dead as a joke. In truth, Hades is the goddess of the underworld, and no friend of Zeus. She offers Persephone sanctuary in her land of the dead, so the young goddess may escape her Olympian destiny.
But Persephone finds more than freedom in the underworld. She finds love, and herself.
The Dark Wife is a YA novel, a lesbian revisionist retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth. It won the 2012 Golden Crown Literary Award for Speculative Fiction.
Customer Reviews
Amazing
I love this book, the twists and turns and the way persephone grows and changes. 10/10 recommend.
Great, fresh take on Persephone and Hades' story!
I loved this! Hades's character, so sweet and compassionate, and loving of the land and inhabitants of the Underworld was a pleasant take on the God(ddes) of the Underworld! Seeing Persephone grow as she faced her fears and doubts made me feel proud, much so when she did it out of love for Hades.
Making a point of the rulers' kingdoms reflecting their emotions and feelings, and showing it as Persephone and Hades grew closer was such a nice detail. At the end, reading of Olympus' fate after Zeus' and Persephone's meeting made my hopeful heart thrum with joy! Seeing Persephone's haste to return to her queen, when given the chance, the choice, made me smile so wide :).
The epilogue made my heart warm. To think after so many years, so many millennia, Persephone still looks forward to reunite with her wife, Hades. Can't stress enough how Hades' caring nature grew on me! As well as Persephone's strength to find her own courage and help herself as well as Hades.
The only gripes I would point out is that (at least in my phone) there would be paragraphs where the typeface's size would change; also where grammar/sentence structure felt wonky— specially at the end, though I am not a native English speaker, and it might be just me. There were a few spots where words would be repeated.
In the end, I'm left curious to know if anything ever came of Pallas & Athena's relationship— does Persephone ever ask Athena about her moments with Pallas, if she ever thinks of her, or misses her? This is not their story, but I still wonder...
Fresh take on mythology
My only cons:
Too short
Needs an Adult adaptation
Other then those two, I loved everything about the story line. I’m a huge fan of lgbt+ representation and this retelling of Hades and Persephone was a salve to past baby gays bruises.