Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

Title: Lies We Sing to the Sea

Author: Sarah Underwood

Genre: Fantasy/Historical/Romance

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 5^th April 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 496

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: A dazzling sapphic fantasy, inspired by Greek mythology.
In the cursed kingdom of Ithaca, each summer brings the hanging of twelve maidens, a gift to the vengeful Poseidon. But when Leto awakens from her death on the shore of a long-forgotten island, its enigmatic keeper Melantho tells her that there’s only one way the curse can be broken. Leto must kill the last prince of Ithaca . . .

In Lies We Sing to the Sea, debut author Sarah Underwood delivers a thrilling and breathtaking tale that will enthral readers from the very first page as they are transported to the cursed shores of Ithaca.

A reclamation of a story from thousands of years ago, Lies We Sing to the Sea is about love and fate, grief and sacrifice, and, ultimately, the power we must find within.

In the cursed kingdom of Ithaca, each summer brings the hanging of twelve young women, a gift to the vengeful Poseidon. For seventeen years Leto has escaped the curse’s mark. Until now.

But Leto doesn’t die. Instead, she awakens on a mysterious island, greeted by the immortal Melantho. She tells Leto that she has the chance to break the curse. All she has to do is kill the prince of Ithaca…

A reclamation of a story from thousands of years ago, Lies We Sing to the Sea is about love and fate, grief, and sacrifice, and, ultimately, the power we must find within.

~*~

Leto is led to her death – a marked death, a cursed death. She’s one-twelfth of a sacrifice in the cursed land of Ithaca to appease Poseidon. At the start of the novel, Leto is being prepared for her hanging with eleven other young women. Yet – when the noose around Leto’s beck drops, she doesn’t die and head off in her journey across the Styx. Instead, she wakes up on the mysterious island of Pandou, who tells Leto about the curse upon Ithaca, going back to the days of Odysseus after his return from the Trojan war, when he expelled the any suitors to his wife, Penelope from his home and land. What Odysseus did angered his patron god, Poseidon, Melantho says, and that’s why ever since then, twelve young women have been sacrificed every summer – but Melantho has a plan – a plan that she needs Leto’s help for. She plans to end the curse by killing the prince of Ithaca – Mathias, to ensure that no more young women meet the same fate. Yet Leto didn’t count on falling in love – or does she? Is her love for a person or for the kingdom she is trying to save when she impersonates an Athenian princess?

Ancient Greek mythical retellings are always an interesting read. Often, most retellings are of popular fairytales or well-known myths, focused on the significant figures like Circe, Medusa, Odysseus, and so forth. Yet in this story, we have peripheral characters and new characters driving the narrative – the young women Leto, who helps a minor character from the Odyssey, Melantho, with her goals to break a curse that has plagued the kingdom of Ithaca for generations. In the original, Melantho is peripheral and shunted to the background, but here, she is fleshed out, and given motives and desires – something we are seeing a lot of for the female characters in myth retellings. But it is also Leto’s story, and Mathias’s story, as each character is given a chapter from their perspective, which makes the story powerful and ensures we understand what is happening in Leto, Melantho, and Mathias’ lives, and how everything going on influences and drives then – and how their developing relationships change things in so many ways and the feelings that are developing throughout the novel – but Melantho and Leto must remain focused on their goal.

The powerful thing in this story for me is that it is driven by women – and women who in the original texts, and in the Ancient Greek times and mythical times would have had less agency than Leto and Melantho do in this novel. The combination of ancient myth, romance, fantasy, friendship, and female empowerment ensure that this story is deftly set in antiquity but told in a contemporary way so readers can access it and understand it, whilst still appreciating the beauty of the mythic elements. I think the power in Lies We Tell to the Sea is in the presence of the female characters and their agency, their ability to thwart the patriarchal society and show that they are quite capable – not without stumbling, of course, but nonetheless, Leto and Melantho make the story powerful. Everything was relatable to a modern audience yet fitted seamlessly into the world of Ancient Greece – so readers new to mythology and Ancient Greece will be able to enjoy this just as well as those who know Ancient Greece and Ancient Greek mythology.

This is an intriguing book, one that I think will have something for everyone who reads it and I hope that those who do read it will enjoy it.