Review: Phaedra

Phaedra by Laura Shepperson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From the description, it’s obvious that this is another book that is trying to jump on the bandwagon of Circe’s acclaim. So you cannot blame me if I have judged the book from the same perspective.

The book follows Phaedra, a controversial and tragic character from Ancient Greek history. While she makes for an excellent choice as a portrait of a misunderstood character, the author fails to give her character much substance other than the bare essentials of empathy, one hobby and being naïve. She never grows out of it. Hippolytus’ portrayal is pretty fleshed out but does not grow either.

The writing left me very dissatisfied. The language is bland and does not do justice to the content at hand. There wasn’t any geographical exploration. The scene setting was poorly executed.
The chapters follow multiple PoVs which can get a bit confusing and annoying at times. Medea’s povs, dialogue and role until just before the end of the book was fairly redundant and frustrating to read.

What the author gets right is making the reader empathise with the women - Phaedra, The maids, Medea. The suffering, anguish and the helplessness is reiterated with brutal honesty and interesting modes like the night chorus.
The book offers a breathtaking reasoning for Medea’s infamous actions which fit in so well into the psychology of the narrative. Her cryptic dialogue throughout the book pays off in the end.

Another splendid part of the book was the political machinations. Trypho and his train of thought as a politician is really satisfying to read. I really appreciate the way the main story arc fit into the politics of the Ancient Greek court.

Thank you for the ARC.

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