The Dark Wife in EVERYTHING BI

Oct 18, 2012 Nomad rated it really liked it

Shelves: lbgt

This was a very good book. It's the age old Greek myth of Persephone and Hades, but retold and with a twist. This time Hades is the GODDESS of the Underworld and not the god. So this is an F/F romance book, and frankly a very good one too. It's supposedly written for the YA market, but this is very much a book that trancends genre. Any adult could read this and not get the YA feel. In fact I wasn't sure if it truly was YA until someone in the F/F Romance group mentioned that it was.

Diemer does a This was a very good book. It's the age old Greek myth of Persephone and Hades, but retold and with a twist. This time Hades is the GODDESS of the Underworld and not the god. So this is an F/F romance book, and frankly a very good one too. It's supposedly written for the YA market, but this is very much a book that trancends genre. Any adult could read this and not get the YA feel. In fact I wasn't sure if it truly was YA until someone in the F/F Romance group mentioned that it was.

Diemer does a fantastic job with her settings, they feel real, but retain that dreamlike state. We get to see Mt. Olympus, the Forest of the Immortals and of course the Underworld. All of them have a weight to them, but the mythic quality never suffers for it. And as with myth, the homes of the gods are not all sweetness and light, even in the most sunlit, ephmereal splendor of Mt. Olympus, one should not go where shadows dwell. But also equally important, even in the darkest place in the Underworld, sunlight can shine. Nothing is as it seems in Diemer's version of the Greek gods.

She also manages very well with her characters. Retold myths and fairytales can suffer for the fact that the characters are so well known that it can be challangeing to to make them unique enough to be the author's own, but also familiar enough to be recognizable as the archtypes these characters have become over the centuries.

Demeter is wonderful as the fiercely loving mother who is desperate to protect her daughter but doesn't know how. Zeus is the bastard he's always been, but now he's even more magnificanet at being one. The nymphs seem vapid at first but their fear feels real. Charis is the tragic lover who's fate stays with you, even after the last page is read. Hermes is just a pure delight and I would read a book all about him any day. Athena is an inconstant bitch. Pallas is the soul of friendship, a relationship that gets short shrift in romantic stories these days. Frankly, I would read a romance story between her and Hermes... it seems remotely possible if Pallas could ever get over Athena (who DOESN'T deserve Pallas's devotion).

Hades has weight, real and true weight. You can feel the responsabilites dragging her down, how she is almost plodding and lurching underneath a burden no one else could ever be able to bear. The depth of her love for Persephone leaps off the page. Persephone herself is masterfully done. A pampered princess of a goddess who learns that the best way to be protected is to learn how to fight for yourself. Both of her loves in this book were beautiful, tragic and hit nearly every emotion inbetween. I truly enjoyed every step of her journey, both heroic and romantic.

Gaea and Charon could have been difficult to the point of impossible, but Diemer manages it it very well.

Why, with all this praise have I not given the book 5 stars? Because the author seems to be in love withthe use of double wordplay. And that irritates me to no end.

Why? Because, because it annoyes me. Annoyes me to no end. It, it makes my teeth just, just set on edge.

If the above sentences irritated you, be warned, Sarah Diemer loves herself some double wordplay and uses it enough to merit me taking one star away.

Otherwise a stellar book on all other fronts. ...more

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