A creative and enjoyable rendering of a familiar mythological tale.
A novel offers a literary reimagining of the Greek myth of Persephone and the way she becomes a pawn in a war fought among the gods.
In 1694 B.C.E., Kore is the daughter of Demeter, the high priestess of Knossos, destined to follow in her mother’s footsteps and live the holy life. She is also the offspring of the god Zeus, “the Liberator, King of Kings,” and she runs away from home to find him in Olympus. Only 16 years old, she boards a cargo ship bound for Pylos, but the vessel is overtaken by a massive wave that hurls it into Cape Matapan; Kore survives, though most of the crew members do not. Meanwhile, Knossos is all but destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake, and before realizing Kore has fled, Demeter anxiously searches for her in the rubble that remains in the wake of the disaster. When Hades, the high king of Erebus, known as “the Unseen” and the “Dark Zeus,” learns of Kore’s existence, he sees an opportunity to gain leverage within an internecine conflict among the gods, a “standoff between kings.” Hades longs to bring Alcides, now known as Heracles, to justice for terrible crimes, but he is the son of Zeus and falls under his protection. Hades realizes that possessing Kore—rechristened Persephone by Poseidon—is a considerable bargaining chip.
In this first volume of a trilogy, Brillhart digs deep into the mythological tale, inventively exploiting the novelistic opportunity contained in the hollows of the story’s tradition. The author’s command of the mythology is magisterial—she deftly weaves together a tale that revolves around the commerce between gods and humans as well as a brewing civil war among the immortals. And Kore is a beguiling character—somehow both childishly innocent and profoundly dark, a complex mélange of compellingly contradictory attributes. Moreover, Brillhart puts real flesh on the skeleton of a story most only know partially—Hades is more than the lord of the underworld; he is a figure capable of longing, fear, and pride. Unfortunately, the plot ambles at an unhurried, even languid pace, its longueurs threatening the patience of readers. In addition, the prose often lacks buoyancy and nimbleness. One can’t criticize the author too severely for the tale’s humorlessness—literary comedy is a rare gift—but her ponderous writing at times makes the book feel like an official pronouncement by some key authority. Even physical descriptions can be extravagant; consider this account of Kore: “First, the daughter of Zeus. Sun-bronzed hair, twisted into a coil and draped over one sleek shoulder. Skin the same shade of bronze. The white silk of her chiton pulls taut across large, round breasts and tighter at hips that swell from a gold-roped waist as small around as his thigh.” Still, Brillhart’s stylistic vices do not ultimately undermine the power of the story to thoughtfully entertain.
A creative and enjoyable rendering of a familiar mythological tale.Pub Date: July 21, 2022
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 452
Publisher: Ferryman Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
That college love affair you never got over? Come wallow in this gorgeous version of it.
A love triangle among young literati has a long and complicated aftermath.
King’s narrator doesn’t reveal her name until the very last page, but Sam and Yash, the brainy stars of her 17th-century literature class, call her Jordan. Actually, at first they refer to her as Daisy, for Daisy Buchanan of The Great Gatsby, but when they learn she came to their unnamed college on a golf scholarship, they change it to Jordan for Gatsby’s golfer friend. The boys are housesitting for a professor who’s spending a year at Oxford, living in a cozy, book-filled Victorian Jordan visits for the first time after watching The Deer Hunter at the student union on her first date with Sam. As their relationship proceeds, Jordan is practically living at the house herself, trying hard not to notice that she’s actually in love with Yash. A Baptist, Sam has an everything-but policy about sex that only increases the tension. The title of the book refers to a nickname for the king of hearts from an obscure card game the three of them play called Sir Hincomb Funnibuster, and both the game and variations on the moniker recur as the novel spins through and past Jordan’s senior year, then decades into the future. King is a genius at writing love stories—including Euphoria (2014), which won the Kirkus Prize—and her mostly sunny version of the campus novel is an enjoyable alternative to the current vogue for dark academia. Tragedies are on the way, though, as we know they must be, since nothing gold can stay and these darn fictional characters seem to make the same kinds of stupid mistakes that real people do. Tenderhearted readers will soak the pages of the last chapter with tears.
That college love affair you never got over? Come wallow in this gorgeous version of it.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780802165176
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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