Would you go to Hell and back to rescue a friend? Alex Stern is prepared to do just that in Leigh Bardugo’s Hell Bent, which came out earlier this year. If you loved the dark academia vibes and intricate paranormal world of Ninth House, then you do not want to miss this high-stakes sequel! Continue reading Review of Hell Bent—A Descent to the Underworld
Tag: underworld
Review of The Bone Way–Sapphic Orpheus and Eurydice
Could you brave the depths of the underworld to rescue your lost love? That is Teagan’s goal in Holly J. Underhill’s debut novella The Bone Way. Released just last week from one of my favorite indies Nyx Publishing, The Bone Way is loosely a sapphic, witchy retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth with a fairy-tale twist. Continue reading Review of The Bone Way–Sapphic Orpheus and Eurydice
Review of Hadestown—A Mythic Musical
All aboard! You don’t want to miss the train to Hadestown, a Broadway musical that gives Greek mythology a modern twist. Friends have been telling me for months that I needed to see this show, especially since the tale of the spring goddess Persephone and her underworld husband Hades is one of my favorite myths and I’m a sucker for creative retellings. I finally got the chance, and let me tell you: it totally lives up to the hype. The production stars Reeve Carney (whom some of you may recognize as Dorian Gray from the show Penny Dreadful) as the poet Orpheus, Eva Noblezada as his lover Eurydice, Amber Gray as Persephone, Patrick Page as Hades, and André De Shields as Hermes. The production swept the Tony Awards this year, winning eight awards including Best Musical and Best Original Score. Hadestown is currently playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York. Continue reading Review of Hadestown—A Mythic Musical
Modern Journeys to the Underworld
The journey to the underworld has been a popular plot motif for millennia. It can take many forms, but generally involves the hero of the story crossing over into the land of the dead to rescue someone, speak to someone, or otherwise complete a quest. This trope appears in many classic myths, such as the Greek tales of Orpheus and Eurydice or Hercules’s twelve labors. It also became a staple of epic poetry, beginning with the Odyssey, continuing in the Aeneid, and becoming the basis of Dante’s Inferno. Scholars of epic poetry even have a word for this recurrent plot element: katabasis, which means “to go down” in Greek. With such a storied history, it’s not surprising that we see variations on journey to the underworld cropping up in modern fantasy novels. Below are a three of my favorite recent variations on this classic trope: Continue reading Modern Journeys to the Underworld
Labyrinth Lost Review–A Bruja Bildungsroman
Alex hates being a bruja, but after she accidentally banishes her entire extended family to the underworld, learning to control her powers may be her only hope of getting them back. After hearing this premise, I knew that Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova would be just my kind of book. Back in October, I wrote about seeing Zoraida speak at the Boston Teen Author Festival, where she discussed the recent release of Labyrinth Lost and how her cultural upbringing influenced the novel, particularly in her portrayals of magic and death. After getting my copy signed, I added it to the top of my to-read pile and soon found that it more than lived up to my expectations. Continue reading Labyrinth Lost Review–A Bruja Bildungsroman