Gorgeous, tragic, and timeless, Lies We Sing to the Sea makes an age-old story feel new again. This is Greek tragedy at its best: sweeping in scope yet deeply intimate in characterization. This book will break your heart and you’ll be grateful for it.” — Grace D. Li, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief
“Lies We Sing to the Sea is a lyrical, elegant debut bursting with imagination and heart. Underwood expertly weaves a tale about the inevitability of fate—and the love that makes us rail against it anyway. Bittersweet and wholly cathartic.” — Allison Saft, New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic
“Overflowing with emotion and full of magic.” — Jennifer Saint, internationally bestselling author of Ariadne
“A wondrous tale of love, death, and sacrifice. The vivid characters give depth and adventure to a story with roots in classic Greek mythology.” — Natasha Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of Skin of the Sea
“Sarah Underwood’s classical reimagining is woven with pure magic: salt-laced myths, a plot that slowly unravels like a tapestry, and vivid characters who are destined to steal your heart. A scintillating, beautiful debut.” — Rebecca Ross, internationally bestselling author of A River Enchanted and Sisters of Sword & Song
"Sarah Underwood gives a brave, ferocious voice to a character who richly deserves one. Filled with knife-sharp banter, smoldering romance, and twists that will tear your heart to pieces, this is the story about one of Penelope's doomed maids that was always waiting to be told. " — Heather Walter, author of the Malice duology
“Prepare to be utterly wrecked by this brilliant, lyrical, queer, feminist af book. Lies We Sing to the Sea grabbed my heart from the first pages and I couldn't put it down. Utterly breathtaking. I loved it.” — Jamie Pacton, author of The Vermillion Emporium
“Rich, immersive and utterly compelling. A stunning achievement from Gen Z’s answer to Madeline Miller” — Laura Steven, author of The Society for Soulless Girls
2022-12-24
Every year, 12 girls are sacrificed to sea god Poseidon to save the Ithacan people from starvation.
Leto is an orphan in a poor village, selling her half-formed prophecies, when the fate of execution befalls her. Miraculously spared, she is washed ashore on the island of Pandou unconscious but alive, and there she makes her new home with mysterious Melantho, who is something more than human. Leto, like Melantho, has been changed—able to become a scaled, aquatic creature and graced with watery magic. Leto and Melantho form a daring plan to kill the prince whose orders doom girls like them to death, though Leto also feels affection for and attraction to him. As they slowly succumb to their desire for revenge and love for each other, Prince Mathias attempts to right the wrongs of his ancestors. In this feminist retelling, Underwood takes a lesser-known portion of The Odyssey, mining what it has to say about queerness, legacies of violence, and women’s roles in mythology. Unfortunately, the characterizations are underdeveloped, the timelines confusing, and the pacing off. Relationships and plot elements are developed primarily through exposition rather than unfolding naturally. For example, elements such as what precisely defines the attraction between scrappy Leto and Melantho and who Matthias is as a person beg for deeper examination. The retelling works best when it leans into the more monstrous and surreal aspects of the story’s larger mythology and is willing to examine complications in morality and love.
Inconsistent but intriguing. (Fantasy. 14-18)
