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The Palace of Eros
The Palace of Eros: A Novel | Caro De Robertis
3 posts | 3 read | 1 to read
Perfect for fans of Circe and Black Sun, this bold and subversive feminist retelling of the Greek myth of Psyche and Eros explores the power of queer joy and freedom. Young, headstrong Psyche has captured the eyes of every suitor in town and far beyond with her tempestuous beauty, which has made her irresistible as a woman yet undesirable as a wife. Secretly, she longs for a life away from the expectations and demands of men. When her father realizes that the future of his family and town will be forever cursed unless he appeases an enraged Aphrodite, he follows the orders of the Oracle, tying Psyche to a rock to be ravaged by a monstrous husband. And yet a monster never arrives. When Eros, nonbinary deity of desire, sees Psyche, she cannot fulfill her promise to her mother Aphrodite to destroy the mortal young woman. Instead, Eros devises a plan to sweep Psyche away to an idyllic palace, hidden from the prying eyes of Aphrodite, Zeus, and the outside world. There, against the dire dictates of Olympus, Eros and Psyche fall in love. Each night, Eros visits Psyche under the cover of impenetrable darkness, where they both experience untold passion and love. But each morning, Eros flies away before light comes to break the spell of the palace that keeps them safe. Before long, Psyches nights spent in pleasure turn to days filled with doubts, as she grapples with the cost of secrecy and the complexities of freedom and desire. Restless and spurred by her sisters to reveal Eross true nature, she breaks her trust and forces a reckoning that tests them bothand transforms the very heavens. Told in bold and sparkling prose from a brilliant and luminous writer (Madeline Miller, New York Times bestselling author), The Palace of Eros transports us to a magical world imbued by divine forces as well as everyday realities, where palaces glitter with magic even as ordinary people fight for freedom in a society that fears the unknown.
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5feet.of.fury
The Palace of Eros: A Novel | Caro De Robertis
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Pickpick

Soft pick.
I‘m not overly familiar with the myth. I enjoyed the resolution & the way the author played with gender identity (but, again, not being familiar with the myth, I‘m not sure the ultimate impact). The flowery prose or unconventional POV shifts didn‘t bother me as it had some other readers.
“A cage full of wonder is still a cage”

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BookmarkTavern
The Palace of Eros: A Novel | Caro De Robertis
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Mehso-so

When the goddess of desire is tasked with cursing the beautiful Psyche, her life becomes overturned when she falls in love with the young woman instead.

An interesting retelling! By changing Eros‘s gender to (mostly) female presenting, the already forbidden romance is used to explore the perceived “monstrousness” of both female sexual desire & queerness.

Writing seemed to veer into flowery, purple imagery, & was fairly repetitive. 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

BookmarkTavern Release Date: Tomorrow! #NetGalley #ARC CW 👇🏻 3mo
BookmarkTavern General warnings throughout for references to rape, nothing graphic 3mo
PuddleJumper I struggled with the writing so much 3mo
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PuddleJumper
The Palace of Eros: A Novel | Caro De Robertis
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Panpan

I was really excited to read a queer retelling of the Eros and Psyche myth. I was disappointed.

I could not stand the writing style. Lyrical writing can be poetic, this was bloated with unnecessary similes and metaphors. The words start to lose meaning.

⬇️

PuddleJumper The dense prose distracts from the utter lack of plot or real character depth.

The author made the baffling decision to have Psyche‘s chapters in first person and Eros‘ in third person. Eros was the more interesting character, first person would have given more insight into the character.

Thanks to #Netgalley for the #ARC
4mo
dabbe #fanofthepan! 🤩🤩🤩 4mo
32 likes2 comments