Gorgeous, tragic, and timeless, Underwood's Lies We Sing to the Seamakes 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.- Grace Li (Sunday Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief) Underwood’s debut novel, Lies We Sing to the Sea, engages readers with its immersive characterisation and fantastical plotline. The story is set in the land of Ithaca, which has been eternally cursed by the god Poseidon. Each year, 12 young girls are sacrificed to please Poseidon and protect the land. The royal family says a prayer and sacrifices the maids into the depths of the sea. Dear me,” he purred. His eyes were the blue of a cloudless day and they flashed with malice. “Did you get lost?” This is a gorgeous cover. Everything is shiny, making my inner crow happy. The colours are rich and complement each other well. I didn’t even notice the noose earrings until I was done reading the book and staring at the cover, trying to process everything I just read. I appreciate them and need a pair.

anyway. yes ancient Greek sexuality and contemporary opinions thereof were ‘complicated,’ but not in the way someone whose favourite book is The Song of Achilles would understand. 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 This is not a retelling of The Odyssey. Events that occurred at the end of The Odyssey are mentioned repeatedly, but that is all the two have in common. What it *did* feel like was direct response to Margaret Atwood's The Penleopiad to an uncanny degree. I adore all the characters in this book. Each character is fully developed and strong willed, making for exciting interactions between them. I was completely invested in each of their lives, both romantic and day-to-day. Prepare for an adventure of epic proportions, full of death, life, gifts from the gods, complicated romance, tragedy, and so much more. Start reading the next book that will make you cry right now!I slugged my way through the Simarillion so I’d have context and history for one of my favourite series ever. That’s just so I could talk intelligently about Tolkien and Middle Earth. 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

Overflowing with emotion and full of magic.” — Jennifer Saint, internationally bestselling author of Ariadne Being someone who studied Greek mythology and literature, I was a bit reticent to read this book, but I decided to read it, when I got the chance by a friend gifting it to me, so I could make my own mind and not rely on others'.At last, one of the soldiers very slowly retrieved his sword, clambered to his feet, and leveled the blade at Leto. He cleared his throat cautiously. “And where do you think you’re going?” In that task, Underwood succeeds in spades. As a YA fantasy there are times where the story reads young for my taste, even though the content is quite adult (as all Greek myths are). But my tastes aside, I am glad this story is in the world. And I say this after reading it. Sexuality is complex when you look at the Ancient Greeks. They didn’t classify it in the same way we did. There are lots of ‘gay’ relationships that weren’t really the same as how we see them now. Achilles and Patroclus are quite famous, and Zeus and Ganymede, but lesbian and queer women relationships were not really ‘allowed.’ As a queer woman, I want to read about them, but publishing is slow to change. We’re seeing more representation now, but it wasn’t around when I was in my teens; only in the last 3 or 4 years. So, I wanted to write something for myself as a teen. Considering queerness also adds more complexity to their stories.] A reclamation of a story from thousands of years ago, Lies We Sing to the Sea is about love and fate, grief and sacrifice, and, ultimately, the power we must find within.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.) The tower stood atop a great hill. Leto could see the brown, sloping rooftops of Vathi, so near she could almost have reached out to touch them. Freedom was tantalizingly close; she could not let it escape her. Not when the alternative was to die like an animal, for a kingdom and its wretched royal family that deserved nothing from her. Not after they had failed her so badly. Not after they had failed her mother. The characters are boring and shallow at best, downright moronic at worst. I have no reason to care about Leto. She angrily stares the prince in the face as he wrongly condemns her to die, and that’s the last we really see of a personality except that she’s really mad and impatient at some points and made of wood every other time. Melantho is…sad? And that’s it. Mathias is weirdly passive and honestly pathetic, with no reason for me to even consider caring about him. I do not comment on books I haven't read and/or do not plan to read, but for this time I'm going to make an exception because this is just too much and I can't stay silent: This author hasn't read The Odyssey, yet she dared write this retelling of The Odyssey.Ok, so...I don't know how to exactly rate or review this book. It's not bad, it's not good, either. There many flaws, but it's a debut novel, so I didn't expect it to be perfect. I was annoyed while reading the author didn't even read the Odyssey while also writing a book inspired by a part of it. I get she wanting to give justice to these twelve maidens, killed by a cruel man, giving them space and a feminist pov, but I'm also a bit confused by not reading the original material because boring and long (according to this interview). Also there are twelve maidens...now the MC is one. Two. Where are the others? And she has the gall to confidently claim that there's been no retelling of The Odyssey that portrays Penelope as complex and not blameless, as if Margaret Atwood were a nobody that never wrote a Penelopiad years before this author was around. Or as if Robert Graves, British like this author, didn't write a retelling based on the theory that The Odyssey had a female author. Oh, no, not at all! This chit is a pioneer, so let's wipe other and much better authors out of history. "I'm very rigorous with my research," indeed! So rigorous you didn't read The Odyssey even though you claim to own several translations. Girl, I have sixteen translations of it, and twenty-three of The Iliad, you're not going to impress me with bragging about owning that many translations if you don't read them. Impress me by reading them all and comparing them, for a start. Lies We Sing to the Seais a wondrous tale of love, death, and sacrifice. The vivid characters give depth and adventure to a story with roots in classic Greek mythology. A reclamation of a story from thousands of years ago, Lies We Sing to the Seais about love and fate, grief and sacrifice, and, ultimately, the power we must find within.

I couldn’t be more thrilled and honored to have been entrusted with these characters,” said Parker, who’s the daughter of Thandiwe Newton and Oli Parker. “To be handed someone else’s story for safekeeping is such a beautiful responsibility, and I only hope I can do it justice. It’s a truly incredible book, and Sarah is obviously prodigiously talented. The world will very soon be clamoring for more of her words. I’m so thrilled to be working with her, and all the wonderful folks at Archery.”bragging about how little research you did and still getting a six-figure advance and a film deal... I mean, I know we reward colonisers for the bare minimum, but I guess I always hoped it wouldn’t be so LITERALLY 🙄