I seem to be in the minority with this review but I didn’t really enjoy this book and I at times, found it quite dull. I adore a Hades and Persephone retelling and I have read my fair share of them in my time but this just felt a bit flat. I think the premise was there but the execution just didn’t work for me. So Persephone needs to get married because apparently that's all that matters to gods (why have we gone down this road?) and she has a controlling mother, Demeter, who has told her how to act and how to be all of her entire life. Persephone decides enough is enough and manages to escape to the Underworld so she doesn't have to marry (though she still does, she has just delayed it a bit because she didn't think things through). I liked how she had a plan and took control and she utilised her power over flowers to achieve this. The beginning was promising. I tug at the ridiculous dress Mother has forced me into: a monstrosity of lilac silk, draped and twisted again and again, hinting at the body on offer while obscuring it enough to keep my modesty intact. It’s less an outfit than gift-wrapping. Now all she has to do is convince the Underworld's annoyingly sexy, arrogant and frankly rude ruler, Hades, to fall in line with her plan. A plan that will shake Mount Olympus to its very core. I stared from god to god, no one giving me any indication of what I’d done wrong. They had asked me a simple question. I had given a simple response. Now everyone watched me from the shaded porticoes of the Throne Hall, their distorted faces reflected on the bronze pillars that ringed the room. I had no idea what they wanted, no idea why everyone suddenly seemed tense. A few people glanced to my father whose glower was so fierce he could have passed for one of his own statues.

Our Persephone, traditionally portrayed as sweet tempered and kind, is transformed into a daring and fabulously fierce (Ancient Greek) Girl Boss, determined to seek out happiness by any means necessary—even if it means taking on the patriarchy in all its toxic, oppressive forms.I went in kinda blind as my only knowledge of Persephone and Hades story was from watching Hadestown on Broadway last year! Girl, Goddess, Queen is a thoroughly modern retelling that turns the story of Hades and Persephone completely on its head, breathing new life into the classic mythos. Fun side characters and a hopeful coming-of-age heart make this one of the most entertaining reimaginings in an ever growing list of them. Readers were expecting wonderful things from Bea Fitzgerald’s debut, and it doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. Mother jumps, glancing around like an Olympian could be lurking around the corner, like she hasn’t spent the last decade weaving intricate magic to bar the uninvited from our island. ‘Don’t say things like that, Kore!’ she scolds. ‘No one will believe that a woman who talks of attraction is virginal. Do you want people to believe you’re a whore?’ If you’re familiar with YA romantic comedies, you’ll know that they’re often built on a hefty dose of misunderstandings, jumping to conclusions and conflicted characters not voicing aloud how they really feel. That’s all true here, as Persephone and Hades dance around their true feelings, both of them frightened of ruining the special bond they’ve formed. The romance is perfectly paced, complementing rather than overriding the anxieties and expectations that both characters wrestle with throughout the book. Yet the more serious sides of the book – the themes of toxic masculinity and coercive control – never feel too heavy either. It’s a careful line that Fitzgerald balances admirably with a sharp wit and genuine understanding of the simultaneous contemporary and historic issues she’s writing about. Girl, Goddess, Queen is a fantasy rom-com retelling that weaves the classic story with snarky banter, slow burn romance and a feminist slant that sees the legendary goddess discovering her agency, desires and inherent power. As a child, Persephone’s father asked her what she wanted. ‘The world’ was her reply. A good answer for a girl with the world quite literally at her feet. But to her father, Zeus, a wrathful god terrified of having his power usurped, it was the worst possible answer she could have given. Zeus sought to belittle his daughter, but jumping into hell gives Persephone the courage to finally stand up for herself. To say no, when she doesn’t want something. To be unafraid of taking ownership of her own life. Her journey of self-discovery is an empowering fist pump in the air, a massive FU in the face of her father and all the other gods who’d seek to keep her small and subdued. It’s a beautiful thing to read.

That’s beside the point,’ she says. ‘The only way you get more power, and carve some space for yourself in this world is by aligning yourself with one of those powerful men in marriage. Give the others something, or rather, someone to fear. Do you understand me?’Very well,’ Father said, rising from his throne. The laughing strangers fell silent at once. ‘Let it be so,’ he paused, the corners of his lips twitching as he took in the concerned expressions of the other gods, particularly the other members of the council who sat either side of him. They were his advisors, and now they nudged each other and whispered, keen to see his judgement. I press my hurt down, push it to where all my fear and rage coalesces into an impossibly heavy nothingness.

That one weird line about hades taking about Persephone’s father (Zeus) to her and making a “compensation” joke to her I’m really hoping this is the start of a long series and that I get to enjoy more of Bea’s writing soon. Please, Father’s the one who made me the goddess of flowers, he can hardly be surprised by a bit of mud, can he?’ Overall, this is one of the few books I've read this year that I can truly say I didn't want it to end and I cannot wait to read whatever Bea Fitzgerald writes next.

Creative Play

Gods forbid my hair looks a mess – the universe might end. Or curse shame upon my household at the very least. They made it your name, made it an insult, turned it into something it's not. There's nothing wrong with being a little girl, love. Little girls are fearless." Girl, Goddess, Queen is a feminist, fierce and fresh YA fantasy retelling of the classic Greek myth of Hades and Persephone with a hefty dose of steamy romance. Fitzgerald’s reimagining shifts the power dynamic and repositions Persephone as a heroine with agency to control her own narrative, with extraordinarily fun results.