Unfortunately, it’s that attempt at accuracy that causes the novel to fall flat. Phaedra is filled with pride and determination while her husband, Theseus, cares less about his responsibilities and being a decent person, and more about that sweet, sweet glory. Ariadne is naive and kind and much too trusting. She even includes how each character’s personality would be if they chose to follow the role given to them by Greek society! Dionysus is a human-esque god who views wine and madness as a way to break the constraints placed on his (mostly female) followers. While her choice of ending does frustrate me to no end (for reasons I shall clarify later), she technically follows what the mythology claims. Story-wise, Jennifer Saint sticks to the myths to the letter, only creating new material to fill in the gaps between tales. In terms of accuracy, Ariadne sticks to the source material painfully well in some parts, then veers wildly off-course in others. Thankfully, Ariadne has officially made me resent the idea of mythological/sociological accuracy, especially when it comes at the detriment of a good story.
My efforts have led me to hits ( Great Goddesses by Nikita Gill) and some misses ( Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung by Nina MacLaughlin). For me, it’s the intense need to criticize any Greek mythology retellings on the basis that they don’t match the “original mythos.” A terrible habit, true, but one I’ve made some effort to break. For Horse Girls, this usually involves the current horse-themed films not being “as good” as those of the past.
My relationship to Greek mythology is similar to that of a local elementary school’s Horse Girl meaning it was one of my first obsessions in elementary school, at some point I made it my entire personality, and now I’m stuck with a strange nostalgia that makes it both easier and harder to absorb any media about it.
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