I was kind of more than a little surprised (and impressed to be honest) how much I ended up liking this novel at the end of it. For the first 100 pages I was in agony; seeking only to read my required amount (I give every book 100 pages to shape up, though there are exceptions to that rule), before I could smack it across the room and into my to-sell pile. But somehow I ended up reading the next 100, and the 100 after that. Hades' Daughter has an...interesting...plot. And by that I mean its crazily convoluted and just...well out there. Reincarnation, jumps in time, moments with a murderous Minotaur (and believe me that sounds much more fun and scary than it actually was), gods and goddesses, ritualistic, rapey sex...Yeah, it's one of those fantasy novels. With plenty of emotional outpouring (literally and metaphorically) by the characters to boot.I think my shelves say it all. The cast in Hades' Daughter had both a very whiny (enough to rival the majority of the YA heroines I read) and highly annoying protagonist (her tears alone....jeeze) and a bunch of idiots who get much too overworked over their jealous feelings. And one of the main villains can't seem to figure out how to assassinate someone, even though she has the power to create crazy sea storms, destroy gods, and apparently is good at manipulation based on her ability to control these jealous idiots. but that would ruin the plot, Carissa. The main villain, said Minotaur, is sadly as about as interesting and compelling as our whiny, pathetic heroine, and most of his random moments made me want to jump in with a jar of tar-tar sauce and kill him, so I wouldn't have to read about him chuckling in the darkness and stroking his knife (no that is not a euphemism, I hope anyway) while waiting for his revenge. Which, considering there are THREE sequels to this series, is going to be a lonnnnnnnnng time in coming. Which is also kind of the reason why I'm not going to continue reading the series, even though I'm sort of interesting in reading more. I'm trying to be more selective in my reading choices, something a long 500-pages meh quartet doesn't quite cut it, plus based on the synopsis for each of them, there's a definite reincarnation and repetition theme going on, probably with some added character development. Which, if you hadn't guessed, I'm not quite intrigued by. All in all, while I was somehow sucked into this novel (something I'm still trying to figure out-its definitely not the writing, maybe it's train-wreck-cant-look-away worth?), its not a fantasy series I wish to continue. Too much crying. I've been there once before, with Wizard's First Rule. On the bright side, however, my reaction does bode well for my future reading of The Wayfarer Redemption. 3.5/5
I’m going to come right out and say it; I loved this book.I’m not quite sure why – I’ve always considered myself a very character-driven reader, and I found every single one of the characters in this book utterly unappealing, to the point where about half way through I remember remarking that I had no idea who I was supposed to be cheering for. Yet still, this story gripped me, and I had to read on.Hades’ Daughter combines elements of ancient roman mythology and pagan ritual into a compelling fantasy world. It is a world of lust, sex, violence (and violent sex), jealousy, ambition and power.Douglass has been criticized for over-zealous depictions of sex and depravity in her novels, but I didn’t find this to be so. Douglass is a female-centric writer, and I think it is hard to imagine a female protagonist in a medieval setting who does not confront ‘sex-as-weapon’ – either used against her or wielded by her for advantage. I enjoyed the backdrop of the feminine world that this book so richly invokes; the roles of woman as mother and lover, and the concepts of fertility, birth and rebirth.As I have said, the characters in this book are seriously flawed, yet fascinating all the same; Cornelia is desperately needy to the point of melodrama, Brutus as his name implies is heartless and brutal, Ariadne’s power-hungry desire for revenge and her cold jealousy makes her entirely unlikeable. And behind it all, lurks the greatest evil, the Minotaur who once inhabited the heart of the ancient Labyrinth, and aims to destroy all their plans.A fabulous start to a series, and, in my opinion, Sara Douglass’s best.Reblogged from http://highfantasyaddict.wordpress.com
What do You think about Hades' Daughter (2003)?
A historical fantasy, this book has some great moments and then some rather poor ones. While I enjoyed Sara Douglass's writing, the characters quite often seemed too much. Brutus was anything but the man he claimed to be and in many ways he was more of a spoiled brat than his thirteen or fourteen year old wife that he conquered and raped. The other member of this love triangle, Genvissa, was too evil for her own good and came off not quite believable. While I will continue the series and hope many things will become more obvious i the further installments, I was left feeling not quite satisfied with this story. Furthermore, the brief leaps forward in time I found to be more exhausting than helpful.
—Robbie Cox
Read more reviews at http://readbookwormread.blogspot.comI read this book when I was in ninth grade, so eight years ago, but decided to reread it because I remember loving it. I fervently wish I had waited to read this book until I was older. It is a dense, intricate book, and at that age I was not able to put together all the pieces as well as I was at this age.The first bit of the book is quite slow. And by bit I mean…the first two hundred pages. But having read this book before, I knew it got amazing, so I kept at it. Plus Douglass is one of my all-time favorite authors. She writes some amazing fantasy.My two complaints with the book are that the protagonist, Cornelia, is really whiny. Granted she is young, and her life SUCKS epically, but still. Stop crying and do something about it. I don’t remember what happens in the second book, but I know I read it, and I think she starts doing in that book. Thank goodness.My second complaint is that Brutus and Cornelia fall in love but are both too stubborn and stupid to be happy together…rather like Gone with the Wind. Huge irritation. Hopefully they will win, and they can be happy together in the end. Doubt it though. I’m predicting Sarah Douglass will kill one of them right after they get together. Or something equally horrific. To torture me and other devoted readers. And I can’t even hate her for it, her work is too amazing.So this book gets 4 stars, because it is captivating, but it did start off quite slow and the changes between present day and the past were quite confusing.
—Kelsie Beaudoin (The Bookworm)
Hmm, I started this, got bored and stopped in the middle, then started again and after a bit, couldn't put it down. I have mixed feelings about it though. It looks like Loth, Cornelia, Brutus, Asterion, and Genvissa are the only ones we will see in later books though. I'll focus on them.Brutus: He's kind of the hero of the story, but he's definitely not a nice guy. I was very frustrated with his treatment of Cornelia, how he took over her city, threatened to kill her, forced her to marry him, an
—Briny
