Artemis also assigns her brother, Apollo, to accompany Daphne, who must sort through her complicated feelings toward the sun god and decide whether he's trustworthy.ĭaphne's journey is long and harrowing, and she wrestles with self-doubt and guilt over putting her loved ones in harm's way. With supernatural forces at work and traitors among the Olympians, Daphne must fight both monsters and men to return what has been stolen and restore the gods' power. $18.99.ĭaphne gets a chance to prove her mettle when the goddess Artemis sends her on a quest while the fate of Olympus and all of Greece hangs in the balance. In the book's early pages, her inner voice is tinged with arrogance and patriotism as she states how proud she is to be a small part of 'the wealth of power, strength and strategy that Sparta possesses.' Here, rather than a river nymph, Daphne is a headstrong teenager with a warrior's mindset, desperate to prove herself as more than an outsider. The author, based in Randolph Center, has taken significant liberties with the tale of Daphne and Apollo, though readers familiar with its basic outline will have a sense of where the relationship between the two characters is headed.

Those who lack that foundation might struggle, as Andrews tosses the reader into the thick of the story from the first page, frequently using Greek terms and referencing characters from other myths. Readers of the novel will benefit from a cursory knowledge of Greek history and mythology, with its 12 major gods and goddesses who live on Mount Olympus, countless minor gods and monsters, and a network of often-warring city-states such as Sparta. But Daphne is still a woman, and in ancient Greece this makes her an unlikely candidate for the hero's quest she undertakes.ĭaphne must fight both monsters and men to return what has been stolen. Andrews' Daphne is a young woman adopted into Spartan society and trained alongside the men to be fierce in battle and unwaveringly loyal to Sparta. Andrews' debut young adult novel Daughter of Sparta centers on, and grants agency to, a female character who had previously been just an accessory to a man's story.

Most recently, Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and Circe won awards and swept best-seller lists with their focus on individual characters in the wide world of gods and goddesses. Rick Riordan reared a fresh generation of mythology nerds with his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series for middle graders. Just like vampires, mermaids and William Shakespeare's works, the stories of ancient Greek mythology have inspired countless retellings and riffs by the likes of Anne Carson, Margaret Atwood and C.S. Some stories are just begging for a remix.

Daughter of sparta claire andrews