Review: Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives

Well, this book certainly sounded all the entire way up my alley, so when the publisher reached out, I grabby grabbed.

Thanks to the author as well as Dell via NetGalley for the review copy!

Before, Scopuli. It has been centuries since Thelia made the mistake that cost her the woman she loved. As the handmaidens charged with protecting Proserpina, the goddess of spring, Thelia and her sisters are banished to the island of Scopuli, cursed to live as sirens—winged half-woman, half-bird creatures. In luring men to their death, they hope to gain favor from the gods who could free them. But then ships stop coming and Thelia fears a fate worse than the underworld. Just as time begins to run out, a voice emerges, Proserpina’s voice; and what she asks of Thelia will spark a daring and dangerous quest for freedom.

Now, Roanoke. Thelia can’t bear to reflect on her last moments in Scopuli, where she left behind her sisters. After weeks drifting at sea, Thelia’s renewed human body is close to death. Luckily, an unfamiliar island appears on the horizon—Roanoke. Posing as a princess arriving on a sailboat filled with riches, Thelia infiltrates the small English colony. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that this place is dangerous, especially for women. As she grows closer to a beautiful settler who mysteriously resembles her former love, Thelia formulates a plan to save her sisters and enact revenge on the violent men she’s come to hate. But is she willing to go back to Scopuli and face the decisions of her past? And will Proserpina forgive her for all that she’s done?Told in alternating timelines, Those Fatal Flowers is a powerful, passionate, and wildly cathartic love letter to femininity and the monstrous power within us all.

Sirennnnns.

Those Fatal Flowers is the story of Thelia who is one of the Sirens. This is a retelling of Roman myth, as in this particular retelling, Thelia’s childhood love is referenced as Proserpina and not Persephone. Thelia and her sisters find themselves cast out by Ceres because they (especially Thelia) did not prevent Proserpina being taken by Din. She banished them to a remote island and made them into monsters whose entire purpose was to lure men onto the island and sacrifice them to Ceres. When the island, Scopuli apparently stops having sailors arrive, Thelia is chosen to leave the island and travel to a place where she could lure many people back to the island. She ends up getting on a boat and floating to Roanoke where there is a Puritan colony and there she not only makes a few friends but runs afoul of of some baddies.

I enjoyed the writing of this one. I thought it flowed really well and it was easy to read. I liked Thelia as a character, and so it was easy to keep reading along to find out what happened to her. My biggest problem with this one was that every single man in it with the exception of like… two was portrayed to be the most mustache twirlingly evil man that there ever was. I get that Thelia isn’t a fan of men in general, and Din kidnapping her lover obviously traumatized her, but almost every man she meets is awful.

Other than that I didn’t really have any qualms with the story. It wasn’t my favorite but it was definitely up my alley as I tend to enjoy retellings of mythology. I would read another book by this author for sure, but I think I’d only consider this book a 3.5/5 stars.

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