It's an ARC review.

This book made me feel things. Lots of different things.

I love a good retelling. And this book was, with all its faults, a good retelling. I really loved the small things taken from the original story and incorporated into this one. It made me smile and think, oh, that's so clever!

I don't mind that I was torn between liking this book and hating it. At least I felt something, right?

And boy, did I hate it.

First thing first - there is no speech marks. None. Nothing. It made reading really hard, especially in chapters written in Cory's POV. In the last chapter I had to re-read some pages a couple of times to even understand what was going on. I like when a book challenges me, but this? This was making me annoyed, nor challenged.

I didn't really like any of the characters.

Rolo was awful, and creepy, and predatory, and just ugly inside and out. He could talk though. He knew how to charm people, that's for sure.

Cory was naïve, yes. She was only eighteen after all, and I know it's a must to be stupid at this age, but there is being stupid and then there is Cory. I felt sorry for her, I did. But besides that I didn't feel any positive emotions towards her.

Emer would never win a best mom reward, but she did try, and I liked her chapters much better than Cory's.

It was a good read, that made me feel things, but it didn't make me want to know more of the author's writing, just not my thing at all.

Fruit of the Dead is a contemporary reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter.
The novel follows Cory Ansel, a young camp counsellor, and her mother, Emer. Cory is coerced into a billionaire's island, where she is plied with luxury and opiates, while her mother, Emer, senses that something is wrong and crosses land and sea to rescue her daughter.
An enjoyable and intriguing read

A modern retelling of Persephone, Demeter and Hades. This starts out strong and reads like a fever dream; Cory getting drawn in to the decadence of the island, her mother’s desperation. It lost my interest a little along the way but this was an enjoyable read.

It must be awful to expend a huge amount of time and energy to write a novel, only for an annoying Goodreads reviewer to fixate on the issue of inverted commas.

But such is life. And the lack of speech marks in this book was a real irritant for me. It's not that I'm all about ye olde traditions and against the evolution of language and writing...it's that I genuinely spent half this book trying to figure out who was speaking. This stylistic choice culminated in a climactic three-way discussion in the final pages which seemed to have been written solely with the purpose of triggering me and/or making the reader re-read the same page seven times in order to decode who was talking. I'm not in love with the curly little buggers, I just think if you aren't using them, you need to make it clear in some other way when someone is speaking, and ideally which character.

Anyway, let's move on from the speech marks. Aside from that, Fruit of the Dead was a decent read. The author can clearly write. The main character of Cory can be somewhat annoying, and you're constantly thinking 'what an idiot', but then you realise she's very young, and...yeah, most people at 18 pretty much are idiots, myself certainly included.

I enjoyed the book well enough but didn't think it was really outstanding in any way. I wasn't very familiar with the tale of Demeter and Persephone, which this loosely retells, so maybe I missed some cool links.

Anyway, the lack of speech marks is what I'll remember most. Screw you, pedant. That's rude.

Or to put it another way you might understand:

"Anyway, the lack of speech marks is what I'll remember most," I snarked.
"Screw you," the author replied.
"That's rude," I responded.

I have mixed feelings about this book! I really loved the first half and was interested in following both story lines and their dynamics. I really loved the hints of the original Hades and Persephone tale while enjoying how it was turned into a modern horror story for parents. I think that aspect was really well done! Especially how dependant we are on connection via phones.
The second half however felt very slow and I began to get frustrated with Cory and her complete lack of agency! I know that was a big point of the story but I got fed up reading her parts and it slowed my enjoyment down. At the end this was a three star read but I would definitely pick up more from this author. The cover is also stunning and I would put it on my wall!!

I loved the writing, it was beautiful and euphoric and confusing all at once. I think Cory’s chapters were much more interesting than her mother’s and I found myself skim reading her mom’s chapters. I think the whole story ended too abruptly and quickly and the last half quarter of the book felt far too rushed. Still, a novel full of lush and enticing characters.

I loved the mythology base for this, and found the dual perspective of mother and daughter really interesting. This definitely scratches an itch for a sad girl story. I got a bit with drawn towards the end, but overall a wonderful read!

A retelling of the Demeter and Persephone myth, brought up to date with opioids for pomegranate seeds.

Eighteen year old Cory is wondering what to do with her life when the middle-aged CEO of a pharmaceutical company makes her an offer. which comes with a non disclosure agreement. With Cory seemingly vanished from the face of the Earth, her mother, Emer, sets out to find her.

The novel is told from the perspectives of the daughter and her mother. While Cory's narrative is vibrant and highly believable, that of her mother, in particular her role as the head of an agricultural organisation, doesn't ring true.

Captivating from the first page and holds the attention for the first two-thirds of the book. Sadly, the last third falters, and the menace slackens. before arriving at a satisfying resolution.

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for the ARC.

Engaging and well written take on the myth of Persephone and Demeter in modern times. Drugs, sex and a mother looking for her lost (?) daughter make for an engaging and sometimes uncomfortable read.

Fruit of the Dead is Rachel Lyon’s second novel, and it is a retelling of Persephone and Demeter. Cory is a camp counsellor and has just turned eighteen, she is lost and doesn’t know what to do for a career. She meets Rolo who is the CEO of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, he offers her a job looking after his children and becomes intoxicated with her. Cory’s mother Elmer oversees an agricultural NGO and worries about what is happening to Cory. The writing of this novel was good, and the story is easy to read. I would recommend this for fans of literary fiction and ‘sad girl novels.’ It had some insights into motherhood and the relationship between mothers and daughters. I am giving this 3.5 stars rounded down to a 3, to be honest I was expecting to love this more and the cover is gorgeous, but this story just didn’t stick with me.

It was refreshing to finally read a Hades and Persephone retelling that reminds us that Hades was a massive creep that took advantage of Persephone. It's been lost in a sea of steamy romances. The angle of him being the head of a painkiller conglomerate was so clever also.
A slow burn but really enjoyable!!!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc. Anything relating to the story of Hades and Persephone is a win from me!

I really truly loved how true to the story this book stayed! It was immense! This is a very clever, reimagined, modern retelling of the famous Greek love story.

One thing I dread is when an author changes to much of the original story and we didn’t have that here so Thank You Rachel Lyon.

I loved everything about it. It’s a beautiful book with lots of deep meaningful descriptions as well as perfectly flawed characters. It’s messy, and dark and real. I really enjoyed it.

Hoping the ending means we’re getting another!!

This might be a matter of user error here. I couldn’t engage in the story, nor care about the characters. Perhaps a better understanding of the myth in which its based would have encouraged greater investment. DNF.

Rachel Lyon paints two brilliant binaries in her literary retelling of the Demeter and Persephone story: the story of Cory, a directionless, listless, anxious 18-year-old who is whisked away from her summer camp gig to a private island owned by a pharmaceutical bigshot, and the story of Emer, Cory's workaholic, well-meaning mother who is facing the end of her career. Rolo, the intriguing pharmaceutical magnate in question, is twisted, domineering, and elusive. Cory is cut off from the world she previously knew, much to the chagrin of her mother, who is willing to go to any length to see her daughter. Before reading this book, I strongly advise you to familiarize yourself with the mythology of Persephone and Demeter. I waited till after, but I wish I had done more research beforehand. I believe it would have altered the overall experience. Rachel Lyon's writing was excellent in my opinion. Her prose is lovely, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story is given from two perspectives, and I must say that I preferred Cory's. During Emer's chapters, my eyes began to glaze over little. Rachel Lyons' witty connections that tie in well with the mythology without becoming excessive were enjoyable. The plot was engaging, although I felt it became a touch repetitive at times. Overall, the plot was intriguing and well-written.