I really enjoyed this book. It felt a little different to a lot of the other myth retellings I've read recently. I found the relationship between Eros and Psyche a little bit slow to behin with but the story gained momentum and it was really quite emotive towards the end. The author did a fantastic job of reaching out the her audience through her words. I think I'll be thinking of this story for a while. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

So the reason I wanted to read this book is because I ADORE Greek mythology retellings and I also love LGBTQIA+ fiction so mash them both together and I assumed this would be an incredible book. Friends, I was not wrong. This book was stunning. The romance in this book was beautiful, and fluffy, and flowery, and just so poetic. There is some spice in this book, however, it does not feel like a smut book because even the spice is poetic and flowery. There was so many times I was just smiling ear to ear reading Psyche & Eros's story. I will say, if you are to read this book, please do read up on the trigger warnings for this book, because as beautiful as this book is, it does hit some heavy hitting topics especially due to it hitting the point of how differently women were treated in that time. I would 100% recommend this to anyone who loves romance and/or Greek mythology retellings and I will definitely be buying a physical copy of this when I get paid!

(If you'd like to see more of my reviews please go to my blog:
https://doesden.blogspot.com/)

The Palace of Eros by Caro De Robertis

A non-binary retelling of the myth of Eros and Psyche. A story exploring gender fluidity and sexual identification, making it current and relevant. The duel POV novel explores the Beauty and The Beast origin story of Psyche, a mortal girl so beautiful to incur the wrath of Aphrodite and Eros, the God of Love and Desire who instead of marrying her off to a monster as per their mothers wishes, falls in love with her themself.

This was OK for me. The writing felt a little disjointed, almost like the style didn’t suit the subject matter and while the idea of this concept felt original and exciting, the characters were not complex or developed enough to fill such big shoes. Still, with such an original idea it is worth reading if you enjoy Greek myth re-tellings.

Not my favourite re-imagining of Eros and Psyche.

Thank you to the author @netgalley and @harpercollinsuk for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

3 .5 (rounded up) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.

I really loved the different take on the myth with this retelling. There are a glut of retellings at the moment and some are better than others, this was one of the better ones for me.

I enjoyed this queer take on Eros and Pysche, particuarly in terms of the exploration of gender and sexuality. It was interesting and took a different angle on the myth & had great characterisation.

The Palace of Eros is a poetic re-telling of the myth of Eros and Psyche. We follow both the characters as they battle through forbidden love, betrayal from those they love and a passionate, burning love so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.

The writing style of De Robertis was whimsical throughout the book. I did truly feel like I was reading a mythology retelling and I very much enjoyed the pace with which the book took. I very much enjoyed how De Robertis made the first quarter of the book feel bleak and lacking whereas the rest of the book was full of vividness and freedom.

De Robertis crafted an exquisite novel about two characters already established within the literature world. I will be honest and say that this is the first Psyche and Eros novel I have read but it was beautiful and I found that the passion between the two characters wrecked havoc on my emotions. I loved them from the get-go with one another. They have such a beautiful story.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would easily recommend it to those who enjoy reading mythology!

Huge thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. First of all, it was marketed as a sensual retelling, but I didn't expect the amount of sex scenes. For almost half of the book, it's nothing but sex scene upon sex scene upon sex scene. With Eros, with Eros again but with different genitals, with a tree, with a pestle and mortar... I wish I was making this up. Psyche is borderline obsessed with sex and Eros uses that to shut her up whenever she doesn't want to answer her questions.

Which brings me to another thing that I didn't like: Eros. In this, she constantly refuses to open up to Psyche, and regularly gaslights her so that Psyche feels guilty about her completely normal emotions. She never puts herself in Psyche's shoes or try to understand why she feels what she feels.

The story also felt really unbalanced because it takes 70% of the book for Psyche to do what anyone familiar with the myth knows she will, but then the aftermath, trials and resolution all get rushed in the last 30%.

The writing is beautiful at times, but too often it is over-flowery, one sentence running on and on for an entire paragraph without really saying anything.

The highlight for me was Psyche herself and I enjoyed her growth and her pursuit of freedom. I also liked the portrayal of Aphrodite as a loving mother; I feel like she mostly gets cast as a one-dimensional, vain, petty goddess so it was interesting to focus on another aspect of her.

Sadly, that's not a lot of positive and I can't say I really enjoyed reading this. I probably would have dnfed had I not been given a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

From the start, this book does not flinch away from depicting the brutal misogyny of the time period. Psyche's throngs of suitors are cast into a new light, as this book shows the horrors of being desired by men, as well as the way marriage was viewed during this time.

Plot-wise this book follows pretty closely with the plot of the original myth, although a lot more time is spent exploring Psych's stay in the titular Palace of Eros. This was definitely the right choice to make as it gives the romance time to blossom, as well as allows time to develop Psyche's character. Psyche comes into her own during this time, as Psyche and Eros explore meaning of womanhood and queerness (among other things😏).

I think the author does a good job of exploring the power imbalance between Psyche and Eros, although it's hard to not be aware that whatever agency Psyche has is only because a goddess allows her that. While their relationship isn't perfect, they do work on it and (mostly) resolve all of their problems by the end of the book.

Eros doesn't get as much character development as Psyche. This is fine, because I think this is much more Psyche's story than Eros'. But there are still certain elements I wish had been explored, mainly Eros' use of her powers. Throughout this book, Eros is kind of flippant about the way to uses her arrows to make people fall in love. Although she expresses regret about how she inadvertently ruined Daphne's life, she doesn't show much remorse or contemplation about any other people's lives she affected. The web of power is something Eros contemplates quite a lot, but she seems to cast herself in the role of being powerless to the whims of Zeus, while failing to recognise or address her own power.

I know I said earlier that the story focusing on Psyche living in the palace was a good choice, but it also results in less time spent on depicting Psyche's trials. I stand by this opinion, but this sort of results in the trials being kind of... boring. The original myth focuses much more on the events of the trials as Psyche proving her love for Eros, but in this book Psyche chooses to undergo the trials as a way to forge peace with Aphrodite. This was an interesting choice to make narratively, but ultimately lowers the stakes, especially since Aphrodite isn't even actively bothered with Psyche anymore.

Speaking of Aphrodite, I feel like her depiction was kind of shallow. She's not portrayed as a very complex character, aside from being a jealous goddess. I appreciate that the author shows how much she loves and cares for Eros, but I feel like she could have been explored a lot more.

I have always appreciated how special the myth of Psyche and Eros is, in the way that Psyche is one of few female Greek heroes, and also one of few Greek heroes who gets a happy ending. I think this novel captures the essence of the original myth, as well as expands on it in new and interesting ways.

Ultimately, while there are certain aspects of this book that I wish there could have been more of, the themes that the author chooses to explore, they do an excellent job of.

An unabashedly queer reimagining of the Psyche and Eros myth, Caro De Robertis has written a sensuous, riveting tale that explores being non-binary, what it is to be a woman in a patriarchal world that cannot value anything outside its prescribed ideas even when they do harm, and the little ways we can take back power for ourselves and cut through the web that traps and binds us all. There are several reimagingsof this particular story out at the moment but this is (weirdly) the most faithful even as it subverts classic gender norms. Very much for grown ups - don’t give this to a younger teen or tween - De Robertis writes a tender, nuanced, sensual relationship that must overcome the secrets and obstacles that Eros puts in their way and considers how protection easily becomes restriction and confinement. I really enjoyed this and will definitely be recommending it.

A lovely queer greek myth retelling! Eros and Psyche is actually the one greek story that I'm not too familiar with so this was a nice surprise.

It was a slow read but enjoyable for the most part. I think the ending was a let down for me.

Overall, I did shed some tears and I enjoyed how Eros and Psyche were portrayed - genderfluid Eros ftw!!

I have been looking forward to this book for a while so being given the opportunity to read it early was incredible.
Unfortunately… it didn’t live up to my expectations. The story of Eros and Psyche is one of my favourite myths of all time and The Palace of Eros features a genderfluid Eros, which is so refreshing, making the story a queer romance.
I’m not sure if it helped or hindered that I already know a lot about the story. Some reviews suggest knowing less may have been better. But for me, as a retelling it’s okay. It’s got the gist of the story told in a really unique way.

However, the plot was actually pretty underwhelming. The beginning and climax were good but everything else is very lacklustre. I found it focused heavily on the sexual relationship between Eros and Psyche, which has been done. I was a queer greek mythology retelling that Doesn’t centre on sex. And for a queer “romance”, the romance lacked severely. Eros is the God of carnal love, yes. But as a God he was much more complex than that, and having this Eros be genderfluid would have given the author a beautiful layered story to play with, but instead, sex takes up most of the book.
Psyche was also written pretty poorly. I’ve read enough retellings where she lacks characterisation.

Where the reader was promised “sparkling prose” and a “luminous writer”, there was much to be desired. My biggest issue was the dialogue, there was far too much and so little distinction between voices.

Overall, I just struggled to enjoy this book, which is really disappointing as I was so so excited and wish we had more good queer retellings.


Thank you Netgalley and The Borough Press for the ARC.

Palace of Eros completely took me by surprise. It features a genderfluid Eros, which is quite refreshing, and a queer romance.

While generally familiar with Greek mythology, I didn’t know much about Psyche or Eros (or Cupid, depending on where you look). I can’t comment on the accuracy of the retelling, but I found this novel really insightful.

Unfortunately, that’s where my enjoyment ends with this book. The plot was underwhelming to the point where besides the introduction and climax, nothing happened at all. The plot focused too much on the sexual endeavours between Eros and Psyche. The book failed to explore the romantic side of their romance, which gave the feeling that the entire thing was lust and superficial. (I would like to emphasise that their sex took up a large portion of the book).

The characters themselves weren’t particularly captivating. Eros was the most interesting, while Psyche was unexciting and dull.

On the other hand, the writing style wasn’t something I vibed with. The goodreads summary promises “bold and sparkling prose”, where I found it stiff and wanting. There was a surplus of dialogue, although this was lacking in character and everyone had the same voice.

Overall, I really did struggle to enjoy this book. I would like to credit the author for making it queer, as we always need more queer books. I just wished I’d enjoyed it a little more.

While this book wasn’t quite to my tastes, I wouldn’t discredit it if you’re considering reading it.

A quite lovely, queer greek myth retelling. As is the way with the genre, each retelling is able to find a new angle, a new interpretation and a new way to connect with it's modern audience. This is certainly the case with De Robertis' piece. A beautifully affirming non-binary tale is presented. As a piece of representation, The Palace of Eros is lovely. The relationships showcased between parent and daughter was incredibly intriguing, and certain points of prose felt like flowers blooming in direct sunlight. However, I believe this tale lacks the efficiency needed to keep the reader hooked. At moments the plot felt like it was dragging and unfortunately being let down by the chosen prose, it felt slightly repetitive at times. I found it took a few chapters to be invested in where the story was going, and the prose felt overly flowery at times with little connection or emotion behind the choice. I wanted to absolutely adore this, I found I could not. I did enjoy it overall, as a refreshing new take and retelling, more of that please! Just missing some extra attention to the links between the emotion and prose rather than falling into the trap of believing pretty prose will prevail...

This is such a beautiful book. This Greek myth retelling did not disappoint, and I love it. From start to finish, it kept me thoroughly engaged.

"Why do it, why risk everything?
DidI do it for her?
Or did I do it to be true?"

It needs to be stated, first and foremost, that I read this book as someone who has lived and breathed Greek mythology since I was handed Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief when I was ten years old and so I'm looking at the story through the lens of knowing the myth of Psyche and Eros rather than someone with no previous knowledge.

Having Madeline Miller as one of the tagline recommendations for this book was 100% the right move because this is a book I would classify alongside The Song of Achilles and Circe, in that it is a Greek retelling that adds new layers of depth to the figures you wouldn't have imagined before and it breaks your heart in totally new and unexpected ways. Being familiar with Psyche and Eros I did have expectations for the story/certain plot points I was waiting for Caro De Robertis to hit, and not only were all of those met but I was also so pleasantly surprised by the depth of character development and analysis that I genuinely wasn't expecting. I went into this blind, not having read anything of De Robertis' before, and the level of exploration into gender and sexual identity - along with, as other reviewers have mentioned, the intensiveness of psychological identification - took me SO by surprise. The dual POV is fantastically balanced, with the voice of Psyche and Eros similar enough to be cohesive but different enough to be clear as to establish their own narration, and the writing of some incredible sensitive moments is so well handled and interwoven into the story that I will without doubt seek out *anything* written by De Robertis in future. This is one of the most well-written books I've read this year, and following this love story intertwined with familial expectations, gender fluidity and identity and the existing mythology was one of the best things I've had the chance to do in a long time. I will absolutely be buying a physical copy of this to have and reread, and I cannot wait to read more of De Robertis' work (and hope it hurts my feelings in the best way as this book did).

A bang-up-to-date retelling of the original tale

Taking the origin of Beauty and the Beast and given a historico-mythic and nonbinary retelling brings us The Place of Eros, an opaque but somewhat satisfying romance of mortal Psyche and her secret husband, nonbinary goddess Eros.

Working a fairy tale into a novel takes a lot of work, in fleshing out the world to accommodate the increased word count and necessary plot. What is done right in this is in making the Olympian gods into immortal versions of humans, full of jealousy, spite and vanity. The tiny views of non-human gods are few and far between, making the book a little relentless in its vision of Olympus as policer of Eros's nonbinary body, and the mortal world pne of violence against women, mentally and physically. Late stage cameos by Demeter and Persephone, and a deus ex machina ending (which is appropriate for the original story, less so for a novel) help to bring a sense of an ending, but there are better versions of the Animal Husband and Animal Wife type.

Three stars.

What a beautiful, stunning book this was to read!

I’m generally wary of comparisons to The Song of Achilles, but this is the first book I’ve read where it seems fitting. There’s the same poetic, lyrical writing style, the emotional intensity, and an atmosphere that transports you to another world entirely.

In this book, Eros (known as Cupid in Roman mythology) is reimagined as a shape-shifting, gender-fluid figure, who mostly (but not always) spends their time in a female form. For Psyche, this means re-evaluating everything she has ever known about gender, sexuality, and the roles played by husband and wife. On the occasions when Psyche brushes up against the mortal world again, she is struck by how out of step she feels with Greek society, in a way that felt reminiscent of how many queer people feel today.

Eros also has her own journey, as she explores the different expressions of her own gender. Being a literal god, she is not bound by the rules of human society, but she still has her own obstacles and preconceptions to come up against.

This is a beautifully written, tender study on queerness, told through the lens of an ancient myth. It grabbed my in from the very first page, and wouldn’t let me go until long after it ended. It’s a must-read for anyone who enjoys queer literature, mythology books, and anything in between.

I received a free copy for an honest review.

I am not familiar with Greek mythology retellings. It is a genre I am wary and unfamiliar with, but The Palace of Eros exceeded my expectations.
The story is lush and expertly written while maintaining the author's own direction and substance, making it their own.
I will recommend this book to friends who love Greek myth, because compared to a different overhyped Greek retelling, I prefer this one.

I am a little conflicted about my thoughts on The Palace of Eros. While it is an enjoyable and easy read, it was not quite as complex as I normally like a book to be. I felt it lacked some depth and thoroughness in a few areas, which left me feeling a bit disappointed because I think some concepts from the original mythology could’ve been interesting to incorporate. I do love how themes like gender, femininity, and kindness were explored so that is a major positive.

Such a wonderful premise from Caro De Robertis for "The Palace of Eros" giving us a beautiful, powerful and gender fluid re-telling of the story Psyche and Eros. Unfortunately the writing style didn't work for me. I'm not a fan of flowery, purple prose and there was a lot of it with this book. The plot itself felt a little lacking and was much more character driven focusing on the seduction, romance and blooming love affair between Psyche and Eros which for me wore a little thin quite quickly.

This book will be a must read for fans of books like The Last Tale of the Flower Bride and it genuinely has an amazing heart and powerful message about autonomy, it was just a miss for me based on the writing style which didn't suit my preferences.

2.5*

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | The Borough Press for a digital review copy of "The Palace of Eros" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.