While Girl Goddess Queen had a bit of a pacey start for me, it all ironed out by a quarter of the way in. By half way, I couldn't put this read down. This book cleverly gives a contemporary feel on the low-down without shredding today's vocab into the mix and still keeping a historical Greek mythology feel. For sure, this is a fun re-enactment, lots of joy and laughs but with serious undertones. Girl, Goddess, Queen is a thoroughly modern retelling that turns the story of Hades and Persephone completely on its head, breathing new life into the classic mythos. Fun side characters and a hopeful coming-of-age heart make this one of the most entertaining reimaginings in an ever growing list of them. Readers were expecting wonderful things from Bea Fitzgerald’s debut, and it doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. I am keeping this spoiler-free, but all I'm saying is: this book is AMAZING! From the side characters such as Styx, to the other inhabitants of the Underworld, to Persephone herself. She is the perfect example of strength! I loved this version of Hades, and I will forever love these two and their three-headed dog. This book is my top favourite of Hades & Persephone retellings and nothing else comes close to it. It works. I see my words land, the wince across her brow, her outstretched hand faltering. I don’t even feel guilty when tears spring to her eyes. I want her to cry. I want her to feel a fraction of the pain the thought of marriage causes me. I want her to realize just how much I don’t want this. My eyes fall to the floor, and even that is enough to hurt me, staring at orange tiles I might never see again, the home I’m leaving – one way or another. ‘Yes, Mother.’

Our Persephone, traditionally portrayed as sweet tempered and kind, is transformed into a daring and fabulously fierce (Ancient Greek) Girl Boss, determined to seek out happiness by any means necessary—even if it means taking on the patriarchy in all its toxic, oppressive forms. Mother jumps, glancing around like an Olympian could be lurking around the corner, like she hasn’t spent the last decade weaving intricate magic to bar the uninvited from our island. ‘Don’t say things like that, Kore!’ she scolds. ‘No one will believe that a woman who talks of attraction is virginal. Do you want people to believe you’re a whore?’ Mother laughs sharply. ‘Hilarious, Kore. I know you think I’m sending you off to a fate worse than death but I wouldn’t send you to the actual realm of it.’I think the books main issue was it’s length. It had no business being as long as it was and it was bogged down with a lot of filler. I felt like every scene was dragged out between chapters and it would have worked better if it was dual perspective for this. If you’re familiar with YA romantic comedies, you’ll know that they’re often built on a hefty dose of misunderstandings, jumping to conclusions and conflicted characters not voicing aloud how they really feel. That’s all true here, as Persephone and Hades dance around their true feelings, both of them frightened of ruining the special bond they’ve formed. The romance is perfectly paced, complementing rather than overriding the anxieties and expectations that both characters wrestle with throughout the book. Yet the more serious sides of the book – the themes of toxic masculinity and coercive control – never feel too heavy either. It’s a careful line that Fitzgerald balances admirably with a sharp wit and genuine understanding of the simultaneous contemporary and historic issues she’s writing about. I swallow and my hands are trembling but I manage to keep my expression neutral. I want to scream that she’s wrong but I honestly don’t know if she is and I think if I try to say anything I might end up crying. even though the author has gone in a direction that at times I found twee and unbelievable, she clearly has done her research. I think she's probably aware that Persephone and Demeter predate most of the Olympians by about a thousand years, that we have pretty compelling evidence for this and that Hades was added on as an after thought much later when a more patriarchal religion subsumed those early goddess worship cults. (Fun fact but there is nothing in the earliest records to suggest that Persephone - who had another name which was secret because she was so feared and respected as goddess of death and destruction - was ever Demeter's daughter. They may have been sisters; Persephone may have been the mother; they may have been the same goddess in different guises.)

To escape an arranged, and possibly incestuous, marriage, Kore - repressed daughter of Zeus - escapes to the pits of hell. But seeking sanctuary with Hades - God of the Underworld - has unforeseen consequences and Kore discovers not only an unlikely alliance, but becomes the great Persephone, chaos bringer. Persephone has way too much 'candy' in narrative terms and the plot does not offer her enough hardship to compensate. I literally find it impossible to choose just one quote to share, so [insert 100 favourite and memorable quotes] here. I stared from god to god, no one giving me any indication of what I’d done wrong. They had asked me a simple question. I had given a simple response. Now everyone watched me from the shaded porticoes of the Throne Hall, their distorted faces reflected on the bronze pillars that ringed the room. I had no idea what they wanted, no idea why everyone suddenly seemed tense. A few people glanced to my father whose glower was so fierce he could have passed for one of his own statues. She spends the majority of the novel talking about how she doesn't want to get married and how she doesn't want a man to touch her. Again, that's fair, I'm all for body autonimity. But. She voices this on multiple occasion, takes offence at the slightest implication, at the first chance a man even looks in her direction - but then! she is utterly confused and hurt even that when she actually wants it, a man is scared she's gonna call r3pe on him. I mean girllll! How is he supposed to know you now want it if you don't explicitly consent? Or even better, how is he supposed to know when all she does is lie to everyone and be proud of it, but the first instance she doesn't get told something, she is outraged and threatens to burn the world down. Boys/men, if you ever read this, and find a woman who fits this description irl, do not walk, RUN! This is a huge red flag and Hades should have ran too. He deserved better.Now all she has to do is convince the Underworld's annoyingly sexy, arrogant and frankly rude ruler, Hades, to fall in line with her plan. A plan that will shake Mount Olympus to its very core.

Zeus is an interesting character but we don't see much of him and there is just a glimpse of the other gods, though Styx makes more of an appearance than most. Demeter is annoying because she just wants what's best for her daughter though she never once actually listens to her daughter and what she wants, and then Persephone goes through a rebellious phase, all the while coming to terms with how she has been treated by her mother which gets mentioned. A. Lot.

Funny how this story has a main romance sub-plot, but good lord was it so DRAGGY AND BORING. I was bored to death. Literally. There were parts where Persephone and Hades was just sweet but the slow-burn that I feel the author was aiming for... didn't work well in this story. It felt anticlimatic, and when they finally got together... I somehow ended up being super annoyed with Persephone when she was with Hades. Like I get it ... but I do want to slap you so there's that. I feel that whilst their friendship was explored well, the pining didn't really work out for me, which really made me dissapointed as I wanted to love it so much but I just couldn't. Personally, the most interesting part of the book for me was the reasoning as to why she had to split her time between the earth and the underworld (but I shan’t spoil what it is :P). Bring[s] to life timeless gods, the complex intimacy of family bonds, a fierce protagonist, and a passionate slow-burn romance." Sue Lynn Tan, Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess. Thousands of years ago, the gods told a lie: how Persephone was a pawn in the politics of other gods. How Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his bride. How her mother, Demeter, was so distraught she caused the Earth to start dying. I seem to be in the minority with this review but I didn’t really enjoy this book and I at times, found it quite dull. I adore a Hades and Persephone retelling and I have read my fair share of them in my time but this just felt a bit flat. I think the premise was there but the execution just didn’t work for me.