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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Brilliant and Tragic Retelling of Theseus and Phaedra, May 30, 2011
This story takes up where 'Ariadne' left off; Theseus presumes Ariadne dead and carries away her younger sister, the child Phaedra to Athens, to keep her until she is old enough to be his bride, for he covets the wealth of Crete.
The story of Phaedra, 'The Goddess on Earth' as representative of the old Goddess religio and of Theseus as he wages on the Goddess religion is brilliantly told by June Rachuy Brindel through the eyes of Aissa, her maid.
One of Theseus' fellow bull dancers, he has already rescued her from King Minos' lechery; she hero-worships him; gradually, as she sees that she and Phaedra are virtual prisoners, that Theseus is waging war on the old Goddess religion, her disillusionment with this Godlike looking man is bitter.
The negative review by Publisher's Weekly of this evocative account is quite undeserved.
This story is in fact reserved as regards any explicit description of sexual relations, too much so in my opinion; told as it is by Aissa, Phaedra's 'maid' we don't know much of the actual relationship between Phaedra and Theseus.
I wouldn't agree the language was inflated, but did think that some more touches of lightness would have made the tragic tale less harrowing. Also, Theseus' degeneration to a tyrant and his loss of all human feeling is perhaps shown as coming on too quickly. However, some might dispute that; in the prequel'Ariadne'he is already by his own account, brutal enough.
I would recommend it to anyone interested in a different 'take' on the Theseus legend than the traditional, heroic one.
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