Science Fiction & Fantasy
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Lies We Sing to the Sea
A legendary YA debut. This dazzling sapphic fantasy inspired by Greek mythology will captivate fans of Circe and The Song of Achilles.
Each spring, Ithaca condemns twelve maidens to the noose. This is the price vengeful Poseidon demands for the lives of Queen Penelope's twelve maids, hanged and cast into the depths centuries ago.
But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand.
The prince of Ithaca must die-or the tides of fate will drown them all.
Sarah Underwood weaves an epic tapestry of lies, love, and tragedy, perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Alexandra Bracken, and Renée Ahdieh.
Each spring, Ithaca condemns twelve maidens to the noose. This is the price vengeful Poseidon demands for the lives of Queen Penelope's twelve maids, hanged and cast into the depths centuries ago.
But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand.
The prince of Ithaca must die-or the tides of fate will drown them all.
Sarah Underwood weaves an epic tapestry of lies, love, and tragedy, perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Alexandra Bracken, and Renée Ahdieh.
Editorial Reviews
"Gorgeous, tragic, and timeless, Lies We Sing to the Sea makes an age-old story feel new again. This is Greek tragedy at its best: sweeping in scope yet deeply intimate in characterization. This book will break your heart and you'll be grateful for it." - Grace D. Li, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief
"Lies We Sing to the Sea is a lyrical, elegant debut bursting with imagination and heart. Underwood expertly weaves a tale about the inevitability of fate-and the love that makes us rail against it anyway. Bittersweet and wholly cathartic." - Allison Saft, New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic
"Overflowing with emotion and full of magic." - Jennifer Saint, internationally bestselling author of Ariadne
"A wondrous tale of love, death, and sacrifice. The vivid characters give depth and adventure to a story with roots in classic Greek mythology." - Natasha Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of Skin of the Sea
"Sarah Underwood's classical reimagining is woven with pure magic: salt-laced myths, a plot that slowly unravels like a tapestry, and vivid characters who are destined to steal your heart. A scintillating, beautiful debut." - Rebecca Ross, internationally bestselling author of A River Enchanted and Sisters of Sword & Song
"Sarah Underwood gives a brave, ferocious voice to a character who richly deserves one. Filled with knife-sharp banter, smoldering romance, and twists that will tear your heart to pieces, this is the story about one of Penelope's doomed maids that was always waiting to be told. " - Heather Walter, author of the Malice duology
"Prepare to be utterly wrecked by this brilliant, lyrical, queer, feminist af book. Lies We Sing to the Sea grabbed my heart from the first pages and I couldn't put it down. Utterly brea...
"Lies We Sing to the Sea is a lyrical, elegant debut bursting with imagination and heart. Underwood expertly weaves a tale about the inevitability of fate-and the love that makes us rail against it anyway. Bittersweet and wholly cathartic." - Allison Saft, New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic
"Overflowing with emotion and full of magic." - Jennifer Saint, internationally bestselling author of Ariadne
"A wondrous tale of love, death, and sacrifice. The vivid characters give depth and adventure to a story with roots in classic Greek mythology." - Natasha Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of Skin of the Sea
"Sarah Underwood's classical reimagining is woven with pure magic: salt-laced myths, a plot that slowly unravels like a tapestry, and vivid characters who are destined to steal your heart. A scintillating, beautiful debut." - Rebecca Ross, internationally bestselling author of A River Enchanted and Sisters of Sword & Song
"Sarah Underwood gives a brave, ferocious voice to a character who richly deserves one. Filled with knife-sharp banter, smoldering romance, and twists that will tear your heart to pieces, this is the story about one of Penelope's doomed maids that was always waiting to be told. " - Heather Walter, author of the Malice duology
"Prepare to be utterly wrecked by this brilliant, lyrical, queer, feminist af book. Lies We Sing to the Sea grabbed my heart from the first pages and I couldn't put it down. Utterly brea...
Readers Top Reviews
openmypages
“'We are more than our actions,' said Leto. 'We are the way we love others and the way they love us back.' And the way that others will ruin themselves in our absence, the way that no one else will ever be good enough for life to be worth living." ----------- Each year twelve women in the failing kingdom of Ithaca must follow the sacrifice of Penelope's twelve handmaids to protect the kingdom from Poseidon's wrath. Leto is a young oracle who has been chosen as one of sacrifices for the year. She faces her own hanging and somehow survives, washing up on a mysterious island with another survivor, Melantho. She teaches Leto to survive in her new body, which transforms whenever water touches it and presses for Leto to return to the kingdom to break the curse. Leto wants not only to end the curse but vengeance on the royal family who killed her mother and herself. But when she arrives, the prince is a little more dashing than she remembers and she struggles with the task ahead. As they research more into the source of the curse and what might break it, the three become much closer bonding over the trauma the gods have caused in their lives. This one has some beautiful lesbian love, if you liked The Song of Achilles this one will be right up your alley, a great balance of action, magic and queer love. Thanks to Harper Collins Childrens for advanced access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.
Liz Hopenmypages
Lies We Sing to the Sea is a YA fantasy that takes The Odyssey and Greek mythology as a jumping-off point to tell a new tale about love and sacrifice. Centuries after the events of The Odyssey, all is not well on the island of Ithaca. Every year, the community sacrifices twelve “marked girls,” one for each of the 12 maids of Queen Penelope hanged after the return of Odysseus, to placate the god Poseidon. But still the community suffers, with parts of the island uninhabitable, bad harvests, and a dysfunctional royal family. Leto, the daughter of the island’s vanished oracle, is one of this year’s girls. But what happens after she goes to meet her death on the beach reveals a world of magic, secrets, monsters, and a possible escape for the girls of Ithaca . . . and Leto herself. Likes: The budding romance between Leto and a mysterious woman named Melantho is the lifeblood of the book. Leto and Melantho are beautifully developed, with strong backstories. There are several romance tropes at play here (a major love triangle, enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers); I don’t read much romance, but I felt they worked well in the context of the book’s plot. The magical powers and settings are fresh, carefully thought out, and bring a lovely touch of fantasy to an otherwise pretty realistic book grounded in historical details. The ending kept me reading up through the last page. Myths don’t tend to have happy endings for all the characters, and this book stayed true to the source material in that regard. Dislikes: the middle of the book, which takes place at the Ithacan palace, felt slow to me. There’s a “will they or won’t they” romance that dragged a bit. I also felt there were a few minor storylines and scenes that were unnecessary, especially around the characters of Alexios and Olympia. But overall, I really enjoyed the book. FYI: murder, violence, sexual assault, suicide, death of a parent, death of a sibling, death of a child, death of a loved one. Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for my advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
