Her Dark Wings

October 2, 2023
Though the tiny island of Daly is known as a place where Greek gods and humans cohabitate, 17-year-old Corey Allaway has never encountered one of the gods, nor has she experienced anything unusual. But when her former best friend, Bree Dovemuir, drowns during an annual festival, Corey—convinced that Bree’s death wasn’t accidental, especially after she had wished harm on Bree for stealing her boyfriend—searches for answers. She soon stumbles upon Hades and a gateway to the Underworld. Despite Hades’s ominous warnings, Corey’s curiosity leads her further into the Underworld where she meets the three Furies and a pantheon of gods. As she copes with Bree’s death, Corey unearths unique powers of her own and struggles to manage her burgeoning feelings of internal darkness and figure out where she belongs. Salisbury (Hold Back the Tide) delivers lyrical if occasionally overwrought prose amid an inventive backdrop of Greek mythology and ritual. The author’s rendering of Corey’s turmoil as well as characters such as introspective Hades and enigmatic Oracle highlights a skillful command of emotional depth in this intense fantasy. Most characters read as white. Ages 14–up.

October 1, 2023
A fresh take on the Persephone and Hades myth told through the eyes of a modern teen girl. Seventeen-year-old Corey has grown up on the Island, where Greek gods and their mythology pervade the community's culture and serve as their religion. Corey feels most at home when spending time with her friends and family and working in her garden. When Corey's boyfriend, Alistair, unexpectedly leaves her for her best friend, Bree, Corey is certain they'll now be enemies for life. But on the night of Thesmophoria, the Island's ancient annual celebration, Bree drowns in the lake. While Corey grapples with confusion--a combination of her ongoing hatred for Bree, mixed with the shock of sudden grief and nagging guilt--she finds herself pulled into the world of the Greek gods she's grown up with. She's dragged through the river Styx into the Underworld, where she joins Hades and other familiar figures, including Hermes and the Furies. This is an enjoyable interpretation of the story of Persephone and Hades with plentiful nods to perennially popular figures and tales from Greek mythology. While the plot occasionally drags and the worldbuilding is a little fuzzy, Salisbury realistically captures the tension, anxiety, and rage of a teenager who's been betrayed by people she trusted against the backdrop of a darkly atmospheric setting. Main characters read white; there is some racial diversity among secondary characters. Original and compelling. (Fantasy. 13-18)

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January 1, 2024

Gr 9 Up-Persephone from Greek mythology is reimagined for today through Corey Allaway, who lives on an island somewhere off the coast of Great Britain. Corey's people pray to the old gods and follow some ancient traditions. Corey is in a funk because her former best friend, Bree, is now involved with Corey's ex-boyfriend, Ali. At one time Corey and Bree were inseparable, so this betrayal hits extremely hard. At the annual Thesmophoria, Corey meets a masked boy whom she kisses, hoping Ali will see her. Later she discovers this masked boy is Hades. When Bree, who is a strong swimmer, drowns, Corey believes Hades heard her thoughts and granted her wish to end Bree's life. In despair for what she thinks that she has done, Corey visits the Underworld. The Furies take her on in the hope that she will become one of them. The story is not exactly faithful to the original myth and does include archaic Greek words that may be unfamiliar to readers. The detailed descriptions of the Underworld, especially Erebus where the Furies live, will keep readers enthralled. The Furies are depicted as vengeful to the shades inhabiting the Underworld but find kindness for Corey. VERDICT Purchase where retellings of Greek myths are popular, although knowledge of the myth is not required to appreciate this recast version.-Elizabeth Kahn

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 22, 2023
Grades 10-12 There are winter days when the wind blows the wrong way and we hear the singing far out at sea; I've seen people with my own eyes being held back from the icy water, swearing they're being called."" On the small, isolated island where Corey has grown up, otherworldiness is a part of life. Bree, her best friend, is eager to leave, but for Corey, the island is home, and she loves it with the same fierceness that she loves Bree. So when Bree betrays her, Corey's anger is equally fierce: she wishes Bree dead. And then Bree drowns. Trapped between grief, guilt, and rage, Corey never expects to see Bree's spirit leaving for the Underworld, and even less to be whisked away to the Underworld herself. It's a grim land where she meets the vengeful but intoxicating Furies and the reticent, compelling Lord of the Underworld himself. Salisbury's writing, itself ethereal and otherworldly, captures Corey's physical and emotional journeys. Mythology retellings are numerous and beloved, but this unusual, poetic take on the Persephone myth stands out.

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