Book Reviews

By Natasha Pulley
03/18/25
416 pages
$32
Bloomsbury Publishing

‘The Hymn to Dionysus’

I can never get enough mythological retellings. Ancient stories retold for a modern audience attract me like a moth to flame. I spent so much of my childhood enthralled by stories of gods, monsters and mythic adventure that getting to relive it as an adult just feels right.

Dionysus has always been a fascinating god, with a hundred weird and wonderful myths. In this telling, Natasha Pulley pulls out all the stops to make this story as wild, intimate and confusing as the gods themselves.

Phaidros is a Thebean soldier who has never seen the home he fights for, never met his parents, and who is thrust into tangled knots of politics over and over again, forced to follow orders he doesn’t understand. As he matures, he finds himself struggling and experiencing strange and terrifying things until he finds himself caught up in something he never could have predicted. 

This is a difficult book to discuss without spoilers, but there is so much to love about the rich characters, beautifully wrought settings and absolutely masterful writing. If you’re looking for something that will challenge and delight you — something different, something wild — this is the book for you. ♦ 

— Review by Julie Goodrich

By Laura Steven
02/27/25
352 pages
$20
Wednesday Books

‘Our Infinite Fates’

Romance is having a capital “M” moment. There’s so much of it being published, it’s dizzying to know how to even begin to find the gems amid the fluff. For those looking for something a little different than the typical bodice-ripper, this beautifully epic tale is a great place to start.

Evelyn and Arden are ancient souls with a lot of baggage. They’ve fought the same fight throughout time, living hundreds of lives that always end with Arden murdering Evelyn. Time and again, Evelyn sees the end coming but can’t stop it. This time, however, she is determined to stop the fate she’s faced so many times before. She’s going to find Arden first and fight for this life she’s built.

Told in alternating chapters between the current iteration of the pair and a variety of their past lives, this is a book filled with longing, regret and a unique spin on the concept of soul mates. I found the history fascinating and the writing felt poetic, like listening to an ancient epic. I was enthralled in a way that most romance fails to do for me. If you are looking for something soaring and heartbreaking this winter, I can’t recommend this one enough. ♦

— Review by Julie Goodrich