Book Review: Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald

Format: ebook
Published: July 20th, 2023
Age: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Goodreads

Rating: 5/5 Stars

If you like pining, a touch of angst, excellent character growth and a soft, gentle Hades paired with a fierce, ambitious Persephone, do I have the book for you.

You will spend this whole book yelling at the characters to just confess their feelings already! Fitzgerald gives us some really great misunderstanding scenes – where every word has a double-meaning, and though we understand perfectly well what is being said, Persephone, very fairly, takes away the wrong thing.

It’s a really good version of the story. Here, Persephone takes the lead. She has agency, and propels the story forward, firstly when she flees to Hades to escape marriage, then when she gives herself a new name, unhappy with the “naïve girl” meaning behind Kore that her father bestowed on her, and when she discovers her powers might not be limited to flowers.

I loved how ambitious Persephone was, right from the start. There’s plenty of commentary on the patriarchy, represented here by Zeus, and shown to damage not just women, but men, as well. Hades is soft and gentle, presenting a tough exterior to the majority of his court just to remain safe in his realm. He’s gentle and creative, in ways that are seen as feminine, but just as he helps Persephone hide from her parents, she helps him hide his true talents, taking steps necessary so they can remain in peace.

The two characters worked really well together – they both want what’s best for the realm, have both had to hide parts of themselves, and can both ‘act’ well enough to fool the court, sort of, kind of, well, of course, the fake marriage rouse has both of them wrestling with their own feelings, and scared that, for the other, it really is all pretend.

The chemistry was great, too, and you can see how deeply these characters care for one another, how well they understand each other. When they’re united in their goals, they’re formidable, and as the three courts of the gods teeter on edge of war, it’s down to Persephone and Hades to work out what, exactly, is happening to have the humans dying in droves, how to keep the peace, and how best to maybe tear down an empire without letting on.

Another relationship I really liked here was the one between Persephone and Demeter – it’s messy and complicated, and for Persephone, stifling and difficult. But there’s also a deep love there, the kind of love that sees Demeter making certain choices to try and keep her daughter safe, while not realising how much it is damaging to Persephone.

Persephone is headstrong, stubborn, and kind; one of the first things she does when she arrives is try and work out a way to make the Underworld better for the human souls inhabiting it. She feels like a young woman really stretching her wings and realising the true extent of her own power, and on top of this we get a great romance between her and Hades.

I truly, thoroughly loved this one, and if you’re in the mood for a Greek retelling that puts Persephone’s fate in her own hands, I definitely recommend this one.

Thank you to Penguin for providing me a copy of this book via NetGalley – views remain my own.