Jul 31

Jul 31 The Palace of Eros

About the book

Author: Caro De Robertis
Publisher: Atria

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

The Palace of Eros was one of my most anticipated books this year. Caro De Robertis, author of Cantoras and other phenomenal books, is one of my favorites. So when I heard that they’d written a queer, gender-fluid Eros and Psyche retelling, I was ON BOARD. And I enjoyed it very much.

What stands out first is the really beautiful prose. De Robertis is a master of style. In this book, the prose definitely tips into what some would call “flowery” (which isn’t a bad word in my book), although in my opinion that worked well for what they were trying to achieve: a divine voice.

I did think the book felt a tad long — perhaps repetitive — but that didn’t stop me from liking the book as a whole. Tbh, I think if Eros’ POV had been in first person and Psyche’s POV had been in third (instead of the other way around), it would have helped a lot. Eros was just more interesting to me than Psyche.

All in all, I really liked this exploration of gender nonconformity and what it means to be your authentic self. The fact that it was a Greek mythology retelling was just the icing on the cake. If that sounds like your thing, definitely give this one a shot!