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The Door in the Mountain

par Caitlin Sweet

Séries: Ariadne (1)

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WE ARE ALL MONSTERS Lost in time, shrouded in dark myths of blood and magic, The Door in the Mountain leads to the world of ancient Crete: a place where a beautiful, bitter young princess named Ariadne schemes to imprison her godmarked half-brother deep in the heart of a mountain maze, where a boy named Icarus tries, and fails, to fly--and where a slave girl changes the paths of all their lives forever.… (plus d'informations)
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Received from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This is a reworking of the story of the Cretan King Minos, his family and the most famous monster of all: The Minotaur.

Everyone wants to be "GodMarked" (giving them fantastical powers) but not everyone gets so "blessed". Minos has an internal fire burning in him, and this can overspill sometimes with flames blasting from his skin. Pasiphae, his wife, controls water. Her son, Asterion, is born of heat and gods, to become one of the most iconic of figures. Icarus' mark has him sprouting feathers, but ultimately is unable to fly, not matter how hard or often he tries.

Ariadne is not the sweetness and light the myths may have lead you to believe. She is unmarked, jealous and manipulative. She only gets worse as she gets older and her younger step brother develops his GodMark powers into becoming the bull he was destined to be.

Her parents are the worst type of dysfunctional - her father is going slowly mad, frequently confronted with his wife's infidelity with her god, Poisden, every time Minos is with the bull-boy. Pasiphae realises her son is her most powerful tool, and flaunts his status in front of all who care to notice. Ariadne has the chance of friendship when younger, but turns away from this due to jealousy, and it only becomes worse as she gets older. Meanwhile, Minos develops a way to deal with the Bull Boy (and all his other "enemies"), as well as waging war on the Athenians who killed his son, which sets up the story of the Minotaur, the labyrinth and the biannual sacrifice of 14 Athenians.

I knew all the Myths and Legends as a kid (a LONG time ago) and whilst I remembered the important bits - bull, labyrinth, ball of wool so as not to lose one's way, etc etc, I had forgotten enough of the smaller pieces to appreciate that the author has taken some liberties, but none are to the detriment of this story. I dont know if knowing the original myth is a help or not - it allows the reader to predict what happens next (and the likely result of the second/final book in the series) but then the author has made it different enough to beg the question "would it matter if you didnt?".

It did drag a little at the end, but the author has left the story at a point where Theseus has turned up ready to confront the Minotaur. Apparently pitched at the YA market, this is a challenging book - not because of any inappropriate scenes - but because of the need to see it through to the end.



  nordie | Oct 14, 2023 |
While I enjoyed The Door in the Mountain, by Caitlin Sweet, I’m not jumping up and down with excitement over it. It’s a retelling of the Greek myth about the Minotaur, Asterion, through the eyes of Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete, and a slave girl, Chara. The story contains all of the major players from the myth, including Daedalus, Icarus, and Theseus. It’s full of vivid imagery, and the world came alive easily in my mind. However, there were times when the pace got slow enough for me to get a bit bored.

I’m fond of the growing trend of telling old stories and myths from the perspective of the “evil” characters. Ariadne is one of those characters. As a little girl, I felt sympathy for her because of how Pasiphae, her mother, treated her. However, I also disliked her. I could see what she was becoming in order to get attention and approval. My dislike continued to grow as she became more and more conniving, deceitful, jealous, and hateful. Near the end, though, there was a moment I pitied her. I never truly hated her. Instead, I understood that she would never be redeemed because that’s all she knew how to be.

Despite the pacing issue, I still recommend reading this book. It’s a quick read, at a little over 200 pages, and anyone who loves Greek mythology will enjoy it. ( )
  FortifiedByBooks | Jan 5, 2021 |
Sweet takes Greek mythology as her inspiration, and blends and reinterprets classic elements into her own fantasy tale.

I appreciated the two main conceits of the book:
First, the two main characters, rather than being the 'special' ones with unusual powers, are actually the only two developed characters who do not have powers and are just ordinary.

Second, the main viewpoint character is the 'bad guy' rather than the hero.

Both of these are not at all what is usually seen in fiction for young people, and were quite refreshing.

Unfortunately, ultimately, the book as a whole didn't work for me. The author kept teasing me with a dark, mythological feel, but then the tone would slip into a more contemporary-YA thing that reminded me of 'Percy Jackson.' The fact that we're dealing with teens who've inherited powers from, or may be the children of, Greek gods, adds to that. Now, I don't care for Riordan's writing; many many people do - so your mileage may vary.

However, my main issue with the book is that I found Ariadne's character unconvincing. She is consumed with jealousy & resentment and filled with a drive toward vindictive, destructive actions... but why? There's a nod given toward her not living up to her mother's dreams; the old chestnut about wanting to be daddy's favorite girl. Of course, a certain amount of jealousy of an older sibling toward a younger might be normal - but what's shown here goes way beyond normal (it's murderous!), and I wanted to be given reasons to buy it. I didn't find those reasons. While I don't judge the quality of a book on the likability of its characters, it's still worth a mention that Ariadne is a thoroughly nasty person to have to spend any amount of time with.

In contrast, the slave Chara, who works against Ariadne's plots, is thoroughly wonderful. Clever, generous, loyal, accepting all indignities with equanimity... she's just too perfect.

My other issue was simply that: this is a retelling of the story of the Minotaur. Icarus is also a major character. I feel like the book is aimed at readers already familiar with the associated myths. Therefore, we anticipate the inevitability of certain outcomes. And... we don't get them. The book ends abruptly, with an appended 'teaser' chapter for the sequel. I don't always hate a setup for a sequel... but I just didn't feel that the 'shape' of the story arc here felt complete.

A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley for review. As always, my opinions are solely my own.
( )
  AltheaAnn | Feb 9, 2016 |
Caitlin Sweet approaches ancient Greek mythology from the YA market with a dark retelling of Ariadne and the minotaur's labyrinth at Crete.

Sweet's world shudders with the power of the gods. It seems near everyone but Ariadne has some eldritch and scintillating ability, mostly misdirected and excessive. Therein lies the undercurrent of Sweet's story: Ariadne's envy of the gods-given powers bestowed on everyone but her, but most especially her envy of her brother who is the minotaur.

One would think with such powerful myth and motivation Sweet's story would sweep away the reader, but somehow the story stutters under the weight of all that adolescent angst. Ariadne becomes a predictable and unlikeable antihero who whines and plots and inflicts pain as though that were her own god-given power.

Unlike Sweet's earlier novel, The Pattern Scars, there is a lack of depth in The Door in the Mountain, a parsimony in her former elegant phrasing, character development and narrative arc. It is a readable story, indeed quite consumable. But for this reader it is a disappointing second novel, lacking the considerable talent of her earlier work. ( )
  fiverivers | Nov 19, 2014 |
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.

The Door in the Mountain is set in the Greece of mythology. Ariadne is a princess, daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae. In this world, special children are god-marked, which means they are chosen by the gods and given special powers. Embarrassingly for Ariadne, she isn’t god-marked.

Her baby brother, Asterion, is god-marked, and her parents, along with everyone else, think he is very special. Ariadne wants to be the special one, so in an early chapter, she lights him on fire. He doesn’t die; instead, he transforms into a powerful bull. For the rest of his life, every time fire touches him, he transforms.

Ariadne makes it her mission to get rid of him. When she succeeds, he becomes the Minotaur inside the Labyrinth of legend. This is all inspired by the ancient Greek myth, so Asterion’s eventual fate isn’t a spoiler.

The book is told from Ariadne’s perspective, which can be grating at times, since she is a very unpleasant person. Every time I thought she couldn’t get any worse, she did outdid herself. I did feel the occasional pang of empathy for her, but they didn’t last for long.

The standout character in the book is Ariadne’s slave, and Asterion’s best friend, Chara. Chara proves an excellent foil to Ariadne: kind, caring, friendly, loyal, brave.

The entire book was a gripping page-turner, so of course, it ends with a cliff-hanger. The second and final part will be released next year, and if it’s anything like the first, will be thrilling.

This review originally appeared on gnomereviews.ca. ( )
  gnomereviews | Sep 24, 2014 |
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WE ARE ALL MONSTERS Lost in time, shrouded in dark myths of blood and magic, The Door in the Mountain leads to the world of ancient Crete: a place where a beautiful, bitter young princess named Ariadne schemes to imprison her godmarked half-brother deep in the heart of a mountain maze, where a boy named Icarus tries, and fails, to fly--and where a slave girl changes the paths of all their lives forever.

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Caitlin Sweet est un auteur LibraryThing, c'est-à-dire un auteur qui catalogue sa bibliothèque personnelle sur LibraryThing.

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