{"id":43393,"date":"2025-09-09T21:01:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T01:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=43393"},"modified":"2025-09-09T21:01:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T01:01:36","slug":"review-of-lies-we-sing-to-the-sea-by-sarah-underwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=43393","title":{"rendered":"Review of Lies We Sing to the Sea, by Sarah Underwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Lies We Sing to the Sea<\/em><\/p>\n

by Sarah Underwood<\/p>\n

HarperTeen, 2023. 420 pages.
\nReview written March 12, 2023, from a library book
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

Ah! This is the sort of book I was hoping to read by being on the Morris committee! (It came after two in a row that I didn\u2019t finish.)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure if Lies We Sing to the Sea<\/em> is based on an actual Greek myth or embellished as a history of Ithaca after the story of Odysseus. But the premise is that Ithaca was cursed and every year has to offer twelve maidens to Poseidon, or the sea will ravage the island and kill many others.<\/p>\n

As the book begins, Leto, the daughter of the last oracle, has received the mark of Poseidon \u2013 scales around her neck \u2013 so she\u2019s sentenced to be hung with eleven other maidens. She almost escapes at one point, and of course we think that\u2019s going to happen, because it\u2019s the start of the book. We get the perspective of the prince as well, who hates to oversea the deaths of twelve girls every year.<\/p>\n

But it actually happens. Yes, she meets eyes with the prince \u2013 but then Leto actually dies by the noose and her body is swept into the sea.<\/p>\n

The next chapter, though, introduces us to Melantho. She lives alone on an island. She has become Poseidon\u2019s creature. And she takes twelve bodies out of the water.<\/p>\n

But then one of the dead girls opens her eyes \u2013 as one has done many times before, but decades ago. Leto is the twelfth girl to wash up alive on Melantho\u2019s island. And it will be up to her to break the curse \u2013 by killing the prince.<\/p>\n

We know it won\u2019t be easy. After all, the prince is a viewpoint character, not some nameless evil guy. He doesn\u2019t even want to order the killings.<\/p>\n

And then Leto manages to bring Melantho with her as she leaves the island, something that\u2019s never happened before. Together, they go back to Ithaca, posing Leto as the prince\u2019s betrothed from Athens, and equipped with the power of Poseidon over the waters of the sea. Leto needs to kill the prince, and she needs to do it in the sea.<\/p>\n

The story from there is woven expertly with twists and turns. Each character has secrets and back story that come out only gradually. They all want to break the curse, but will they be able to do it?<\/p>\n

Fair warning, there\u2019s some sex in this book, but not very closely described. Something that struck me as interesting was that this was the second young adult book I\u2019ve read recently where a main character loves two people \u2013 but it\u2019s not presented as a love triangle or even a choice she has to make \u2013 she simply loves both of them. I\u2019m not quite sure how I feel about that, but in this particular book it worked out believably.<\/p>\n

And the writing in this book is lyrical and beautifully woven \u2013 appropriate for a mythological tale.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing this review at the start of my Morris reading, but now I know that whatever we pick, they\u2019re sure to be excellent \u2013 because this is one of the choices. It\u2019s always wonderful in committee reading to find that first book you would be proud to include as your winner \u2013 and know that our choices are only going to expand.<\/p>\n

sarahunderwood.uk<\/a>
\nEpicReads.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/lies_we_sing_to_the_sea.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood HarperTeen, 2023. 420 pages. Review written March 12, 2023, from a library book Starred Review Ah! This is the sort of book I was hoping to read by being on the Morris committee! (It came after two in a row that I didn\u2019t finish.) I\u2019m not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,42,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-starred-review","category-teen-fiction-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45706,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43393\/revisions\/45706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}