Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara | Spoiler-Free Review

“By learning to truly love someone else, you learn to love the world. And yourself, which may be even harder.”

Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara is a retelling of the Greek myth of, you guessed it, Psyche and Eros. Psyche is a fierce warrior-princess with a prophecy stating she will defeat a monster even the gods are scared of. Eros is a primordial entity trapped under the arm of Aphrodite, forced to do her bidding. When Aphrodite orders Eros to strike Psyche with one of his desire-laced arrows, the two unknowingly fall headfirst into a dangerous, whirlwind romance. But can their love stand the test of time? And more importantly, can it stand the test of the gods themselves?

Okay friends, time for another mythology lesson! The story of Eros (or Cupid) and Psyche is first seen written down by Roman author Apuleius in the 2nd century AD in his novel Metamorphoses, also called The Golden Ass, though they were seen in Greek artwork as early as the 4th century BC. Apuleius tells their story as such: 

A king and queen of an unnamed country once had three daughters, all very beautiful. The youngest, Psyche, was so beautiful that her subjects began neglecting the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite, and instead paid their offerings to the princess. Enraged, Aphrodite sent Cupid (sometimes her son, sometimes a primordial god) to prick Psyche with one of his arrows and make her fall in love with a hideous creature. Instead, Cupid scratches himself with his own arrow, which makes him fall madly in love with the mortal girl. Knowing this would bring Aphrodite's wrath down upon them both, he hides this development from the goddess.

Meanwhile, Psyche's sisters have been married, but she herself has gotten no offers of matrimony. Concerned, the king consults the oracle of Delphi, who tells him that Psyche will indeed be married, but to a creature so horrible even the gods fear it. Distraught, the king and queen dress Psyche in funeral attire and leave her on a craggy outcropping outside of their city, as a sacrifice for the monster that is to be her husband. 

Psyche is whisked away by Zephyrus, the West Wind, to a palace attended by invisible servants, who cater to her every need. On her wedding night, a figure enters the darkened bedchamber and tells Psyche that she must never look upon his face, for he is a hideous creature. But her new creature-husband treats her kindly, and she began to look forward to his nightly visits. 

After a while, Psyche grows homesick and asks if her sisters may come and visit her. Cupid, for that is indeed who her husband was, relents, but tells her she must not tell her sisters who he is. When her two sisters are deposited at the gates of her palace, they are shocked and enraged at Psyche's obvious wealth. They needle her about her husband, and when she doesn't answer their questions, they tell her that she is a fool who has been tricked into marriage with a dragon, who will soon devour her. 

That night, Psyche's doubt in Cupid and her new life leads her to bring a candle into the bedroom, something she was expressly forbidden from doing. Expecting to see a monstrous dragon, Psyche is overwhelmed with awe when she sees Cupid's godly face. So enamored by his beauty, she allows the candle to tip in her hand, and a drop of the hot wax falls onto Cupid's chest, waking him. When he sees Psyche standing over him with a light, he flees in horror, filled with heartbreak and betrayal. He goes to Aphrodite and tells her what has happened. 

Aphrodite, furious at this turn of events, appears to Psyche and tells her that her betrayal has caused Cupid to become gravely ill. She can heal him, but only if Psyche completes three impossible tasks for the goddess: gather golden wool from the sheep of Helios; sort a mountain of grains; and travel to the underworld for a vial of Persephone's beauty. Psyche, who is currently pregnant with Cupid's child, agrees to the tasks, under the condition that she and Cupid will be reunited afterward. 

Psyche is helped by an odd manner of both gods and creatures, and she manages to complete her three tasks. (I would tell you how she does this, but the length of this story is already getting away from me.) Cupid and Psyche are brought to Zeus to plead their case, and Zeus grants Psyche immortality, making her goddess of the soul. Psyche gives birth to the Voluptas, who is the goddess of Pleasure.

Whew, okay. Sorry about that! I didn't think telling that story would take so much time. Now back to Luna McNamara's version of the myth. 

In Psyche and Eros, many things are different from the original tale. For one, Psyche is trained as a hero, and so she is proficient in hunting, running, and fighting. Eros is unaware of his wife's unusual upbringing at first, but he soon embraces it wholeheartedly. Psyche is trained by Atalanta, a great hero herself. 

In fact, there are a lot of name-drops and crossovers with other, more known myths from Greece. Psyche is cousin to Iphigenia and Elektra, whom you may know as the daughters of Agamemnon. She is present at Helen and Menelaus's wedding, and meets Achilles, Patroclus, Odysseus, and Penelope. Her tale is taking place at the same time as the Trojan War, and that plays a big part in her development as a character. 

I have to admit I was a little nervous that the author chose to deviate so far from the original myth, but the changes and additions were done in a way that felt natural. Anyone who doesn't know the story would not be confused by the extra characters, and might even feel relieved to see other names they would possibly recognize. So as much as it hurts my little Greek classicist heart, I think the choices Luna McNamara made were well done. 

However, I still cringed more than once at the romance. I'm sorry, I can't help it! Some of the decisions the characters made were just so ridiculous and ill thought out (like having sex at the entrance of the Underworld) that I can't justify their actions. I'm sure someone who is less of a cynic than me would think that their romance was beautiful and inspiring, but I can't get over how dumb these characters were. That being said, we did get some gorgeous lines from them, like this: 

“We were not in thrall to destiny or fate, but merely the weight of our own choices. When we turned toward each other like flowers facing the sun, we were not fulfilling some prophecy or old story. We were writing our own.”

I would recommend Psyche and Eros to readers who like fated romance, headstrong characters, and autonomous, decisive women. 

I gave this novel a CAWPILE score of 6.86, which comes out to 3.5 stars.

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Okay, I really didn't mean for this to be so long! I just love comparing the original to the new when I read Greek myth retellings. Also, if the original myth of Cupid and Psyche seems familiar to you, that might be because it was the inspiration behind A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Mass. It's also the inspiration behind Beauty & The Beast, in case you didn't make that connection either. It's not one of my favorites--partially because it's actually a Roman myth, not Greek, and partially because Psyche is a very passive heroine, she hardly does anything on her own--but I can appreciate the influence it's had on pop culture. 

I'd love to know your thoughts on this book, if you've read it. I know it's a brand new release so I understand if you can't get your hands on it for a while. But please leave a comment below, or DM me on Instagram (link in sidebar under the heading "More Media") if you have any thoughts!

Until next time, friends!