Dark of the Moon

Dark of the Moon manages to be historic fiction as well as a retelling of a well-known myth, and as such, it’s extremely well-done. Ariadne, the Goddess-Who-Will-Be, is in many ways a normal 15 year old girl, insecure in some ways, chafing against the life she’s always known while at the same time embracing impending adulthood with all its responsibilities. She lives on ancient Krete and her mother is viewed to be the incarnation of the Goddess (Aphrodite/Venus). Her mother’s brother rules as the Minos, someone who makes a lot of everyday decisions as ruler although his sister is the real power. Every year, during the Spring Festival, they participate in certain rituals (the Minos wears a huge bull’s head) and then the Goddess chooses a consort for 3 days, after which he is killed and his blood sprinkled in the fields. If she becomes pregnant from those 3 days, the child is viewed as deity, and will one day rule in his or her parent’s stead.

Unfortunately, the oldest boy of the current Goddess-incarnation, Ariadne’s brother, is disfigured, misformed, gigantic, mentally-simple, and as a result is viewed as a monster. Kept in rooms beneath the palace because he is a menace to others, his attempts at playing with other children have resulted in their deaths. From this has sprung the legend of the Minotaur. “It isn’t true what they say about my brother—that he ate those children,” begins the prologue. “He never did; he didn’t mean to even hurt them. He wept…”

Meanwhile, we turn to Theseus’ point of view. He’s grown up different from the other boys in his home town, and his mother claims he was sired by a god. One day he finds things left to him by his father—an old sword, a pair of sandals—and sets out to find the truth. When he discovers he is the son of the king of Athens, a man who looks bored and a new queen who looks murderous, he embellishes his adventures along the way. They in turn send him off to Krete, where he plots to overthrow the government, only to find out it’s not what he thought it was. It’s all too easy to see how fact can turn into myth.

Tracy Barrett’s retelling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur is inspired. She looks dispassionately at where the myth could have sprung form, and comes up with a plausible origin. She even comes up with a new twist on the story of Medueus, who famously killed her own children. Along the way, she includes plenty of historic settings and glimpses into ancient religions. I found Dark of the Moon really well-done. It has wide appeal—anyone who enjoys a well-told tale, not only those interested in myths and legends or history, will like it. I highly recommend it.

“It was a good book—nicely told and very interesting,” says Ilsa, 14. “I liked how creative it was, and I liked seeing things from a different point of view. I liked the character of Ariadne, and how she dealt with conflicts in her life.”

Tracy Barrett is also the author of King of Ithaka, an imaginative retelling of the Odyssey from the point of view of Odysseus’ son Telemachos. I hope she continues to bring her outlook and fresh perspective to bear on other myths and legends; I look forward to reading more from her.

Elizabeth loves books that offer a fresh look at old tales. Read more at her blog Planet Nomad.