I enjoyed this book. However I think a large part of the reason why is that I'm not overly acquainted with the story of Oedipus and so I found it really easy to take the book out of its context. And without the context, I found it to be a very exciting, gripping read.

Despite that, however, I still found it incredibly odd that Haynes decided to almost completely omit the incest. I understand that retellings will never be completely true to the original works, but to cut out the entire point of the story seems like a strange choice. This did knock half a star off my rating, as it just doesn't make sense to me. 

It also didn't feel right that the story was supposed to bring light to the women in these myths, and yet one of the most important parts of Jocasta's story- her suicide- was told entirely from the male perspective of Oedipus. We had no insight into what she may have been thinking and feeling that led her to the act, which didn't make a lot of sense in a book about her.