Sweetbitter Song - Rosie Hewlett - ★.½

AUTHOR: Rosie Hewlett

GENRE: Mythological Retelling

PUBLICATION DATE: March 17, 2026

RATING: 1.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A Greek-mythology retelling loosely inspired by the story of Penelope (the wife of Odysseus) and narrated via a minor character. Not faithful to the original myth – this could go either way with readers. Lyrical writing, flawed characters, too much of romance and attraction, too much of feminine rage. Plenty of triggering content. I usually love this author’s works, but this one didn’t end up impressing me. My review is more bitter than sweet, but it is an outlier opinion.

Plot Preview:

The worlds of Melantho and Penelope have always intersected, even though the girls live in different social circles. Melantho is an enslaved girl in the palace of Sparta while Penelope is a princess. When a friendship blooms between them, the royals don’t approve and Penelope is sent away after being made to witness Melantho’s punishment for dreaming beyond her station.

When their paths cross again many years later in Ithaca, Melantho, who is one of the slaves sent to serve Penelope and her new husband Odysseus, is initially determined to stay away. But the lure of Penelope’s personality and friendship makes it tough for her to stick to her resolve. As the war breaks out and Odysseus is forced to fight in foreign lands, the women in Ithaca find themselves facing a new situation, and new freedoms.

The story comes to us in Melantho’s first-person POV.

I have been a fan of this author ever since her indie debut ‘Medusa’ (later republished by Random House after the success of her sophomore work) impressed me. Her second novel ‘Medea’ (also known as ‘The Witch of Colchis’), despite a few flaws, was also a great retelling. In both these novels, you don’t need to know the original story of Medusa and Medea respectively as the author puts her honours degree in Classical Literature to good use by telling us all we need to know without overwhelming us with irrelevant details. Moreover, both Medusa and Medea have compelling roles in Greek mythology, which made them perfect focal characters for a retelling.

However, in this third novel, the lead character isn't Penelope but a slave girl who barely has any role to play in the original myth. And even the little contribution she makes isn't of the inspirational kind but of the interfering kind. As such, I was both surprised and curious to hear that she would be the primary character of this book. While it is good to see a newer (and minor) character get the limelight in this over-saturated genre, it also means that this retelling is actually a reimagination and has little to no basis in the original myth.

Ironically, Penelope had an appearance in ‘Medea’, given how Odysseus is the common link between the two women. But whatever scenes Penelope had in that novel are not just non-existent in this book but also contradicted. It took me a while to delink the two narratives in my head – a tough task as the author of both the retellings is the same.

Nota Bene: In the original myth, Melantho is supposed to be much younger than Penelope and is raised by her “as a daughter.” This book alters the characters’ ages and puts them closer in age and in a different relationship. If you are a stickler for accuracy in retellings, this might be a big red flag. I am still undecided on where I stand about this major change. If it helps, the author has clarified her rationale in this Instagram post.

Bookish Yays:

🤩 The easy explanation of the era and socio-political situation. Even those unfamiliar with Greek mythology will comprehend the story easily.

🤩 Some of the characters (other than Melantho) from Penelope’s handmaidens.

🤩 Lyrical descriptions with some quotable quotes.

Bookish Okays:

🤔 Penelope. The only character I felt like rooting for, even though her detailing was inconsistent. I wish the story had come to us from her perspective.

🤔 The first section of the book went quite well (except for the triggering content.) But given how nothing much happens in Ithaca during the Trojan war, the second section mainly comprises conversations and yearnings and wishes and steam. In fact, for a major chunk of the story, the only action is lustful relations and corporal punishment.

Bookish Nays:

😬 The brutality of several scenes. Horrendous to read. Though this can be partly excused as such graphic content is a part of the original myths as well, the writing appears to make the content more aggravating on purpose.

😬 Melantho as a character – Yikes! So many scenes feel impossible to accept because Melantho’s entitled and judgemental nature. I usually like layered characters, but in this book, the layers just didn’t fit together. The lead character tested my patience throughout.

😬 For a central narrator, Melantho’s first-person POV is surprisingly weak. Her thoughts are dominated by a limited number of topics, and she goes round and round the same.

😬 Given how the story lasts several decades, it’s disappointing to see the lead characters act like hormonal teenagers throughout.

😬 While I accept that stories of feminine rage are rarely true to their times, this one sounds even more aggressive than usual in its portrayal of the prevailing misogyny and the women’s resultant frustration and fury. A certain level of wishful progressive thinking can be accepted as creative license, but this book takes it beyond the limit of believability, especially in the interactions between Melantho and Odysseus. When a historical/mythological work espouses 21st century ideas of feminism, it takes me out of the narrative.

😬 The YA-style writing of the insta-attraction between Melantho and Penelope – the biggest disappointment of the book. Making a mythological story Sapphic is fine, but the love should feel more soulful. (Like the portrayal of the connection between Achilles and Patroclus in Madeline Miller’s ‘The Song of Achilles’ – much better written!) This novel hammers only the physical attraction and calls it ‘love’.

😬 The relationship itself – so unconvincing! I never understood how the duo felt such strong passion for each other. There’s so much red-flag behaviour in each of them! If this is romance, it is a very toxic one.

😬 The inconsistent character development of almost all the characters. They behave the way the plot requires them to behave rather than the other way around. This creates several contradictions, making their decisions seem random instead of a natural result of their personality.

😬 The social commentary on enslavement. Anachronous and awkward coming from the enslaved characters. I also didn’t like the equating of the slaves’ situation with that of Penelope’s limited powers as a queen. Just because an apple and a tomato are both red doesn’t mean they are the same!

😬 Highly overdramatic. This approach suits Hollywood movies better than fiction. The attempts at being meta and commenting on how “history will remember us differently” were probably intended to tug at the heartstrings but instead, they made me roll my eyes.

Overall, this didn’t go the way I thought it would for me. The book could work better for readers who enjoy dark romances with no depth to the characters beyond their attraction for each other and their rage against the rest of the world. But if you want something truer to the Greek myths, better to stay away. I didn’t mind the modification of the original myth, but the resultant new story should have been a well-written and compelling one.

This is the highest rated of the author’s three novels on Goodreads, which baffles me. To me, it is the least impressive by far and easily one of my biggest reading disappointments of 2026. Very clearly, mine is an outlier opinion again. Please check out the other reviews and take a better call on this novel.

I will still read Rosie Hewlett’s next work, but I hope she doesn’t continue with this new tendency of inserting a strong YA tone in her characters and anachronistic modern-day beliefs in their inner monologues and conversations.

I cannot really recommend this novel, but it might work better for YA readers who enjoy tales of feminine rage or Sapphic attraction. Not for those wanting an authentic retelling.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing the DRC of “Sweetbitter Song” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t go better for me.