A Simple Ball of Yarn

Dark of the Moon


Written by: Tracy Barrett

Released: September 19, 2011 by Harcourt Children’s Books

Summary: Ariadne is destined to become a goddess of the moon. She leads a lonely life, finding companionship only with her beloved, misshapen brother Asterion, who must be held captive below the palace for his own safety.

Then a ship arrives bearing a tribute of slaves from Athens, and Ariadne meets Theseus, the son of the king of Athens. Ariadne finds herself drawn to the newcomer, and soon they form a friendship—one that could perhaps become something more.

But Theseus is doomed to die as an offering to the minotaur, that monster beneath the palace—unless he can kill the beast first. And that "monster" is Ariadne’s brother . . .

I know that this story is base on the ancient myth about the minotaur and the labyrinth, but I have to confess that that’s about everything that I knew about the legend. Well, that and that there was a ball of string involved. So I went into reading this novel not fully knowing what was going to happen and having no clue what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome, though.

This novel alternated between Ariadne and Theseus’ perspectives, which really made it easy to follow the “love story” aspect and everything else that happens. Normally I’m not too keen on the alternating perspectives, but it really works for this novel, so I really didn’t give it a second thought. It also was interesting to read about how minor details can completely change a person’s perspective on something that happens... but I don’t want to give anything away.

I was catapulted into the world that this story encompasses and it was hard to put down my e-reader. I’m pretty sure that I read this novel in just about one sitting (one afternoon at least) simply because I needed to know what was going on and what was going to happen to the characters. It was also just this fascinating read and knowing that it was also based upon an old legend, it makes me really want to look further into the origins. But the way that the story unfolded on the page, I can easily see it being how it actually could have been before it was misconstrued and details were either elaborated or changed to make for a better story; it was logical while still being mythical.

I loved the characters that this novel introduced. Aside from Ariadne and Theseus, the secondary characters really added something else to the story and they kept you guessing. Unfortunately, my loan of the eARC has expired, so I can’t name names, but if you get a chance to read the novel, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

In short, I enjoyed reading this novel. It may not have been what I would normally pick up, but it was a nice change and very interesting. I’m giving it a 7/10.



My thanks to netGalley and Harcourt for allowing me to read an eARC of this novel.