Artemis Rising by Cheri Lasota- a review

Artemis Rising is young adult story based in the myth of Arethusa and Alpheus and Tristan and Isolde.  The beginning of the story has the main character, Eva, deciding to follow the pagan beliefs of her mother.  She was raised a staunch Catholic, but has decided to follow her mother.  Eva and her mother begin the ritual to dedicate Eva to Artemis, Goddess of the Moon, only to be discovered by her father and the ritual stopped.  They then begin their trip from America to the Azores aboard a ship that belongs to a wealthy man whose son, Diogo, is believed by Eva’s mom to be Alpheus.  The ritual is finally performed by Eva’s mother and Eva dedicates herself to Artemis and assumes the name Arethusa.

There is a storm that blows in and the ship crashes and Eva is rescued by a local boy, Tristao, who takes her to the orphanage where he lives.  And she discovers that she is the only survivor of the shipwreck.  Eva is resigned to the fact that she is on her own now and sets out to follow through with the plans her mother had laid out for her.  Diogo eventually shows up and Tristao is not pleased.  Diogo believes himself to be Alpheus and that Arethusa is his.  Through a series of events, Eva and Tristao are adopted by the padre’s brother, who then tells them of the legend of Tristan and Isolde and that he believes they are the embodiment of them.  Eva questions everything that she has been led to believe, and eventually makes her decision to follow in the path set forth by her adoptive father, as does Tristao.

This is the type of story that I would not normally read, but many enjoyed the story, so I gave it a go.  About half way through the book, I found myself wanting to see what happens next, then the story changed.  It went from the Arethusa and Alpheus legend to Tristan and Isolde.  At certain points I was confused as to which legend I was supposed to be following and honestly had trouble following the story as the storylines branched out.  And, if you’re familiar with the legend of Tristan and Isolde, there is not a happy ending.  This story stops before we find out if the legend comes to fruition.  With that said, I did like the main two characters, Eva and Tristao.  There are some sweet moments between them and the author does a good job of letting you feel their angst.  It was an interesting read.

Reviewed by Vickie M.

Copy supplied by author