This second novel from Nebula Award-winning John Wiswell brings a humanizing, redemptive touch to the Hercules story in this mythological fantasy for fans of Jennifer Saint and Elodie HarperHeracles, hero of Greece, dedicates all his feats to Hera, goddess of family. Heracles’ mother raised himto revere Hera, as her attempt to avoid the goddess’ wrath. Unbeknownst to Heracles, he is yet another child Hera’s husband, Zeus, had out of wedlock.Hera loathes every minute of Heracles’ devotion. She finally snaps and sends the Furies to make Heracles kill himself. But the moment Heracles goes mad, his children playfully ambush him, and he slays them instead. When the madness fades, Heracles’s wife, Megara, convinces him to seek revenge. Together they’ll hunt the Furies and learn which god did this.Believing Hera is the only god he can still trust, Heracles prays to Hera, who is wracked with guilt over killing his children. To mislead Heracles, Hera sends him on monster-slaying quests, but he is too traumatized to enact more violence. Instead, Heracles cares for the Nemean lion, cures the illness of the Lernaean hydra, and bonds with Crete’s giant bull.Hera struggles with her role in Heracles life as Heracles begins to heal psychologically by connecting with the monsters—while also amassing an army that could lay siege to Olympos.Nebula Award-winning author John Wiswell brings his signature humanizing touch to the Hercules story, forever changing the way we understand the man behind the myth—and the goddess reluctantly bound to him.
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3.5 stars, rounded up.
I absolutely love the premise of this novel. It’s not a retelling in the normal sense — rather, it’s an alternate version of the familiar story of the Labors of Heracles/Hercules. But Heracles befriending the monsters brings an endearing twist to this well-known story. One of the stand-out aspects is the relationships Wiswell creates between his characters, whether that’s the pure love Heracles shares with the Nemean Lion (“Purrseus”), or the contentious friendship between Hera and Athena, or the impossibly complicated thread binding Hera, Heracles, and the Fury (“Granny”) together in their trauma.
The dynamic between Hera and Heracles in particular is such an unusual one and just ripe with tension, and Wiswell writes grief and reckoning with a masterfully deft touch. This is where Wearing the Lion really shines: it manages to be both incredibly dark and incredibly funny at the same, which is not easy to pull off. I knew the death of Heracles’s children was coming (it’s right in the official blurb and also the original story) but it still hits like a freight train when it happens. And such horrific moments will be followed by exchanges of dialogue or goddess-ly thoughts that are natural to the scene and also genuinely hilarious.
Unfortunately, although there is a lot to love here, this novel definitely struggles in its pacing. At the end of the day, twelve labors is a lot to fit into a story like this, and it does start to feel repetitive, especially when the reader already knows what the labors are and whom Heracles will find at the end of them. The story is told in alternating viewpoints of Heracles and Hera and often they overlap, so you read the same scene again from the other character’s POV. The version I read had 395 pages; it probably shouldn't have more than 300.
Wearing the Lion is ultimately about breaking cycles of family trauma, facing mistakes, and healing together. It’s a warmhearted cozy read, and while it won’t have your heart racing or your pages flipping desperately to find out what happens next, Wiswell’s humor and kindness isn’t to be missed.
Big thanks to Netgalley and DAW for the e-ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review.
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