I’ve loved mythology stories since elementary school, and 2023 has been an unexpectedly fun year for them. From VenCo to Thief Liar Lady to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, this year has served up a number of remixes on tales from the past. The best of these stories, in my opinion, do more than simply refresh the tale. They add depth to characters you thought you understood, or breathe new life into powers and magic systems. And like the best hard fantasies, by unlocking new power systems, they force a reflection into our own.

It’s funny, then, that you don’t see that many Mythology books that center around a mystery premise. The best mysteries achieve many of the same goals, using many of the same tools. Mysteries are a great way to inspect the mechanics of society – what allows a murder to happen? By introducing a shift in our status quo – a murder, or a mythological world – an author can reflect back what makes us tick.

Threads that Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou tackles that overlap. It’s a murder mystery, set an in alternate world – one where the descendants of gods inherit their powers. Amazingly, Hatzopoulou allows for multiple mythologies at once. And so we get to see what happens when you mix mystery and myth..

Mysteries and resolutions

Let’s start with the mystery, or the murder. Io Ora, our protagonist, is descended from the Fates. This gives her, among other powers, the ability to see “life threads” that symbolize connections – with people, with places with abstract concepts. This is quite helpful in her job as a private investigator, where she can track cheating lovers and other mishaps. Io lives and works in the Silts – the wrong side of the tracks – and is sometimes her clients’ only recourse.

Threads are critical, even vital to human life. So when Io comes across a murderer with a frayed life-thread, she’s both confused and alarmed. The police are unlikely to give it attention, but she finds another sponsor for her investigation. Despite a lifetime of avoiding attention from gangs, Io partners with Bianca, the Mob Queen. Bianca assigns her to work with Edei Rhuna, an immigrant from not-Egypt.

Their joint investigation takes them from the Silts, through police HQ and politically central Nines House, to the wealthiest parts of town. Edei and Io both share their histories, with Edei’s immigration experience and background opening another layer of storytelling. Each of these elements of the investigation allows the duo to explore the layers of power that shape Alante.

We end, however, on a cliffhanger. And in some ways, it’s an excellent one – it certainly made me excited to see the world expand. But for the purposes of societal exploration, it falls a bit flat. It’s difficult to say a story explores society when its climax reveals a totally unexplored area. In other words – to the extent that we’re trying to understand “how well does this story use murder to explore society”, the answer seems to be “stay tuned”…

A multi-faceted mythology

Well, then, what about the mythology side? Hatzopoulou gives us hints of an expansive world, one where Greek and Russian and Egyptian myths (at least) combine. This is perhaps the most unique element of her approach – after all, it took Rick Riordian five books to acknowledge the existence of non-Greek mythologies and allow them to mix. It’s refreshing to see an author ask, “what would happen if all the gods were real?” Not only that – many of the gods referenced are “lesser” gods – not Zeus or Aphrodite, for example, but the Fates and the Muses.

The magic system that derives from this blend of gods is extremely interesting. Different characters have entirely different sets of powers, but all have defined strengths and weaknesses and limitations. Some characters seem better able to make use of their gifts than others – the daughters of the Muses effectively rule Alante, for example. And while we get to see some more general-purpose demigods (i.e. fear) take on our protagonists, it’s not at all clear what would happen in most one-on-one battles. Philosophically, it’s an interesting take, exploring how sleep or fear or attachment may leave you vulnerable.

But that leaves open the question – not, in my opinion, sufficiently explored – of why these magic-users are truly second-class citizens. To be fair, this is not a Hatzopoulou-specific challenge. It’s interesting to write from the POV of a magic user and an underdog, so we like to make our Special Folks underdogs. And yet… I couldn’t find a truly compelling explanation for why these folks weren’t more in charge.

The variety of gods were also a mixed blessing; they somehow felt both like an overwhelming number and too few. I really appreciated how much I learned about minor gods from a variety of religions, but it did become hard to keep track of the powers. Every new god-child made me want to look up the associated mythology, just to confirm the power set (which is not necessarily a bad thing). But selfishly, I also wanted to see my own beliefs represented in the world – for which I suppose I’ll just have to wait.

A high density of world-building potential

So – where do we land after all this? Threads that Bind is a fascinating start to an interesting, rich world – and an incredibly dense one. There are a few bright spots of concrete reflection, particularly on the philosophical elements of the mythology and magic. But between the murder and the mythology, Hatzopoulou spins up a series of different plot threads, few of which resolve. If you take this as the start to a series, that’s totally fine! But from a societal exploration standpoint, I found myself wanting more depth and a little less breadth.

To be clear, I will be eagerly awaiting the next entry in the series! In many ways, this is exactly where you’d expect the first book to land. I just hope that when it comes out, it delivers on the promise of that expansive world, and the exploration of society that comes with it.

Until then – stay cozy, and stay curious!