Persephone: Verdammt mächtig

Why I Stayed: Why is it so hard to leave a toxic partner? A retelling of the Persephone myth in modern times by the winner of the 2023 Seraph Fantasy Award for Best Debut. "I don’t want to stay with him, but I’m afraid to leave. With me by his side, he remains predictable. But if I separate, I fear not only for my existence but for the world’s as well." Encouraged by Medusa's trial, the spring goddess Persephone tries to free herself from her forced marriage to Hades, the ruler of the underworld. She dreams of a peaceful life in the upper world. However, both her body is bound to the underworld, and her soul, after millennia in the realm of the dead, is poisoned. Desperate for her freedom, she risks her divinity, while Hades, in return, is willing to plunge the worlds of the living and the dead into chaos to get her back. Only in his trap does Persephone realize that there is a third option besides submission or fleeing: fighting.