Styx: The River by Nikita Gill is the second book in her Goddesses of the Underworld series, following Hekate: The Witch.

The book is a novel in verse, rather than a conventional prose fantasy novel, and runs to around 416 pages in the standard edition.

What is it about?

Styx moves further back into Greek mythology than Hekate. The story begins a generation before the events of Hekate: The Witch and focuses on Styx, the divine figure who becomes the personification of the river Styx in the Underworld. Gill takes a relatively obscure figure from Greek mythology and makes her the centre of a coming-of-age story about sisterhood, identity, power, love, motherhood and war.

Styx is presented as the firstborn child of the Titans. Initially she is important within her family, but she gradually becomes overshadowed by her many siblings, particularly the Oceanids and Potamoi. Her relationship with her family and her growing awareness of the oppressive structures surrounding the female gods become central to her development.

One of the most important relationships is with Asteria, Styx’s cousin. The two develop a powerful friendship and sisterhood, training together in creation and magic while trying to understand their place in the increasingly dangerous world of the Titans. Their relationship appears to be one of the emotional foundations of the novel.

The Greek mythology in Styx

What makes Styx particularly interesting is that Gill isn’t simply retelling one famous Greek myth. She is building an entire story around the mythology surrounding a comparatively minor deity.

In ancient Greek mythology, Styx is both a goddess and a river. The river separates the world of the living from the Underworld and is particularly associated with divine oaths. Gods who swear an oath by the Styx are bound by it in an exceptionally powerful way.

Nikita Gill takes that relatively limited mythological identity and asks a much larger question: Who was Styx before she became the sacred river of the Underworld?

That gives Gill considerable freedom to invent a personal history for her. The book consequently explores the period of the Titanomachy, the great conflict between the Titans and the younger generation of gods led by Zeus.

Connection to Hekate

This is probably the most interesting aspect for someone who enjoyed your previous work on Hekate: The Witch.

The two books form part of Gill’s Goddesses of the Underworld series. The planned sequence is:

1. Hekate: The Witch
2. Styx: The River
3. Nyx: The Night — currently announced for 2027.

However, Styx is not simply a conventional sequel to Hekate. It goes backwards chronologically, beginning a generation before Hekate’s story. That means Gill is gradually constructing a larger mythological history for her female Underworld figures.

The trilogy therefore has the potential to become something considerably larger than three isolated retellings. Gill is effectively creating a shared mythology centred on the female deities associated with the Underworld and the darker aspects of Greek mythology.

Themes

The descriptions and early material suggest that Styx continues Gill’s interest in reinterpreting Greek mythology from a female perspective. Her Styx is dealing with a world in which women and goddesses are frequently defined by their relationships to more powerful male gods.

The book consequently looks at female rage, patriarchal power, identity and the struggle to determine one’s own destiny. The publisher describes it as a story of sisterhood, identity, love and war, while early critical commentary has particularly highlighted its treatment of feminine rage, generational trauma and the cost of war.

Interestingly, the publisher’s book-club material also reveals that prophecy plays an important role through Asteria and Styx. This brings another classic feature of Greek mythology into the story: the tension between fate and free will.