Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

Stone Blind Reviews

• 
  jessica

  this book has an image of medusa on the cover. the story is subtitled ‘meduas story.’ so shouldnt the main character/focus of the book be… i dont know… medusa??? lol.
  
  im so genuinely disappointed that medusa only really appears in about 30% of this novel, if you were add all of her appearances together. the predominate focus of the novel is on the gods, their petty squabbles, and their revenge schemes against each other. because of this, medusa is reduced to just a minor player in the gods lives, rather than her being the story itself.
  
  so im a little bitter about that.
  
  however, this actually is a really good story! i enjoyed reading about the gods one-upping each other, how they use mortals to achieve their goals, and everything in between. i found them to be very entertaining and enjoyed how their characters are written. the overall narrative is also quite nice.
  
  i just wish either 1) this had more medusa or 2) this hadnt been pitched/advertised as a medusa story. :/
  
  ↠ 3.5 stars
• 
  Robin

  ↠5 stars
  
  As the only mortal of the Gorgons, Medusa knows true weakness. Residing with her sisters in their windswept cave by the sea, she and the Gorgons are fully at the mercy of the whims and desires of the gods. When the sea god Poseidon enacts a violence against her in the Temple of Athene, Athene takes her revenge, transforming Medusa from a young woman into a monster. Armed with a head full of snakes and a piercing gaze that can turn any viewer to stone, Medusa becomes a proper Gorgon. Resigned to never harm a living thing, she retreats to a life of solitude, until a quest blinded by arrogance places the hero Perseus on her shores. With quests and complicated deals at play, limiting the scope of her power may be impossible when divine intervention reigns supreme and women are mere tools for the beings above.
  
  Natalie Haynes transforms the Medusa story we’ve been fed into a layered history of the women at its center and the monster we’ve all been taught to fear. Stone Blind delivers exactly the kind of retelling I have been craving, inexplicably rich, lyrical, and wound up in tragedy. Distinctive with this one is the emphasis on the intersection of time and place, with all characters that coalesce in the Medusa myth. There is not a singular focus on the figure of Medusa, as Haynes grasps at the threads binding the story together, fashioning an elaborate tapestry that rivals that of Athene. I was pulled into the story almost immediately with Medusa’s golden childhood by the sea, completely torn asunder by the acts of violence against her by Poseidon and Athene. Like the tide returns to the sea and back again, there is a constant give and take in Haynes’s narrative, with seemingly insignificant events that take shape, strike, and then fade into the background. Every action leaves behind an echo that lingers, leaving an imprint on every event that takes place further on. There are a broad range of voices present, from godly beings to nymphs, and even animals lending their eyes to the narrative voice. With every delicate line and merciless moment, Haynes dismantles the complex relationships and powerful forces at play within the Medusa myth, creating a wholly authentic view of the monster and existing as a woman within the sphere of the gods. As the focus shifts back to Perseus, it's clear that existing in spite of these overtly monstrous qualities can equate to a loss of agency in the wrong hands. Stone Blind is the kind of story that will forever be imprinted upon me, long after I have managed to look away from its pages. Natalie Haynes crafts a Medusa retelling that will withstand the test of time, bringing new meaning to the Medusa figure and every woman held within the confines of her myth.
  
  Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Trigger warnings: rape, death, sexual assault, violence
• 
  Will Byrnes

  Perseus…has no interest in the well being of any creature if it impedes his desire to do whatever he wants. He is a vicious little thug and the sooner you grasp that, and stop thinking of him as a brave boy hero, the closer you’ll be to understanding what actually happened.

  --------------------------------------

  Who decides what is a monster?

  When Natalie Haynes wrote Pandora’s Jar, a collection of ten essays on the women in Greek myths, she included a chapter on Medusa. In nine-thousand words she offered a non-standard view of the story of heroic Perseus slaying the gorgon. But the story stayed with her, well, the rage about the story of how ill-treated this supposed monster had been, anyway. If the feeling remained that powerful for so long, it was a message. She needed to devote a full book to this outrage in order to get any peace. Thus Stone Blind.
  
  
  Natalie Haynes - image from Hay Festival
  
  We learn how Medusa came by her notable do. After being sexually assaulted by Poseidon in one of Athena’s temples, the goddess was appalled. No, not by the rape. I mean a god’s gotta do what a god’s gotta do. But that he raped Medusa in Athena’s temple! Desecration! Well, that cannot go unpunished. So, Athena seeks revenge on Poseidon by assaulting Medusa, figuring, we guess, that this might make Poseidon sad, or something. Uses her goddess powers to turn Medusa’s hair to snakes and her eyes to weapons of mass destruction. Any living creature she looks at will be lithified.
  
  
  Image from Mythopedia - Head of Medusa by Peter Paul Rubens – 1618
  
  Then there is the other half of this tale, Perseus. We are treated to his dodgy beginnings, another godly sexual assault. He is not portrayed here as the hero so many ancient writings proclaim. Decent enough kid, living with his mom, Danae, and a stepfather sort, until mom is threatened with being forcibly married to the local king, a total douche. Junior tries to make a deal to get her out of it, said douche sending him on a seemingly impossible quest. Good luck, kid. I mean, seriously, how in hell can he hope to bring back a gorgon’s head?
  
  
  Image from Ancient Origins
  
  Zeus feels a need to help the kid out. I mean, Perseus may be a bastard, but hey, in Greek mythology, that would put him in the majority. Am I right? Still, he is Zeus’s bastard, so Pop does what he can to help him out, sending along two gods to coach and aid the lad as needed. Hermes and Athena snark all over Perseus, pointing out his many weaknesses and flaws, while providing some very real assistance. They may not hold the kid in high regard, but neither can they piss off the boss. Very high school gym, and totally hilarious.
  
  
  Image from Wiki - Perseus Turning Phineus and his followers to stone by Luca Giordano – 1680s
  
  Which should not be terribly surprising. Haynes is not just an author and classicist, but a stand-up comedian. You can glean what you need to know about her comedic career from the Historical Archivist interview linked in EXTRA STUFF. There is plenty of humor beside godly dissing of Perseus. Athena (referred to as Athene in the book) tries to talk an unnamed mortal into signing on to a huge battle between the Olympian gods and the Giants, new powerhouse versus the current champs. It is clearly a tough sell.

  ‘If you get trodden on by a giant or a god – which wouldn’t be intentional on our part, incidentally – but in the heat of battle one of us might step in the wrong place and there you’d be. . . . Well, would have been. Anyway, it would be painless. Probably very painful just before it was painless, but not for long.’… ‘Come on. If you do die, I’ll put in a word for you to get a constellation. Promise.’

  There are plenty more like these, including a particularly shocking approach to relieving a really bad headache.
  
  
  Image from Scary For Kids (reminds me of the nun I had for eighth grade)
  
  But the whole quest experience uncovers Perseus’s inner god-like inclinations. He becomes an entitled rich kid with far too many high-powered connections helping him out. And develops a taste for slaughter. When Andromeda sees a knight in shining armor, come to save her from certain death by sea monster, her parents suggest that “Maybe, Sweetie, you might consider how gleeful he was when he was murdering defenseless people?” Or noting that if he had really been solid on keeping promises he might have headed straight home to save his mom with that snaky head instead of stopping off to frolic in blood for a few days.
  “This boy’s gonna be trouble, Andy.”
  
  
  Image from Classical Literature
  
  The gods have issues. The Housewives of Olympus could well include some unspeakable husbands, who seem to have a thing for forcing themselves on whomever (or whatever) catches their eye. As a group they are always on the lookout for slights, insults, or minor border transgressions. What a bunch of whiny bitches! But with power, unfortunately, to make life unspeakable for us mere mortals, whose life expectancy is not even a rounding error to their eternal foolishness. Medusa, in that way, was one of us. There is uncertainty about Perseus.
  
  
  Image from Talking Humanities
  
  Sisters abound. Apparently, triple-sister deities was a thing for the ancient Greeks. We are treated to POVs from Medusa’s two gorgon sibs, and look on as Perseus hoodwinks the three hapless Graiai sisters, who are doomed to having to share a single eye and a single tooth among them. (Could you please wipe that thing off before you pass it along?) The Nereids are more numerous (50) and a bit of a dark force here.
  
  
  From Greek Legends and Myths – by Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901)
  
  Never one to stick to a single POV, Haynes offers us many discrete perspectives over seventy-five chapters. Fifteen are one-offs. The Gorgoneion leads the pack with thirteen chapters, followed by Athene with eleven, Andromeda with eight and Medusa with seven. There are some unusual POVs in the mix, a talking head (no, not David Byrne), a crow, and an olive tree among them. Haynes dips into omniscient narrator mode for a handful of chapters as well.
  
  
  Image From Empire
  
  As noted in EXTRA STUFF, there is a particularly offensive sculpture of Perseus holding Medusa’s severed head. Not only has he murdered her, he is standing on her corpse. You can see how this would piss off a classicist who knows that Medusa never hurt anyone. Damage done by her death-gaze was inadvertent or done by others using her head as a weapon. And this supposedly brave warrior killed this woman in her sleep. Studly, no? And with all sorts of magical help from his father’s peeps. What a guy!
  
  
  Image from Smithsonian American art Museum – by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer – 1915
  
  Natalie Haynes set out to tell Medusa’s story, and it is completely clear by the end that the monstrosity here is the treatment this innocent female mortal received, at the hands of abusers both male and female. Haynes keeps the story rolling with the diverse perspectives and short chapters, so that even if you remember most of the classic myth there will be plenty of mythological history you never knew. You will also laugh out loud, which is a pretty good trick for what is really a #METOO novel. The abuse of the powerless, of women in particular, by the powerful has been going on only forever. Haynes has made clear just how the stories we have told for thousands of years reinforce, and even celebrate, that abuse. Next up for her, fiction-wise, is Medea. I can’t wait.
  
  
  Image from Smithsonian American Art Museum – by Alice Pike Barney - 1892
  
  Medusa may not have been a goddess, but it seems quite clear that Natalie Haynes is. This is a wonderful read, not to be missed.

  He’s just a bag of meat wandering round, irritating people.’

  
  Review posted - 02/24/23
  
  Publication dates - Hardcover
  ----------UK - September 15, 2022 Mantle
  ----------USA – February 7, 2021 – Harper
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This review has been cross-posted on my site,
  Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!
  
  
  Image from Wiki by Caravaggio – 1597
  
  =============================EXTRA STUFF
  
  Links to the author’s
  personal,
  Twitter and
  Instagram pages
  
  Interviews
  -----The Bookseller -
  Natalie Haynes on challenging patriarchal historical narratives and championing female voices by Alice O’Keeffe
  -----CBC -
  Natalie Haynes on the fantastic and fearsome women of Greek myth
  -----LDJ Historical Archivist -
  Brick Classicist of the Year 2023 Natalie Haynes - video – 16:46 - this is delicious
  -----Harvard Bookstore -
  Natalie Haynes discusses “Stone Blind” - video 1:03:55 - - This is amazing! So much info. You will learn a lot here.
  
  My review of other work by the author
  -----2021 (USA) -
  A Thousand Ships - Helen of Troy and the women of the Homeric epics
  
  Items of Interest
  -----Wiki on
  Gorgoneion
  -----The Page 69 Test -
  Stone Blind - a bit of fluff
  -----Widewalls -
  An Icon of Justice - Or Something Else? A New Medusa in a NYC Park - interesting contemporary sculptural response to a classical outrage.
  
  
  Left: Benvenuto Cellini - Perseus holding the head of Medusa, 1545–1554. Image creative commons / Right: Luciano Garbati - Medusa With The Head of Perseus, 2008-2020. Installed at Collect Pond Park. Courtesy of MWTH Project - images and text from Widewalls article
  The MWTH (Medusa with the head) image is sometimes accompanied by the ff: “Be thankful we only want equality and not payback.”
• 
  Sujoya

  “I’m wondering if you still think of her as a monster. I suppose it depends on what you think that word means. Monsters are, what? Ugly? Terrifying? Gorgons are both these things, certainly, although Medusa wasn’t always. Can a monster be beautiful if it is still terrifying? Perhaps it depends on how you experience fear and judge beauty.”
  
  The mortal daughter of the sea god Phorcys and Ceto, Medusa is raised by her Gorgon sisters, Sthenno, who treats her as if she were her own child, and Euryale who loves her no less. (”we are one, but we are many”). She leads a sheltered life under the loving care of her sisters for sixteen years until she becomes the object of desire of Poseidon who violates her in the temple of Athene. Athene’s rage manifests in the form of a curse. Overnight, Medusa transforms into a Gorgon – anguished not only by the painful physical transformation but also unable to look at any living creature without it turning to stone. Her transformation into a Gorgon also seals her fate. Perseus is on a quest to capture the head of a Gorgon, not without the assistance of Goddess Athene, Hermes, and others who arm him with whatever he would require to complete his quest successfully.
  
  Multiple characters (gods, demigods, nymphs, mortals and even a talkative crow) take us through the events that lead to Perseus’ encounter with the Gorgons and beyond. My only complaint is we don’t get much of Medusa’s own voice telling her story (which is what I was expecting.) Though Medusa or rather Medusa’s head does share her PoV, her voice felt overshadowed by that of Athene. I loved how the author describes Medusa’s childhood years and her relationship with her sisters. Medusa’s story is a sad one. She did not deserve the treatment she received from Poseidon, Athene or Perseus. Not only does Natalie Haynes do a brilliant job in voicing her innocence, helplessness and fear as a wronged young girl-turned-Gorgon but she also packs a powerful punch in voicing her rage after being decapitated when her head takes over Medusa’s narrative. Natalie Haynes balances the tragic element of the story with her signature sardonic humor and wit. I enjoyed the stories of the gods and their insecurities and pettiness (Hera and Zeus never fail to entertain!). We also get to know the story of Athene’s origins, the Gigantomachy and the story of Perseus and Andromeda. Much of the narrative focuses on Perseus (his conception, his quest and the aftermath). In keeping with the strong feminist overtones of Natalie Haynes’ mythological retellings, the author holds nothing back in her portrayal of Perseus “as arrogant and spoiled”.
  
  “He is a vicious little thug and the sooner you grasp that, and stop thinking of him as a brave boy hero, the closer you’ll be to understanding what actually happened.”
  
  Despite the multiple perspectives, the narrative is well structured, flows seamlessly and the pacing is consistent. The author provides a list of characters at the beginning of the book which makes it easy to place the characters, the varying timelines and the role they play in Medusa’s story. Those who follow Greek mythology might be a tad disappointed that the author chose to leave out a few details from Medusa’s story, which would have added a bit of depth to Medusa’s narrative but overall this is an absorbing read. Natalie Haynes is a masterful storyteller and her prose is exquisite. Having enjoyed both Pandora’s Jar and A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes I could not wait to pick up her latest offering. I was thrilled when I found out that her new novel would be based on Medusa, a character whose story has always fascinated me. I promptly pre-ordered my copy of Stone Blind: Medusa’s Story from the UK and I must mention that this beautiful edition is a worthy addition to my personal collection!
• 
  Miriam

  I may have spent too much money ordering this from England when I live in the US and I didn't even know how much I was actually spending because everything was in pounds and I didn't do the conversion until I had finished the transaction.
  But.
  PRETTY COVER!
  SPRAYED EDGES!
  SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR!
  I have no regrets.
  
  It could be worse. It could be drugs.
• 
  Chrissy

  Retelling of the myth of Medusa and Perseus. In this version, Medusa is mortal but has some Gorgon traits, raised by her immortal Gorgon sisters, and gets the snake hair and stone glare after being victim-blamed and cursed by Athene. Perseus is clueless and needs all the help he can get along the way with his quest. Andromeda's story is also here, so a lot is covered. This was witty and I wasn't expecting that. Very easy to read, with multiple points of view that don't get confusing and Medusa is a kind and sympathetic character, unlike the monster she is often portrayed as.
• 
  Jess

  Noooo! I wanted to love this.
  
  The glaring issue here is that this is not Medusa’s story. This is the story of Medusa, reincarnated in modern language with some imaginative embellishments and only a smidge more sympathy for the titular character than the original Greek myth affords.
  
  This title is mentioned in the same breath as any antecedent in the recent retelling renaissance, most notably Circe. But what Miller achieved was exactly what Haynes failed at: Circe did not fall into the tradition that it was clearly aiming to subvert. What I mean by this is that Miller committed entirely to Circe’s perspective; it was her story, and hers only. Medusa appears in Stone Blind as something as a minor character, and in the brief interludes we are privy to her perspective, she doesn’t have much agency or complexity. I’d go so far as to say that the main character, really, was Athene – who, if you know how the myth goes, isn’t a character you want to spend much time with.
  
  Major grievance aside, I found this book dull, really dull. It doesn’t offer anything particularly fresh or exciting if you already know the myth (although there is a chapter narrated by a crow, and another by Medusa’s snakes, hence the additional star). The writing is rather anaemic, the characters have no real depth, and the dialogue is stilted. (I think this is another unfortunate case where perhaps the author had a word-count to hit, and just used repetitive speech to do so. Also, it tries to be funny, but doesn’t quite get there.) I found myself skim reading from the halfway mark.
  
  I have a great deal of respect for what this set out to do, in terms of reinstating another the female figure of myth who has been (effectively) demonised for literally millennia now. Sadly, it just did not deliver.
  
  With thanks (but no thanks) to the publisher for the review copy.
• 
  Teres

  Consummate storyteller and scholar of the classics, Natalie Haynes’ Stone Blind is a retelling of the entwined stories of Medusa, Perseus, and Andromeda.
  
  In traditional accounts, Perseus is cast as the hero, bravely slaying the monstrous snake-haired Medusa whose eyes can turn living creatures to stone.
  
  However, in Haynes’ world of gods, goddesses, mortals, and magical creatures, Perseus is portrayed as a self-absorbed, bumbling boy who ends up completing his quest almost by accident.
  
  Told through many voices, the author’s former career as a stand-up comic shines through in the Olympian gods’ lively banter with entertaining accounts of their petty squabbles and rivalries. Haynes expertly uses her dry scathing wit to mock Aphrodite’s vanity, Zeus’ philandering, Poseidon’s self-aggrandizement, and Hera’s fury.
  
  If I have one criticism of this imaginative retelling — and what prevents me from deeming Stone Blind a five-star read — it’s that I found myself more immersed and invested in the characters and stories of Medusa’s Gorgon sisters than in her own.
  
  Fearsome as they may look with their claws and tusks, Sthenno and Euryale are tender and motherly with their foundling mortal sister, and I loved them oh-so much. While I felt compassion for Medusa, I just didn’t feel that same level of endearment toward her.
  
  Ultimately, Stone Blind is a tale about family, a seemingly impossible quest, and fate. It is a novel that challenges us to think about who the real monsters are. It shows us that not all heroes wear capes… and not all villains have snakes.
• 
  Lucy

  4-4.5****
  
  ”We know who it was,” Euryale said. “Vengeful and cruel, always blaming women for what men do to them. She has always been like this. You know she has.”
  
  I feel a plethora of emotions whenever I read a story based on Medusa: this includes Rosie Hewlitt’s Medusa and the graphic novel by Jessie Burton.
  
  In this story, as with others, Medusa is the mortal child of Ceto and Phorcys. Gifted to her immortal sisters- the Gorgons, Sthenno and Euryale become her caregivers.
  
  It was so cute to see little Medusa and her growing up! Especially as Sthenno and Euryale had to adapt to take care of their younger sister. As Medusa grows up with only her sisters for company and the wide ocean, her version of beauty is different to others- kindness and love, no matter on looks, are her standards of love.
  
  While loving the beginning, I knew the horror of what was to become of Medusa. Every time I read Medusas story my stomach just churns- I feel anger, despair and pity for what is to happen to her.
  Since learning from previous stories of what Athene does to Medusa- I have a severe hatred and anger for the goddess.
  
  In addition, this book also includes the story for which Medusa is famous for: her snake hair, the statues, and Perseus’ vicious murder of her.
  Natalie Haynes really delves into Medusas unjustifiable curse by Athene, and horrific murder by Perseus. I, again, at this stage of Medusa’s story, become deeply distressed and sad over her murder. Natalie Haynes does so well to delve into the characters emotions of these horrific events.
  
  Natalie Haynes also expands on Medusa’s power and includes her into other parts of myth: she recounts a brilliant involvement of Medusa’s head and the tale of Atlas.
  
  This book did not just focus on Medusa (which is what I was expecting) but of numerous characters: Hera, the Nereids, Perseus, Andromeda, etc. which was interesting to read but I think I just wanted more Medusa, as I love the Gorgons!
  
  Natalie Haynes does great in portraying the Gods like absolute petulant and annoying children (which they do sound like in myth), and the Hero for what he is like- being generally awful. She very much examines the script of hero and villain in Greek myth and takes on her own re-telling.
  
  ”The goddess- to whom I have done nothing and who has gone out of her way to torture me and conspire in my murder- is right here and all I can think of is: of course she is. Why stop now?”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  My anger at Athene, Poseidon and Perseus, as well as my upset and stomach clenching at Medusa’s curse and horrible murder.
  
  It was just so good, and this is the quickest I have read a book in a while!!
• 
  Trish

  What a wonderful book.
  
  Disclaimer first:
  I‘ve loved Medusa and her story ever since I first read of the poor, beautiful girl being punished by Athena for having been raped by Poseidon in one of Athena‘s temples. Yep, earliest case of victim-shaming/blaming I know of.
  I always hated how she was made to look the monster and hated how the Gorgons were judged by their outer appearance (one, I might add, that I don‘t find monstrous at all by the way).
  There has never been a time when I didn‘t rage against Poseidon, Medusa‘s arrogant rapist; the goddess Athena, who took it out on the victim simply because she couldn‘t take it out on the actual culprit; idiotic Perseus, who saw something he considered ugly and therefore thought himself righteous in killing; the other deities who had enabled the whole thing.
  
  If you didn’t know, that is the basic outline of the story. Rape, hurt, blame, punishment, death. And yet, there is so much more that has happened in the Greek myths surrounding Medusa‘s.
  
  The author, Natalie Haynes is a historian and one hell of a power house when it comes to retelling Greek myths. I‘ve read almost all her books this month and have immediately become a fangirl. You could, rightfully, say that I‘ve become addicted and fully trust her to do any story justice. And she hasn‘t let me down here either.
  
  We get several points of view: from Olympians, nymphs, mortals and others. We thus see how Perseus was born and to what parentage (influencing his character), how Athena herself was conceived and what a prick she‘s been from the start (I guess she didn‘t want to feel inadequate compared to gods like her father and uncle and so became „one of the boys“), how vanity has resulted in other events that tie back into the lives and sorrows of the Gorgons.
  
  Yes, it is all important and the author wrote this story in a wonderfully wholesome way.
  
  Moreover, Haynes managed to take an old yarn and spin it into a fantastically gripping tale full of colourful details, characters that are masterfully endearing or infuriating, and heartbreak that nevertheless shows the strength of the victim(s).
  
  I was gnashing my teeth, sneering and growling, tearing up, cackling gleefully - in short: I felt all the feels as the kids are calling it these days. Read it! I know you‘ll love it!
• 
  Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell

  Madeline Miller has opened the floodgates for Greek mythology retellings and I'm here for it
• 
  Tanya

  I love Medusa, so I was willing to give Haynes a second chance after her novel
  A Thousand Ships missed the mark for me. I wanted a modern feminist retelling that puts the Gorgon at the center of the narrative… but I guess that I’ll have to keep looking for one, because this novel, despite being subtitled Medusa’s Story, was anything but. It wasn’t her story, but the story of Medusa—big difference.
  
  The book suffers of the exact same problem as Haynes’ retelling of the Trojan War: The scope is too large, ridiculously so, with too vast a cast of POV characters. It at least made sense for that story, but this one? It felt as if she didn't even want to tell Medusa's story, and instead busied herself with other storylines of little or no consequence to avoid the main one. Instead of giving us Medusa’s perspective throughout the novel, which would have required coming up with her own embellishments of established myths (for a successful example of an author doing just this, look no further than Madeleine Miller’s
  Circe), Haynes stuck to the existing canon and went the long—and I mean long—way around. It’s like she was desperate to hit a page count, because there really was no need to include so much backstory (I’d be hard-pressed to find an actual protagonist in this, but if I had to pick one, it’s the detestably written Athena—why else would Haynes bother to give us the whole myth of how she came to be born… in a story about Medusa?), or two chapters told from the perspective of the olives Athena gave to win patronage over Athens. Yes, you read that right—olives. There’s also a chapter narrated by the snakes on Medusa’s head, and one narrated by a crow. Cawing included. It was so cringe-worthy, that one may just have been the book’s low point.
  
  Really, just about everyone and their mother (literally; Metis, Hera, Gaia, Cassiopeia, Danaë all get one or more chapters) gets a word in, but the character the novel purports to be about? She gets six chapters, and shares one with her Gorgon sisters. For comparison, Andromeda, Perseus’ future wife who doesn’t enter the story until half-way through, gets eight. Medusa’s severed head gets thirteen (and shares one with Athena), but most are only brief, patronizing half-page interludes that break the fourth wall to remind the reader that Perseus is a cowardly, selfish twat, and to not have any sympathy for him or his choices and actions. He has always been my least favorite Greek hero, which is why I wanted a story from misunderstood Medusa’s perspective, a character unjustly demonized for centuries, but the way he is portrayed as an utterly monochromatic whiny man-baby was so over the top, it misfired. The stilted dialogue in the chapters in which he gets help from Athena and Hermes was trying hard to be funny, but never got there—it was really tonally inappropriate humor amid a dull straight retelling rather than the falsely advertised, mismarketed character-study it isn’t by any stretch of the definition. Stone Blind contained no fresh takes or ideas, except for the final chapter, which was even worse, because it was really stupid, rushed, and sloppy.
  
  I don’t understand how Haynes made a successful career out of writing such generic, disappointing retellings, but I won’t be bothering in the future; I have a few other of her works on my Kindle, but I’ll be removing them; she’s just run out of chances.
• 
  Leo

  The higher end of a 3 stars for me. I've enjoyed most of Natalie Haynes books previously but I was so hyped up when I saw this was Medusas story. While I found it very readable I wanted more. Felt like there could be more added. Wanted more of Medusa
• 
  Neale

  Natalie Haynes has again returned to Greek Mythology to tell a tale in a different light. This time she is retelling the myth of Medusa.
  
  Just as Jessie Burton did with her wonderful “Medusa The Girl Behind the Myth”, Haynes humanizes Medusa adding layers of emotion and empathy to a mythological monster. However, while Burton’s book focusses on Medusa and her meeting with Perseus. Haynes’s book covers more of Perseus’ quest and contains many more characters.
  
  There is a narrator, Gorgoneion, who from the first page sets the tone,
  
  “I see you. I see all those who men call monster. And I see the men who call them that. Call themselves heros, of course. I only see them for an instant, then they’re gone. But it’s enough. Enough to know that the hero Isn’t the one who’s kind or brave or loyal. Sometimes - not always, but sometimes - he is monstrous. And the monster? Who is she? She is what happens when someone cannot be saved. This particular monster is assaulted, abused and vilified. And yet, as the story is always told, she is the one you should fear. She is the monster. We’ll see about that”.
  
  Gorgoneion’s identity remains a secret until the final part of the book, but Gorgoneion is not the only narrator. One chapter is narrated by an olive tree, another by the snakes on Medusa’s head. Each chapter is devoted to a different character, a format that works well with these retellings.
  
  I think most people would know what happens in the story of Perseus and Medusa, so I won’t go into it. Just like many of the Greek Myths the definition of heroes and monsters is clear. There can be no mistake which is which. Black and white. The hero’s actions are always “right”. These actions never questioned. Go chop the head off a gorgon. This is fine, morally acceptable because the gorgon is a monster.
  
  What Haynes has done with this novel is taken the roles of hero and monster and thrown them out the window. Who is a monster? Who makes that choice? Are the gorgons monsters simply because of their monstrous appearance? Is not Perseus the monster for coming to take the head of Medusa who has done nothing wrong? These are questions Haynes poses to the reader, blurring the line, muddying the waters, and questioning the definition.
  
  Haynes started her career as a comedian and this retelling has a biting humorous edge to it. Much of it aimed at poor Perseus, who is portrayed as quite the bumbling fool in his quest to obtain a Gorgon’s head. The humour comes from the whole book, not just Perseus, however the conversations between Perseus, Hermes and Athena are hilarious.
  
  Athena says to Zeus,
  
  “He’s just a bag of meat wandering round, irritating people”
  
  Haynes has done a remarkable job with this novel. Adding humour, questioning roles, and finishing with a great ending.
• 
  Bradley

  Another great read from Haynes. I've been very pleasantly surprised by her takes on mythology.
  
  Medusa's tale is given a lot of time and care and we have a huge cast to fill it all out. Context IS everything, and I love seeing it this way.
  
  Damn Poseidon!
  
  I recommend this very much. :)
• 
  Carol

  DNF As much as I hate having a book I couldn't finish in my challenge this book was that for me.
  
  here is why this book really wasn't for me.
  
  1] I felt like it had too many characters in it.
  
  2] I really loved Circus and was hoping this could be another good story, but unfortunately Medusa just was not in the book enough for my liking, and in the end I just got frustrated.
  
  So unfortunately not for me🤷‍♀️
  
  Happy Reading 📙📚📖📕📙📚📓📗📒📘📓📚📙📕📚📓📒📘📓📚📗📖
• 
  Casey Bee థ

  Stone Blind is a retelling of the Greek myth of Medusa and Perseus. We first meet Medusa as a baby on the Gorgon shore of Libya. Abandoned by her godly parents, for her birth was an enigma. She was born mortal, she was different. Her two Gorgon sisters, Euryale and Sthenno, are also at first unsure of her. She is not like them with their big tusks, snakes for hair and big wings. And this is the core of the story. What is a monster? How is a monster perceived? These are culturally conditioned and stem from a fear of the unknown. Shunned by the gods for being mortal and approached reluctantly by her sisters for looking different than them. She was a fairly normal mortal girl (besides her small wings), but seemed monstrous to them. As the cruelties and self-absorption of the world around her slowly transform her into the monster we think of when we hear Medusa, her sisters start to see her as less monstrous. The world and characters surrounding her turn her into the Medusa we know, forcing us to ask ourselves who the real monsters are. It is actually quite a heartbreaking story. The entitlement of men, cruel cattiness of women, abhorrence of the unknown, and the ego of humans utterly destroys this poor girl.
  
  As is her style, Natalie Haynes places the women at the heart of the tales told in this book. While Medusa is the focus, we get a patchwork of different mythological entities and tales that weave together to create the story of Medusa and Perseus. They also serve a purpose and there is something to be gained from each story. It isn’t always clear how they will connect, but they do. The brutal male violence and entitlement—there is a lot to unpack there. The rape scenes are difficult and infuriating. The flames of being disgusted by men (the general egotistical, entitled, piggish “male”, not a personal attack on individual men who are decent) definitely get fanned into a burning fire throughout this story. I will say, as I often feel with books of a Greek mythological nature, that having a base knowledge of Greek mythology figures and stories would probably be beneficial going into this. Stone Blind is honestly sad, but powerful. I needed to sit and think on it for a while; my heart still feels heavy.
  
• 
  Aragné Salazar Mendoza

  the Waterstones cover for this is PHENOMENAL
• 
  Sara

  ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
  
  I've loved Natalie Haynes other Greek retellings, and knew this one would be a winner even before I picked it up. Medusa's story, told from a more modern perspective with lots of God's bickering? Yes please.
  
  Haynes has a way of weaving (see what I did there?) all the idiosyncrasies of the Gods, all their terrible decisions and self absorbed behaviour into a story that is both full of wit, and also terribly sad. Medusa has been demonised throughout history, the monster who dared to defy the Gods, when in reality she was just a girl who caught the eye of a few vengeful deities. The relationship she shares with her sisters in particular is really well done, drawing on the idea that looks can be deceptive and the real monster may actually be that idiotic boy with a sword.
  
  However, for a novel supposedly about Medusa this spends a lot of time telling Athena's story. From her birth and relationship with the other Olympians, she's a complex God who thrives on discourse and worship while continually seeking attention from Zeus. In some ways we can draw a parallel between Medusa and Athena. Both have absent fathers, strive to define themselves as individuals but ultimately Medusa has the love of her sisters to keep her grounded and show compassion. Athene throughout has a callous streak that can be seen in all the Gods. I loved all this backstory - you can't separate Medusa from Athene when telling either of their stories, but felt that a lot more could have been done for Medusa. Again, she feels a little bit like the forgotten character, pushed to the side in favour of a brighter star. I wanted more insight into how she felt alone in that cave, frightened to look upon her sisters.
  
  Overall however, this was another solid read from Natalie Haynes. The writing is engaging and full of thoughtful insights into the Greek myths that will have me returning to all of her novels, and anything she decides to write in the future.
• 
  Daisy

  Living in the UK I am quite aware that we are a nation currently on our uppers. We have strikes, a revolving door policy when it comes to our leaders and energy bills that wouldn’t be much less if we were buying uranium direct from the Russians to build our own personal nuclear reactors in our backyards. But I had always assumed that the things we excelled in, music and literature would remain our stalwarts through adversity.
  And then I saw this quote by Adam Rutherford on the cover of Natalie Haynes new novel,
  ”Haynes is the nation’s great muse.”
  And I thought, hell we are in more trouble than I thought.
  
  This book is so bad I had second-hand embarrassment reading it. The dialogue beyond poor. Dialogue should propel the action forward or at least give context/explanation. In short it has to serve some purpose otherwise it goes nowhere and becomes tedious, much like the dialogue kids write when they get excited over using speech marks and fill pages with inane conversation. Haynes’s book is predominantly dialogue and the majority of it is vacuous. It’s a lot of short back and forth that I’m sure she intends to be witty and winning but is just weak and irritating. Take this humdinger,
  ” Are you…?” The man grabbed at his throat as though someone were choking him.
  Athene frowned, trying to make out the words. “Am I …? A goddess? Yes, Athene. Good to meet you. Could you come and help us fight the giants?”
  I can’t be certain but I think the man answered ok and off they went to the park to play.
  
  The Olympians are all annoying, I understand that there is a case for showing them to be imperfect and quite human in their foibles of petty jealousy, revenge, lust etc but there are other aspects to human or god nature too surely. It was just too over the top, they became caricatures behaving the same way every time they appeared on a page for over 350 pages. Zeus was reduced to a hen-pecked husband behaving in a way that would not be out of place in a sitcom of the 1970’s with Penelope Keith playing his wife, Athene a spoilt brat that displayed none of the wisdom that she is synonymous with and Hephaestus a sex pest/stalker.
  
  Worse than that the premise of the book was flawed. We hear the Medusa story from her own point of view and various chapters break the fourth wall to talk directly to the reader (a device I particularly hate and even more so when it is done in a chatty, matey way which it is here) and her point of view is that Perseus is a waste of skin. We are repeatedly told that he is vain, selfish, cowardly, self-absorbed, arrogant – the list goes on.
  But when did he become these things? We don’t see it. Up until he goes on his quest (incidentally to save his mother from having to marry an old lech) he is depicted as none of these things. When we meet him he is happily living a simple life in a modest home among humble fishermen. He joins his ‘stepfather’ out fishing everyday and works hard and seems happy with his lot. Yet we are repeatedly told not to forget what a terrible human being he is. Maybe the quest did change him – meeting gods and having to decapitate a sleeping young woman is the kind of thing that can change a person but Haynes never explores that, she just tells us now we must think he’s the devil incarnate and leaves it at that.
  
  Haynes has taken the richness of the Greek Myths and made them tawdry, turning the silk purse back into a pig’s ear for what seems like a cheap laugh. For a writer who adds rather than detracts to these classical tales read Madeline Miller who develops the characters while leaving them their integral dignity and gravitas and writes with such poetical beauty that they are a joy to read.
  
  So back to the beginning. Is this really the work of a muse? Only if your intended meaning is one who inspires others, because I can see how this could inspire anyone to crack open a laptop and start writing in the belief they could do better, and I suspect anyone probably can.
  
• 
  Dannii Elle

  The title state's that this is 'Medusa's story' and this precisely why I can only afford this a four instead of a full five-star rating.
  
  I want to state that I did adore my time within this book. Medusa's story was one I knew before beginning this. However, this, I believe, faithful mythological retelling exposed many facts that were previously unknown to me. I also found that the characters felt real, the myriad of gods were easy to differentiate, the repeated traumas intimately felt, the horrors sympathetically handled, and the storyline exciting, varied, tense, and well-plotted.
  
  The error for me lies only in Medusa being so infrequently featured throughout this. The entire story, even when not focusing directly on her, was her own, and so this tale was narrated by her character. However, the exposure to her person was far briefer than anticipated and instead remained on the many others who featured in her downfall. I did not imagine this would be so and anticipated this to be Medusa's story, told by her, about her, and for her. It was a brilliant retelling but with a focus similar to so many other retellings, as well as the original, where Medusa feels like a side-character in her own story.
  
  I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, , and the publisher, Mantle, for this opportunity.
• 
  Aleksandra (drawingandreading)

  Very often, it‘s hard to pick favorites among certain topics, themes or stories. Not to me if it comes to Greek Mythology. While I can appreciate other Myths, and definitely do like to pick up anything inspired by Hades and Persephone (or even better: Eros and Psyche), my favorite figure of Greek Mythology remains Medusa. It‘s not a story to be celebrated, it‘s not a story to love. Actually, I‘m always overcome with sadness thinking of her story, and the need for a compelling retelling has always been strong. So when I found out Natalie Haynes would give us Medusa‘s story, I didn‘t go to the bookstore. I ran.
  
  So what story does Stone Blind tell us? The story of a monster? The story of an abused woman? The story of a sister who was punished for a crime she didn‘t commit? The answer is simple: she tells us all of it. And yet, it‘s hard to describe this book and tell you what‘s awaiting you. Because as much as this is Medusa‘s story, it‘s not. In fact, Haynes beautifully intertwines all the stories that relate in one way or another to the Myth. We see the birth of Athena, the story of Danae. Of Cassiopeia, Andromeda. The nymphs. We see bits and pieces of giants, Titans, and other characters of Greek Mythology. We get so much of those other stories that I found myself often questioning why Medusa barely entered the picture. For she mostly takes on a passive role within this tale. And yet, when you come to the ending, it all makes sense.
  
  This story excels in the narrative. The way several stories come together to one outcome. The way Haynes switches between voices of narration to paint a bigger, coherent picture of the events that have taken place. She questions the truthfulness of the Myth. She poses the important question of when a monster is a monster. She shows the status of women in those tales and amplifies their voices, their concern, their emotions, or lack of. It‘s a beautiful book that tells the story of Medusa. But it still does what the myth does: it leaves her out. And it leaves us with the question: Is Medusa‘s story even hers to tell? Who is Medusa to us? The girl who lived in harmony with her sisters? Or - no matter how much we feel for her - does Medusa stay the Gorgon with the deadly stare? The ending opens up more questions while bittersweetly concluding this story.
  
  While I would have loved to actually read a story with Medusa being the lead and taking a more active role in it, I can‘t deny how beautifully written this book is. If you‘re a fan of Medusa, Greek Mythology and beautiful writing, this book is one you shouldn‘t miss out on.
  
  
• 
  olivia

  I’ve always been fascinated by Medusa’s story, it’s my favourite myth.
  
  This retelling shifts the focus from Perseus to the relationship between Medusa and Athene. Specifically, I feel this myth highlights the way women relate to each other under patriarchy. Athene is the woman who is both a victim and upholder of patriarchy while Medusa is the woman who gets caught in the web and emerges saddened, and upset, yet still graceful.
  
  I was expecting this story to be filled with rage, and it is, but what I loved the most was Medusa’s strength of character. Her empathy in the face of pain and sense of justice with which the retelling ends was a very welcome surprise. Filled with moments of wit, sadness, and anger, I have a hard time thinking I’ll come across another retelling I loved as much as “Stone Blind”.
• 
  Ellery Adams

  Brilliant retelling of the Perseus myth focusing on the female characters (Hera, Athena, Danae, Andromeda, Medusa and her sisters, and Gaia). Though the story has a refreshingly feminist slant, it doesn't stop there but explores the humanity of monsters and the monstrous side of human nature. I couldn't put this book down and highly recommend it for fans of Greek myth, retellings, Madeline Miller and Mary Renault.
• 
  Rimma

  If disappointment was a novel, this would be it.
  
  I was so excited when I found out that Natalie Haynes was writing a Medusa-retelling. I had even pre-ordered the signed Waterstones edition and was ready to pay extra for the shipping… Needless to say, I have cancelled the order.
  
  This was marketed as Medusa’s story, however she is barely visible on the pages. It feels more like a retelling of Perseus’ story, where Haynes is so eager to prove to the reader that Perseus is a spoilt brat and doesn’t deserve the label of a hero, that she exaggerates the hate to the point that it backfires.
  
  The novel is told from several points of view: from Athene to an olive branch, from a crow to the snakes on Medusa’s head. And all of these narrators are annoyed with Perseus. Haynes keeps telling and not properly showing that Perseus should not be considered a hero.
  
  The novel fails on several levels and I will try my best to write them down in the most possibly organized manner.
  
  1. Perseus should not be considered as the main bad guy in Mesusa’s story
  
  She is raped by Poseidon. As a result of this it is not the god of the seas, but the victim that is punished. Athene jinxes her for being sexually violated in her temple.
  
  Medusa’s rape and metamorphosis is the focal point of her myth, her becoming and her undoing. Yet Haynes doesn’t linger on the topic. She shifts her attention to Perseus and depicts him as the villain of the story, when he is not the one who raped and jinxed an innocent young woman. He is trying to save his mother from a forced marriage (which presumes rape as well, by the way). Yet from the point of view of Medusa’s head Haynes writes: “Anyway, don’t even begin to feel sorry for that brat. He isn’t saving his mother from some awful torment. He’s saving her from the mild inconvenience of travelling a day or two on horseback, making a few snide remarks about former lovers until the king - who isn’t even interested in her, just spiteful - loses patience ans sends her away again. Probably lending her a horse for the return journey.”
  
  How is this paragraph in a presumably feminist retelling? Why is Medusa not feeling for another woman that is in the same situation as she was before? And this brings me to my second point -
  
  2. Medusa is depicted as an unreliable narrator
  
  In her decision to retell the myth from different points of views, Haynes robs the readers of the intimacy and the emotional connection that we would feel with Medusa had she been the only narrator. This is not Medusa’s story, this isn’t us reading her thoughts as she goes through rape, metamorphosis and then gets killed. This is a modernized retelling of the myth where Medusa plays a small part and is driven by her spite against Perseus (not Poseidon or Athene). This leads to us simply not trusting Medusa as a narrator, she is blinded by her hate, hence must be twisting the facts.
  
  3. Haynes depicts Perseus as a weak whiny brat
  It is true (I mean it’s a myth, but still) that Perseus killed Medusa while she was asleep and not without Athene’s help. And this does show his cowardice, because he would not win against her in a fair fight, BUT. Is his depicting as a small whiny cry-baby appropriate in a novel that considers itself feminist? Imagine the story - Perseus is a brave and very strong young man, who is not afraid of a fight, but he understands that he is useless against Medusa. He decides to attack her in her sleep to at least have a chance of winning…
  
  I do understand that Haynes’ intention was probably to show that throughout the centuries women were so mishandled and villainized, that a coward got known as a hero and a strong woman was depicted as a monster. However, Natalie Haynes fails at the execution of this.
  
  
  
  After all this rant you may wonder why 2 stars and not 1? Well, firstly because I simply cannot rate a Natalie Haynes novel that low. I respect what she has written before and I do believe that had she been given more time, this would have been another hit. I assume that the popular authors are expected to write best selling novels almost every year. This isn’t realistic and does have an impact on the quality of the text. Secondly, I love what she did with the final chapter, the resolution of Medusa-Athene relationship was executed beautifully. If only this was true about the rest of the novel.
  
  I will definitely read Haynes’ next novel, but I will definitely not be re-reading this one.
• 
  Novel Visits

  Thanks to @harperaudio and @harperbooks for advanced copies of #StoneBlind. ⁣
  
  If you’re a fan of mythology retellings, you’re going to love 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗗 by Natalie Haynes. Obviously, I fall into that category and recently had the pleasure of listening to this book. That’s the main thing I want to talk about here. Sure, I can tell you a little about the story. It’s about Medusa, how she came to be, how she gained a head of snakes, and how she lost her head. True mythology fans might already know all that, though I’d forgotten much of it. It does help to recall a few basic Greek mythology relationships, but it’s not essential. Now, let's get to the two things that made this book so amazing.⁣⁣
  ⁣⁣
  First, the writing was sensational. It was tender, irreverent, satirical, and down right funny. I had not expected that and it was a pure pleasure. That pleasure was ratcheted way up by the audiobook’s narrator. Guess who it was? 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝘆𝗻𝗲𝘀, herself! I’m always nervous when an author narrates their own book because, let’s be honest, some are terrible! NOT THE CASE with Haynes. She was brilliant. Who better to know exactly the emotion coming off of a character than its author. I don’t think anyone else could have done it as well. The sniping, the jealousies, the insecurities, the hubris of the gods and mortals all came through beautifully. There were scenes between Athene, Hermes, and Perseus that had me laughing out loud. Bravo, @nataliehaynesauthor! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣⁣
  
• 
  Emiliya Bozhilova

  DNF 33%
  
  Непоносимо превзето писане, развило се явно с пълна пара в посока патос в стил “Марвел” след 1000-та кораба, в които имаше няколко хубави зрънца. Там явно са били по погрешка, защото тук липсват.
  
  Вместо това читателят се блъска челно с:
  1/ Опит да прелети с птичи поглед над кажи-речи целия гръцки пантеон. Минимум като споменаване. И шеметна въртележка от съвсем кратки гледни точки, които…почти не се повтарят! Ако читателят е добре с нервите и му се водят записки, чудесно!
  2/ Най-тъпият Зевс ever! Той като цяло не блести с интелект, с цялото това женкарство и потомство, и незаслужени мълнии, но тук направо говори едносрично!
  3/ Атина е мрънкало гимназиален тип. От най-досадните.
  4/ Медуза е безлична. В смисъл - сюжетът може да мине и без главната си героиня, нищичко няма да се загуби. А и без това почти не участва в сюжета - има достатъчно друг народ, запълващ страници.
  
  Все пак има и един хубав момент - горгоните. Сладурчета са! Но не могат да закърпят цялата тази ужасна комиксова картонена имитация, с елементи от стила на Колийн Хувър, ако не се лъжа. Даже злодеите за нищо не ги бива, тъжна гледка са. И за да не ги пропусне читателят, яко се натъртва, че този тук е лош, много лош, да не се объркаме.
• 
  Ashley

  I knew I was going to like this, but I didn't quite expect to like it as much as I did. Sometime in the near future, we're going to hit the saturation point for Greek mythology retellings in the literary marketplace, but it seems we're at the peak right now, and it can be hard to sort out the copycat clones from the worthwhile without reading them first. Stone Blind is one of the worthwhile. It's not enough to just retell a myth, even if you are making women the center of the story for the first time. For me, these retellings have got to have a voice, and this one certainly does. Especially if you do the audio version, which is narrated by the author, but more on that later.
  
  I actually didn't know too much about Medusa before this, other than the snakes for hair thing, and the turning people to stone with her gaze thing. I'm sure I've seen more than a handful of pop culture representations over the years (and no doubt, she made at least one appearance in the Percy Jackson books, though I can't remember for sure right now), so she's just more of a zeitgeist thing for me. But really, when you actually stop and think about it, what did she ever to do to deserve her fate? Absolutely nothing! What, born with snakes for hair? Not her fault! She could still be a fun friend with her eyes closed or blindfolded. Let her live her life!
  
  I've seen some reviews complaining about this not having enough Medusa in it, but I actually find this really interesting. First of all, spoilers, but she's the narrator, so every word in it is Medusa's story, but also . . . there isn't really that much to Medusa's story! In the original myth, the most interesting thing about her is her death, and who killed her, and how he used her head as a weapon and made her into a thing. So what Haynes does here is highlight the absurdity of that, of this person who through no fault of her own ends up in this tragic situation, because of the greed, pettiness, arrogance, and abuses of people more powerful and less thoughtful and caring than she is.
  
  If you're going to read this, I recommend having the audiobook at least on hand to listen to every now and then. There are some scenes where Haynes GOES FOR IT, changing up her narration style to emphasize emotion, and she drips with it, and other scenes where she takes already funny bits of narrative and dialogue and dials the humor up to 11 with her comic timing (she's a comedian). The bit with the crows was probably my favorite humorous scene, and the bit where the narrator "breaks cover" (hard to talk about without spoilers) was pretty powerful because I did not see it coming at all, and I got hit in multiple senses at the same time with the change in style. Extremely effective, is what it is.
  
  There's actually quite a lot to unpack in this relatively small book (only eight hours by audio), and I already feel like I need to re-read it. I probably will since this is a book club pick for one of my IRL book clubs, but the meeting isn't until September! So I will have forgotten nearly everything by then, I'm sure. I will make sure to have my tabs at the ready for my second read, which I am very much looking forward to. This has a very strong chance of getting bumped up to five stars.
  
  [4.5 stars]
• 
  Auntie Terror

  What is a monster? The answer of this book is: it's nothing you're born as - at least not really. Unless you're a god perhaps.
  
  First things first: I think this book might not be for you if you're looking for something in the vein of "The Song of Achilles".
  
  This mythological retelling gives the myths it draws from a bit of a different spin and perspective. In that, there are some liberties taken - but never without good cause, I thought.
  The somewhat sarcastic narrative voice does make a lot of sense when you get to the point where you put two and two together and realize who is speaking, mostly.
  I enjoyed the mixture of very dark, sad and even disturbing scenes on the one hand the occasional humourous dialogue on the other.
  The story asks to empathize with those in the myths who are side notes, prizes to be won or monsters to be slain. And even then, the point isn't to idolise them instead but just to see them - which is quite a good thing to do outside of mythology, too.