lizzy_22's review
4.0
samiism's review
4.0
Quick, light read. I am on the fence with this book.
On one hand, the sexy times are really hot. And
Spoiler
the part where Jocko allowed Maddy to watch Hermes after not seeing him for monthsMedusa has raped by Poseidon, and consequently cursed by Athena for defiling her temple. Poor sweet Medusa exiles herself in Gorgona where her only sources of companionship are the statues of the people she has "killed", a blind old man named Mikkos, and the messenger god Hermes. With Hermes' help, Medusa's curse is reversed and she catches up on everything she had missed in the past 2000 years.
This book acknowledges that a rape happened. Medusa suffers PTSD from it, but she doesn't let it completely ruin her life. She lets herself love again, and vehemently tries to right what she can.
Spoiler
Our faces are so close to one another right now, and all I can do is selfishly think how easy it would be for me to lean forward and kiss him like I’ve dreamed about for the last couple of weeks. One kiss, and then I’d let him go.
One kiss, to replace the one stolen from me.
This would be my first kiss, not what happened with Poseidon. Because a kiss should be born from love, and want, and need. A kiss should be beautiful, something a girl can hold onto for the rest of her life, to pull out in her memory whenever she wants butterflies to come back. A kiss shouldn’t be roughly ripped away from her and turned into a thing of nightmares.
I want that kiss, and I want it from my best friend.
Medusa's relationship with Hermes is something to envy. From being best friend for the past 2000 years, they finally realize how much they actually love each other. And it is hot.
For the first time in two thousand plus years, time stands still. I pray it stays that way, because this moment here?
Divine.
Of course, Poseidon and Athena wouldn't let that stand. The rest of the book is then a witness protection program-like affair that ends with a somewhat confusing rehash of the divine family tree.
It's a fun read. Part sweet, part corny. Hermes seems to be one of the best Greek gods to become front and center of Greek mythology retellings, as I did thoroughly enjoy Stephanie Spinner's "Quicksilver".
miloulou's review
4.0
As well, I just found the last third when Medusa was on her own to be so boring. Nothing major happened. There are glimpses of her transformation, but we don't really know her thoughts. There are these jumps in time, two weeks later, three months later, etc... And we didn't see any of the real action. Just got to find out in the end, what everyone found it. It was like reading the summary of the story, instead of actually reading a novel.
Another complaint I have is the characterization of Persephone and Aphrodite. They just seemed like such flat characters, with no personality at all. Or whatever they had was interchangeable. Reading back through their scenes, they could have easily been one character, all happy with a love for shopping. I enjoyed seeing them, but it's difficult to even identify what makes them unique from each other.
What I love though, was how Medusa really changed throughout the novel. Her strength builds up slowly, overtime as she comes to know herself and believe in herself. She wants to be independent, to finally live her own life but after 2000 years of isolation, it's hard. It was wonderful to see her overcome all the inner obstacles, the self hatred and the pain she felt over what happened to her.
I also loved Hermes. It was a little bit strange for me to continuously read about how Medusa idolized him, calling him her knight, but given her life it makes sense. What makes him seem so much better to me, is how we do see how differently he treats her from other people. Brings him alive for me, because he's actually not that nice to everyone. But for the girl he loves, well Medusa is a lucky girl to have him.
I also loved the blend of these really old deities and the modern world. Sometimes really old characters are written really modern, making it harder for me to really imagine them as characters who've been around for centuries. Yet here, the way they interacted somehow worked. Not sure exactly what it was, maybe because they had a formal way of speaking, it worked. The one piece that didn't work in the novel was the way the gods were described as having emotions that never changed. As in, one they decided on something, they stayed that way. Considering all the different affairs they were supposed to have, how much time they have, and how fickle their supposed to be, this doesn't really work for me. Other than that though, they were great.
booksushi's review
5.0
hopefully we can maybe look forward to more of this type of book :)
snugglor's review
4.0
andimontgomery's review
2.0
The author did take some liberties with Medusa's history, and for those of you thinking you will see Perseus, you won't. Because in this one, Medusa is initially a tragic character who soon becomes better off. Too soon, in my opinion, because I preferred the earlier Medusa in this novel to the latter one.
I'm also not a fan of romances, and I was wary of this book's overall theme. At about the 50% mark, just when I thought this would become a gooey romance, the author surprised me with an unexpected twist. Thank heavens!
But overall, I wasn't really fond of Medusa's continued damsel-in-distress mode, and her freezing up when she needed to take decisive action. She wasn't really likable for those reasons, and I found myself becoming more and more disengaged as the story moved along.
Based on others' ratings, I see I am mostly in the minority with these opinions. The writing was well done, but this just book wasn't for me. So take my rating with these considerations, and don't hate me for not loving this.
smithmeaghan's review against another edition
5.0
emmcatherine21's review
4.0