Reviews with content warning for Grief - Stone Blind

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

53 reviews

annakh16's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

I‘m a bit torn on how to rate this. Ultimately, I found this story easy to get through and I enjoyed learning from it.

Poseidon was disgusting, and both Athena and Perseus were utterly annoying - that’s a compliment to the writer, though it did make some of the scenes a bit hard to bear.

However, in general, the writing felt a bit bare and flat to me - I feel like especially the very emotional scenes could have done with more elaboration.

I also think that the ending felt rushed and quite abrupt. Perseus‘ story felt somewhat unresolved.

like what about that grandfather he was meant to kill? It was quite important to the story. I‘m not saying it needed a full scene, but at least some mention of his future would’ve been nice.

And Athena‘s story was resolved too quickly for my taste.

Overall, I would recommend this to someone interested in mythology, as I do like the new perspective on Medusa & think she’s a bit underrepresented in the retellings. It’s not my favourite retelling though, and I prefer „A Thousand Ships“ from Haynes.

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kfrawrylion's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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holliemccarthy29's review

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dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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basil_touche's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I wish that the book was more from Medusa's perspective rather than from various characters (mainly Athene and Perceus). I found the God's various squabbles were getting tiresome for the most part, but I enjoyed the parts with Medusa and her sisters the most, makes you feel regret for what happens to them. Athene was an interesting character, spoilt but the ending featuring her was probably my favourite part. Perhaps Greek Mythology just isn't my thing, but I enjoyed most of this.

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sas_ram's review against another edition

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3.75

So describe this story in a few words: victim-blaiming, multiple timelines/perspectivs that take away from Medusa, less focuse on Medusa than expected (it's just as much Athenas story as Medusa's), not that mythologically correct ending, makes the gods look almost human, Athena is egoistic as hell, you literally get to know more about Athenas character than Medusas, there are some parts that are much better in how it's written than most of the story. In general in just lacks depth.
It is a good read but definitly not one of the best retellings out there.

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aj_langley's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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notthatcosta's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I've never been a Classics girlie but I found this book utterly compelling and charming. Although it took about 60 pages to really grab me, it didn't let go after that.

I didn't know I was longing for a woman-centric take of mythology and one that challenges the notion of monstrosity and evil women, but I was so utterly captivated by Natalie Haynes' fresh and witty take on well-trodden ground.

Of course, many parts are deeply sad, but it's filled with humour, pathos and intention, so I can't really resent it. Also, most of the plot is pretty established...being based on Greek myths and all that.

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ivegotyourpaperback's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

All the stars ever. This is by far my favourite read (or listen) of the year.

The author herself did a brilliant dramatic reading which I was riveted by. Her tone and the way she have each character a unique voice and personality was a delight to listen to.

While this is the story of Medusa, it’s made all the richer by also getting to know the interconnected characters that I’d heard of on their own but never realised they had a connection to Medusa’s myth. There are various POV’s of Goddesses, mortal women, the 3 Gorgon sisters, even an object (the Gorgoneion), the snakes on Medusa’s head, Stone (yes, as in the rock), and more.

I love how some of the POV’s seem to ‘break the fourth wall’ (so to speak), as if the character is directly addressing the reader.

The coercive sexual assault of a 16 year old girl trying to protect others was heartbreaking (thank goodness the details of the assault weren’t on page). The aftermath made me cry (which I almost never do when reading). The entitlement to a girl’s body radiating from Poseidon is reminiscent of so many SA stories we hear about today.

But with the horror of the tale it also has incredible moments of beauty highlighting the importance of the company and comfort women can provide to each other during life’s various trials and hardships.

It was hugely satisfying for me that even when Poseidon is trying to be the great ruler of his kingdom he still comes off as second fiddle to Zeus in this story. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like either of the deities but the thwarting of Poseidon’s authority is a minor karmic justice for the grave crime committed against Medusa.

I also loved the portrayal of Perseus as a bumbling idiot, rather than a self-confident epic hero . It’s portrayed that he doesn’t actually know what he’s doing, and drives home the point that what he’s doing isn’t right, because he doesn’t have any strong feelings about the murder of an innocent person, who’s minding her own business. He’s got blinders on - his only motivation is his mother. Speaking of which, the text does a great job of pointing out that, this whole quest to ‘prove himself’ to the king, probably never needed to happen.

Standout characters for me were Métis (short though her appearance was), Stheno (surprisingly funny) and Hera (Sassy, spiteful bitch).

Favourite quote (from Zeus’ POV): “He assumed that Hera was busying herself turning one of his favourite girls into a cow, or a weasel, or whatever, which means it may well be too late to intervene and save her. Although there was always the possibility that the world had just gained an attractive new cow, so all was not lost.”

Content warnings:

⚠️rape

⚠️adultery

⚠️sexual coercion

Content Warnings

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

1.5

I love a good feminist retelling and I've read another Medusa reimagining before. This one was not good compared to the other I had read previously. I liked some aspects like how most of the povs were female characters, but it was so slow and that many povs didn't add anything to the story. It didn't feel like the focus was supposed to be on Medusa. The ending was okay, liked how Athene "went home", but otherwise the ending was quite a letdown. I was hoping for so much in this and didn't get much of anything. Honestly with how slow it was, I should've dnf'd but I pushed through.

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eilatan6991's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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