Reviews with content warning for Violence - De blik van Medusa

At the time I rated it 4 stars, but the more I thought about it, I decided to lower my rating. The reason I gave it 4 stars in the first place is because I thought the last third of the book was great, specifically after

Medusa's death/beheading. Ironically, dead Medusa seems to have more personality and character development than live Medusa.

To me, it seems that the author only had enough of a story to write a novella, which I personally think would've worked a lot better, but decided to add more content to make it a full novel. But this additional content doesn't really add a lot to the story of Medusa, and I would argue that it actually takes attention away from her. As others have pointed out, a vast amount of the book focuses on Athena and Perseus, and a bit on Andromeda too, to the point in which they seem to be bigger characters than Medusa.

One thing that really bothered me, is that a very large plot point of the book doesn't get resolved.

Throughout the book, we are shown several times how other gods have disrespected Athena, most prominently Poseidon (by raping Medusa in Athena's temple) and Hephaestus (by being tricked by Poseidon to ask Athena in marriage, and later sexually assaulting her by ejaculating on her). After both of this offenses she vows to take revenge, and we read an entire chapter of her pondering how she'll do it, but I guess she just forgot all about that? Because Hephaustus is not mentioned again in the third act, nor any of the other Olympians who voted against her in deciding who gets the land of Athens. Poseidon loses a bit of the sea, not by the hands of Athena, but by the the other two Gorgons, and in the end he gets it back anyway. So what was the point in wasting so much time figuring out Athena's great plan to get back at the other gods, if by the end she just gets turned into a statue without doing anything about it?

Anyway, I think this book would've worked a lot better if we just kept the chapters focusing on Medusa and her sisters. Because these parts were really beautiful, showing how much love she had for her sisters, and how her sisters loved her so much back, enough to being actually able to change, when their nature is to be unchanging and unmovable. I really wanted to know their grief and emotions after Medusa is killed, but instead, we just get it passively and briefly through other narrators. So, because of this, I decided to lower my original rating, but I'm still hopeful to read other works by this author.

Content Warnings

mblanke's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

grundmanisk's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

Retelling of Greek myths - focus on Medusa and Perseus

Content Warnings

halthemonarch's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Familiar names, familiar faces, another twist, and other retelling. Early last year I read The Shadows of Perseus, which tells the story of Medusa from the vantage that mystical creatures, Gods, and Goddesses are the stuff of deeply believed legend. Stone Blind follows Sthenno and Eurale, the immortal gorgons of myth, and their improbably mortal sister, Medusa, born of the same sea gods as her sisters but raised, ever-changing, away from the isles of man. Medusa’s mortality baffles and terrifies her sisters, and in the early chapters, my heart bleeds for the three of them; knowing what is to come between Poseidon and Medusa, and later Medusa and Danae’s son, Perseus, and then he and Andromeda. Zeus and Metis are foreshadowing, that even the great Titaness/Goddess and shapeshifter could not escape Zeus’ assaults or consumption; and Hera foreshadowing that Goddesses aren't like to take out their divine ire on their immortal husbands, but instead on the victims of their proclivities. I’ve glimpsed other reviews that wish this were truly the story of Medusa and not a slightly zoomed-out story about the machinations of the earthly gods as a whole, but I love the setting, and I love it when authors take me there. Despite the brutality, the harshness against women, and the tragedy of many of these stories, there’s a beauty to them too that I cannot deny, and which draws me to them.

Medusa’s mortal life ends and then there’s a very sad chapter from the point of view of her snake heads insisting Medusa could’ve opened her eyes and killed Perseus, but she chose not to because of her own gentleness. Her head, immortalized when Perseus cut it off, felt sentience albeit trapped inside a magical bag. For the insult of avoiding Poseidon before she died, Poseidon applied Athene’s wisdom and orchestrated it so that Perseus would use Medusa’s cursed gaze on her own immortal mother. The sea monster slunk back under the waves, a mountain of stone, and Perseus flew off with Andromeda, his prize. Casseopea doomed her people by proclaiming she was as beautiful as a dyad, so Poseidon demanded the beautiful princess as a sacrifice. No one could contest, however, when the son of Zeus intervened.

Medusa’s head is eventually fastened onto an aegis and worn by Athene, who is forever petty and childlike in a way that all the immortals had exhibited. She greets her learned and beloved priest, who gazes haplessly at her breastplate and turns to stone. A century later, for Athene is alien to the passage of time, the Goddess mulls over the nature of her life and mortal lives, with Medusa’s afterlife as a sounding board. She is different from Medusa’s mortal life in that she feels selfish in keeping her eyes open and looking hungrily upon things; rather than insisting her eyes be bound like they had ever since she was cursed. As if she had a choice, really, to be wielded by the son of Zeus as she was. Haunting retelling.

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