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A review by hellomei
The Deep End of the Sea by Heather Lyons
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
YA romance is a gamble for me these days, but i was interested in the medusa focus + hermes as a love interest. he IS the hottest greek god imo!!! sneaky messenger guy!! i asked for this book for christmas instead of getting it myself, and was so glad i get to appreciate it for the fact that it was a gift because it was really not good lol.
not every story needs to have things handled well, but i feel like the author wanted to do so with the sexual assault plotline, but executed it so poorly and unrealistically. betweenvery few of the female gods being useful or on dusa’s side, ALL the male gods – obv except the rapist – being sensible and sympathetic to dusa (ALL the men?????), hermes playing knight in shining armor, and dusa’s "standing up" to her rapist being very Disney Channel Original Movie… really weird messaging.
all the characters are so flat. dusa is so painfully dense… she reads as very Y/N and not even a good Y/N! girl how can you be so DUMB. the intimate scenes were also cringey but maybe that’s because this is meant to be Baby’s First Novel That Addresses Sex (as it probably would be for some teens). also aphrodite and persephone are written like this author has never met a woman in her life. and everyone loves medusa, except for the evil bad ones, and everything works out for her perfectly, especially her family situation Oh Boy!
maybe this book is just wish fulfillment? maybe i've just grown out of this sort of fiction. still, i think there are better romance books about mythology that handle sexual assault and have intimate scenes out there for young teen girls to read. i believe in you, teen girls.
i think the premise of medusa/hermes could be so cute if better executed. a shame it’s such a rarepair and will probably be tough for another writer to try and tackle again without direct comparison, but i would like to see someone better write it. please.
1 star only because the start was okay, and i liked mikkos, and vaguely enjoyed a few of the other characters at certain points.
not every story needs to have things handled well, but i feel like the author wanted to do so with the sexual assault plotline, but executed it so poorly and unrealistically. between
all the characters are so flat. dusa is so painfully dense… she reads as very Y/N and not even a good Y/N! girl how can you be so DUMB. the intimate scenes were also cringey but maybe that’s because this is meant to be Baby’s First Novel That Addresses Sex (as it probably would be for some teens). also aphrodite and persephone are written like this author has never met a woman in her life. and everyone loves medusa, except for the evil bad ones, and everything works out for her perfectly, especially her family situation Oh Boy!
maybe this book is just wish fulfillment? maybe i've just grown out of this sort of fiction. still, i think there are better romance books about mythology that handle sexual assault and have intimate scenes out there for young teen girls to read. i believe in you, teen girls.
i think the premise of medusa/hermes could be so cute if better executed. a shame it’s such a rarepair and will probably be tough for another writer to try and tackle again without direct comparison, but i would like to see someone better write it. please.
1 star only because the start was okay, and i liked mikkos, and vaguely enjoyed a few of the other characters at certain points.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
Minor: Suicide attempt