A review by bethwhite
Gorgon by Greig Beck
3.0
I will preface this review by saying the Alex Hunter series is fast becoming one of my favourite book series which is high praise. For the character development and getting to continue following Alex’s journey and that of his colleagues and friends I will be giving this book a 3 star review. None of that was lost in this continuation of his story. Unfortunately the overall mission that this was wrapped around was unbelievable at best and groan worthy at worst.
You might be surprised to learn that the reason for the unbelievability of this story did not lie in the fact that we are talking about the Gorgon myth. In fact I could deal with that part. Greig Beck is a genius in writing about mythological beings and far fetched ideas and aligning them with science and fact to make the reader think “ok, maybe!” Which is part of what makes his books so enjoyable. The believability of this does, however, depend on the surrounding scenarios around the unbelievable that we are being asked to believe being in themselves true to reality. Unfortunately this addition to the Alex Hunter series fails to do that. Where over 50% of the book is spent watching people turned to stone in a way totally unexplainable and that it seems to happen when people look upon the creature that has been unleashed from a 5000 year old prison by an architect/treasure hunter…even without the book title I doubt many people would be able to avoid mentioning Medusa or the Gorgons…even in joke? So the fact that this isn’t even raised as a possibility for such a long time meant that my brain disengaged, despite the heavy action of the book, and meant by the time things got back to the usual brilliance I expect from Greig Beck I was honestly a bit too far gone down the boredom route.
I feel so sad to write that and as I said in my first sentence of this review I still love the Alex Hunter series and will for sure be continuing despite the slight disappointment of this novel.
You might be surprised to learn that the reason for the unbelievability of this story did not lie in the fact that we are talking about the Gorgon myth. In fact I could deal with that part. Greig Beck is a genius in writing about mythological beings and far fetched ideas and aligning them with science and fact to make the reader think “ok, maybe!” Which is part of what makes his books so enjoyable. The believability of this does, however, depend on the surrounding scenarios around the unbelievable that we are being asked to believe being in themselves true to reality. Unfortunately this addition to the Alex Hunter series fails to do that. Where over 50% of the book is spent watching people turned to stone in a way totally unexplainable and that it seems to happen when people look upon the creature that has been unleashed from a 5000 year old prison by an architect/treasure hunter…even without the book title I doubt many people would be able to avoid mentioning Medusa or the Gorgons…even in joke? So the fact that this isn’t even raised as a possibility for such a long time meant that my brain disengaged, despite the heavy action of the book, and meant by the time things got back to the usual brilliance I expect from Greig Beck I was honestly a bit too far gone down the boredom route.
I feel so sad to write that and as I said in my first sentence of this review I still love the Alex Hunter series and will for sure be continuing despite the slight disappointment of this novel.