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river24's reviews
316 reviews
The Ending Fire by Saara El-Arifi
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
3.25/5
They say the Zalaam have come to conquer. But conquer what, I ask? For they will not overcome the land or the seas, or the rivers or the trees.
And they will not take you or me.
For we live in stories.
And words and memories.
I've had my ups and downs with this series. I thought the first book was okay and held promise, I thought the second book was very good and I've just completed the third and final book. It turns out that I'm not as utterly enamoured with it as most people seem to be, but I have enjoyed it.
This epic conclusion thoroughly disappointed me, however. Maybe I've fallen out of love with the aspects I did like, maybe I've grown tired of it? But I think my problems with this book stem from a little more than simple, personal dislikes.
The best part of this series, the best character by far, is Hassa. I've always adored Hassa, and every element of her narrative and perspective. The Battle Drum is also my favourite of the trilogy because of how prevalent she is.
I thought in this conclusion she was vastly underutilised. I wanted to see so much more of her, to hit the emotional impact far harder, to focus on everything this ending meant for the Ghostings in a much more personal way. Hassa's voice is so unique and intriguing, she's the perfect character to follow. I wish we had stayed with her a little longer.
Anoor, in particular, really bugged me this book. I've never been much of a fan of Anoor's character, but that's just a matter of opinion. My problem in this book was with how she was written.
I couldn't for the life of me understand how she was flip-flopping across beliefs and moralities that were so immensely different so quickly. It was absurd and I could never buy into it, it pulled me out of the story incessantly. There was such a lack of internal conflict it was unbelievable.
I found the character's actions very strange across the board. There was a lot of all-consuming love, and I know 'love makes you stupid,' but I am on my hands and knees begging these characters to make smarter decisions. I caught myself rolling my eyes and groaning an awful lot. (It's difficult to go into anything without spoiling something as this is the last book in the trilogy.)
I also thought that the characters were played more like chess pieces than real people, and that was why their actions felt so stiff or inevitably useless. They were in a place so we could see the place, they were with a character so we could gain insight into the character. It forced me to extend my suspended disbelief until I could no longer buy into it. It didn't feel like any of our main characters actually had a large impact on the story, they weren't the ones propelling it forwards, and that made everything feel very wooden.
It just didn't seem like the components of the story were moving as one well-oiled machine. It felt anti-climactic, not because of the actual action taking place, but because of the lack of emotional resolution. I actually enjoyed the end of the story a lot, I loved how we kept shifting perspectives, it echoed very well the stress and conflicting experiences on a battlefield. But I still felt as though there were things that hadn't been sufficiently wrapped up, emotional beats that hadn't quite been fulfilled. It left me wanting a lot more closure.
Overall, I'm just left with a vague feeling of disappointment. I don't mean to be so negative, but my frustrations with the book only seemed to grow as I read on. I don't think El-Arifi's works are for me, I've read a fair amount of books by her now and I think I can safely say that.
I'm so glad that other people seem to enjoy her works a lot more than I do, it's a shame I don't feel the same!
Thank you HarperVoyager for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
They say the Zalaam have come to conquer. But conquer what, I ask? For they will not overcome the land or the seas, or the rivers or the trees.
And they will not take you or me.
For we live in stories.
And words and memories.
I've had my ups and downs with this series. I thought the first book was okay and held promise, I thought the second book was very good and I've just completed the third and final book. It turns out that I'm not as utterly enamoured with it as most people seem to be, but I have enjoyed it.
This epic conclusion thoroughly disappointed me, however. Maybe I've fallen out of love with the aspects I did like, maybe I've grown tired of it? But I think my problems with this book stem from a little more than simple, personal dislikes.
The best part of this series, the best character by far, is Hassa. I've always adored Hassa, and every element of her narrative and perspective. The Battle Drum is also my favourite of the trilogy because of how prevalent she is.
I thought in this conclusion she was vastly underutilised. I wanted to see so much more of her, to hit the emotional impact far harder, to focus on everything this ending meant for the Ghostings in a much more personal way. Hassa's voice is so unique and intriguing, she's the perfect character to follow. I wish we had stayed with her a little longer.
Anoor, in particular, really bugged me this book. I've never been much of a fan of Anoor's character, but that's just a matter of opinion. My problem in this book was with how she was written.
I couldn't for the life of me understand how she was flip-flopping across beliefs and moralities that were so immensely different so quickly. It was absurd and I could never buy into it, it pulled me out of the story incessantly. There was such a lack of internal conflict it was unbelievable.
I found the character's actions very strange across the board. There was a lot of all-consuming love, and I know 'love makes you stupid,' but I am on my hands and knees begging these characters to make smarter decisions. I caught myself rolling my eyes and groaning an awful lot. (It's difficult to go into anything without spoiling something as this is the last book in the trilogy.)
I also thought that the characters were played more like chess pieces than real people, and that was why their actions felt so stiff or inevitably useless. They were in a place so we could see the place, they were with a character so we could gain insight into the character. It forced me to extend my suspended disbelief until I could no longer buy into it. It didn't feel like any of our main characters actually had a large impact on the story, they weren't the ones propelling it forwards, and that made everything feel very wooden.
It just didn't seem like the components of the story were moving as one well-oiled machine. It felt anti-climactic, not because of the actual action taking place, but because of the lack of emotional resolution. I actually enjoyed the end of the story a lot, I loved how we kept shifting perspectives, it echoed very well the stress and conflicting experiences on a battlefield. But I still felt as though there were things that hadn't been sufficiently wrapped up, emotional beats that hadn't quite been fulfilled. It left me wanting a lot more closure.
Overall, I'm just left with a vague feeling of disappointment. I don't mean to be so negative, but my frustrations with the book only seemed to grow as I read on. I don't think El-Arifi's works are for me, I've read a fair amount of books by her now and I think I can safely say that.
I'm so glad that other people seem to enjoy her works a lot more than I do, it's a shame I don't feel the same!
Thank you HarperVoyager for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
4.25/5
I am an immense arachnophobe, yet I have been absolutely sobbing over how much I adore Rocky. I'm counting this as character growth (I will still not go anywhere near spiders)!
This was such a delightful, inventive, emotional read. I loved every minute of it. I read it in one sitting, blasting through page after page, utterly obsessed. I can't wait to read Weir's other works, I haven't yet read The Martian so I'm super excited to get to it!
I also want to impress that I am not a sciencey person at all, but I followed along well enough with the science in this, I thought it was fascinating and incredibly accessible. It's obvious when you don't have to understand every detail, when you can just trust that the protagonist does and go from there.
It's clear that Weir's immensely intelligent, but it's one thing to understand a subject and another to be able to explain it simply. I really commend him for this skill.
The relationship between Ryland, our protagonist, and Rocky is the very heart of this story and I adored every single moment between them. It was such a heartwarming tale, surprisingly quaint for the vastness of space that surrounded them and the high pressure stakes upon which they were settled. I loved their journey of discovery, despair and hope.
I also loved that we were delivered some much-needed context as Ryland's memories started to come back in bursts. It was paced well, with intriguing and varied characters all throughout. I really enjoyed the fact that we were able to see the initial fallout as well as the aftermath between these two timelines. (I'm keeping this vague to avoid spoilers.)
I wholeheartedly agree with what I see most people say about this book: go in blind! It's an incredible journey to uncover piece by piece with no knowledge of what's happening or why we're here. It's the best experience to know only what our protagonist knows.
It was such a fun, engaging read that I only find myself loving more and more. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who loves a great sci-fi novel with hard but accessible science.
I am an immense arachnophobe, yet I have been absolutely sobbing over how much I adore Rocky. I'm counting this as character growth (I will still not go anywhere near spiders)!
This was such a delightful, inventive, emotional read. I loved every minute of it. I read it in one sitting, blasting through page after page, utterly obsessed. I can't wait to read Weir's other works, I haven't yet read The Martian so I'm super excited to get to it!
I also want to impress that I am not a sciencey person at all, but I followed along well enough with the science in this, I thought it was fascinating and incredibly accessible. It's obvious when you don't have to understand every detail, when you can just trust that the protagonist does and go from there.
It's clear that Weir's immensely intelligent, but it's one thing to understand a subject and another to be able to explain it simply. I really commend him for this skill.
The relationship between Ryland, our protagonist, and Rocky is the very heart of this story and I adored every single moment between them. It was such a heartwarming tale, surprisingly quaint for the vastness of space that surrounded them and the high pressure stakes upon which they were settled. I loved their journey of discovery, despair and hope.
I also loved that we were delivered some much-needed context as Ryland's memories started to come back in bursts. It was paced well, with intriguing and varied characters all throughout. I really enjoyed the fact that we were able to see the initial fallout as well as the aftermath between these two timelines. (I'm keeping this vague to avoid spoilers.)
I wholeheartedly agree with what I see most people say about this book: go in blind! It's an incredible journey to uncover piece by piece with no knowledge of what's happening or why we're here. It's the best experience to know only what our protagonist knows.
It was such a fun, engaging read that I only find myself loving more and more. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who loves a great sci-fi novel with hard but accessible science.
Battle Royale: Remastered by Koushun Takami
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
4/5
I am a Yumiko/Yukiko shipper through and through
I am a Yumiko/Yukiko shipper through and through
A Pirate's Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.75
3.75/5
Another fun instalment of this cosy fantasy series! I adore the cosy fantasy subgenre, it's always so comforting to read. What I love about the Tomes & Tea books is that they always strike up the right balance of cosiness and action. And a good ol' fashioned pirate adventure never does anyone any harm!
I probably did enjoy Can't Spell Treason Without Tea, the first book, more as we really got to hone in on the two main characters and their pasts and their hopes for the future. My main gripe with this book was that because there were more focal characters added, we were spread a little thin ('like butter that has been scraped over too much bread' as Tolkien would say) and therefore didn't get as much character development from them as I'd hoped. I never got to know the new characters as well as I'd wished.
But I very much enjoy these stories for what they are, especially when I need a break from my beloved dark fantasies. I do love a cosy read and these books definitely deliver!
Thank you Tor for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Another fun instalment of this cosy fantasy series! I adore the cosy fantasy subgenre, it's always so comforting to read. What I love about the Tomes & Tea books is that they always strike up the right balance of cosiness and action. And a good ol' fashioned pirate adventure never does anyone any harm!
I probably did enjoy Can't Spell Treason Without Tea, the first book, more as we really got to hone in on the two main characters and their pasts and their hopes for the future. My main gripe with this book was that because there were more focal characters added, we were spread a little thin ('like butter that has been scraped over too much bread' as Tolkien would say) and therefore didn't get as much character development from them as I'd hoped. I never got to know the new characters as well as I'd wished.
But I very much enjoy these stories for what they are, especially when I need a break from my beloved dark fantasies. I do love a cosy read and these books definitely deliver!
Thank you Tor for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic & Betrayal by Olivie Blake
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Overall Rating: 4.25/5
You can be anything here. By winter it will have fallen away.
Quite frankly, I adore everything Olivie Blake writes. There's always something so unique and magical about her writing and this is no less true for this anthology. I had such a brilliant time reading it.
There were many stories that I absolutely adored with all my heart, yet even the ones I didn't feel as passionately towards (which is inevitable in any short story collection) I still found incredibly enjoyable and engrossing. Olivie Blake is an author that inspires fascination and I loved diving into each story as there was always something to ruminate on.
We are led through the seasons into a vast array of stories. We are given the time to extrapolate our own thoughts and conclusions as we are fed the themes inextricable of the many different types of love that are showcased. I had so many favourite stories within this collection, but I will expand upon only a few that I can talk about without spoilers.
Chaos Theory is the longest story by far—I don't know if it would technically count as a short story or a novelette or even a novella. It is also my favourite. I think because of its length, we are given that much more time to connect with the characters and it's an incredibly imaginative concept to explore. So many poignant and emotional themes are fit into such a limited word count, and I found this to be true even for all the other much shorter stories. Chaos Theory is about resistance and strength and bravery in worlds that are fighting for your submission, I can't say much about the plot without spoiling it, but it is immensely genius and I desperately want a full novel version of it! It really is awfully difficult to write about such short stories without giving anything away, but I did want to mention this standout one in particular.
(Others of my favourites included; Monsterlove, a beautiful, emotionally-driven and lyrically written story that I will let you interpret for yourselves; The Animation Games, a rampaging, blisteringly beautiful story of love and betrayal, devotion and duty, revenge and bloodshed; and A Year in January, the very last story of the collection, an accepting rendition of a wholly separate kind of love.)
You will notice, if you have already read the stories I've mentioned, that I am drawn to the more emotionally searing, heartfelt ones. I think Olivie Blake is at her best when she writes about such moving, sometimes haunting, topics. I adore how her prose bleeds from the page like a song, there are so many stories that are cut straight from her marrow. I admire how much of herself she leaves on the page, it is why her characters are always so complex, well-rounded and fully realised, because she infuses them with a vulnerability and a humanity that is so hard to achieve in mere writing.
She feels the danger. But she has looked danger in the eye before without becoming it.
I loved this collection. If you love Olivie Blake then definitely pick this one up! I'm so curious to know which stories people love the most, or which ones speak to them the most! I can't wait for more Olivie (Gifted and Talented please come sooner)!
Thank you Tor for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
You can be anything here. By winter it will have fallen away.
Quite frankly, I adore everything Olivie Blake writes. There's always something so unique and magical about her writing and this is no less true for this anthology. I had such a brilliant time reading it.
There were many stories that I absolutely adored with all my heart, yet even the ones I didn't feel as passionately towards (which is inevitable in any short story collection) I still found incredibly enjoyable and engrossing. Olivie Blake is an author that inspires fascination and I loved diving into each story as there was always something to ruminate on.
We are led through the seasons into a vast array of stories. We are given the time to extrapolate our own thoughts and conclusions as we are fed the themes inextricable of the many different types of love that are showcased. I had so many favourite stories within this collection, but I will expand upon only a few that I can talk about without spoilers.
Chaos Theory is the longest story by far—I don't know if it would technically count as a short story or a novelette or even a novella. It is also my favourite. I think because of its length, we are given that much more time to connect with the characters and it's an incredibly imaginative concept to explore. So many poignant and emotional themes are fit into such a limited word count, and I found this to be true even for all the other much shorter stories. Chaos Theory is about resistance and strength and bravery in worlds that are fighting for your submission, I can't say much about the plot without spoiling it, but it is immensely genius and I desperately want a full novel version of it! It really is awfully difficult to write about such short stories without giving anything away, but I did want to mention this standout one in particular.
(Others of my favourites included; Monsterlove, a beautiful, emotionally-driven and lyrically written story that I will let you interpret for yourselves; The Animation Games, a rampaging, blisteringly beautiful story of love and betrayal, devotion and duty, revenge and bloodshed; and A Year in January, the very last story of the collection, an accepting rendition of a wholly separate kind of love.)
You will notice, if you have already read the stories I've mentioned, that I am drawn to the more emotionally searing, heartfelt ones. I think Olivie Blake is at her best when she writes about such moving, sometimes haunting, topics. I adore how her prose bleeds from the page like a song, there are so many stories that are cut straight from her marrow. I admire how much of herself she leaves on the page, it is why her characters are always so complex, well-rounded and fully realised, because she infuses them with a vulnerability and a humanity that is so hard to achieve in mere writing.
She feels the danger. But she has looked danger in the eye before without becoming it.
I loved this collection. If you love Olivie Blake then definitely pick this one up! I'm so curious to know which stories people love the most, or which ones speak to them the most! I can't wait for more Olivie (Gifted and Talented please come sooner)!
Thank you Tor for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Power by Naomi Alderman
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
2.0
2/5
This is not a professional review, this is a rant review!
This is such a 2010s take on feminism with gratuitous, unnecessary SA scenes and zero intersectionality.
It's so strange to have a book that's entirely focused on gender as a construct just not include trans and nonbinary people as a part of that concept (there's one mention of a character who reads as intersex in this new construct, however I think my point still very much stands)!
I found the messaging so conflicting as we are meant to perceive it as an allegory, yet we are witnessing this world just as this new power starts to develop. We are watching the world adjust and grow with this new revelation, and so the story still stems from the patriarchal world that we know intimately. But we are meant to read (cis)women's actions as an allegory for (cis)men's. I think this utterly confuses the messaging. It would've been a much more interesting story if it had chosen one of those things (either the entire book is an allegory for our society, or it's a nuanced exploration of how our world would look if cis women suddenly gained something genetic that made them physically powerful) and stuck to it. Instead we are left to navigate the combination of these two things and it is not well done.
I absolutely detested how many sexual assault scenes there were and some were so awful to read. Obviously, they're meant to be disgusting, but I take issue with the sheer amount of them. One example would have made the point, but there were many scenes that held the threat of sexual violence and many that showed it to us in detail. And actions like these are why I think the complications in the messaging of the book is so important to mention; this is clearly meant to be an allegory for rape culture in our world (I still think it lacks a lot of nuance even so), however because this is a power that has been added to our time it could also be viewed as a 'this is what women would do with power' narrative. It is not skillful, the writing does not in any way untangle this. And I just hated it. I don't think it achieves any of what it is trying to achieve.
There is also simply no intersectionality. As I mentioned, trans and nonbinary people are pretty much excluded from the entire narrative. It's quite dehumanising to see an interpretation of the world that doesn't even include you in it!
The societies that seem to collapse first are not the ones in the western world (shocker! a 2010s feminist book that doesn't think about its own racism at all? ... that was sarcasm!), no, America and the UK seem to be functioning without many/any revolutions. Bit of a weird thing to write!
I also found that this book could have functioned with a lot of interesting explorations of disability, especially disabilities in relation to this new power as it does come from a newly formed part of the body. There were many times throughout the story that I thought it could approach this in a fascinating way, yet it never explored it or had anything interesting to say.
It was just odd. It's missing so much. I just don't think it has anything all that important to say and I don't think it achieved what it set out to do. I disliked the book more and more as I read on. It took characters that I found interesting and went nowhere with their stories, it just seemed to focus on all the aspects I could not have cared less about. It tried to have a well-rounded, global narrative but I thought that that failed entirely.
This is not a professional review, just a rant review! Please remember that! I just had to let out all my thoughts because I did not enjoy this book at all and my feelings are only growing more and more into hatred as I sit here thinking about it and typing this out. I don't think this book is the feminist narrative it thinks it is, it was just so shallow. Sorry!
This is not a professional review, this is a rant review!
This is such a 2010s take on feminism with gratuitous, unnecessary SA scenes and zero intersectionality.
It's so strange to have a book that's entirely focused on gender as a construct just not include trans and nonbinary people as a part of that concept (there's one mention of a character who reads as intersex in this new construct, however I think my point still very much stands)!
I found the messaging so conflicting as we are meant to perceive it as an allegory, yet we are witnessing this world just as this new power starts to develop. We are watching the world adjust and grow with this new revelation, and so the story still stems from the patriarchal world that we know intimately. But we are meant to read (cis)women's actions as an allegory for (cis)men's. I think this utterly confuses the messaging. It would've been a much more interesting story if it had chosen one of those things (either the entire book is an allegory for our society, or it's a nuanced exploration of how our world would look if cis women suddenly gained something genetic that made them physically powerful) and stuck to it. Instead we are left to navigate the combination of these two things and it is not well done.
I absolutely detested how many sexual assault scenes there were and some were so awful to read. Obviously, they're meant to be disgusting, but I take issue with the sheer amount of them. One example would have made the point, but there were many scenes that held the threat of sexual violence and many that showed it to us in detail. And actions like these are why I think the complications in the messaging of the book is so important to mention; this is clearly meant to be an allegory for rape culture in our world (I still think it lacks a lot of nuance even so), however because this is a power that has been added to our time it could also be viewed as a 'this is what women would do with power' narrative. It is not skillful, the writing does not in any way untangle this. And I just hated it. I don't think it achieves any of what it is trying to achieve.
There is also simply no intersectionality. As I mentioned, trans and nonbinary people are pretty much excluded from the entire narrative. It's quite dehumanising to see an interpretation of the world that doesn't even include you in it!
The societies that seem to collapse first are not the ones in the western world (shocker! a 2010s feminist book that doesn't think about its own racism at all? ... that was sarcasm!), no, America and the UK seem to be functioning without many/any revolutions. Bit of a weird thing to write!
I also found that this book could have functioned with a lot of interesting explorations of disability, especially disabilities in relation to this new power as it does come from a newly formed part of the body. There were many times throughout the story that I thought it could approach this in a fascinating way, yet it never explored it or had anything interesting to say.
It was just odd. It's missing so much. I just don't think it has anything all that important to say and I don't think it achieved what it set out to do. I disliked the book more and more as I read on. It took characters that I found interesting and went nowhere with their stories, it just seemed to focus on all the aspects I could not have cared less about. It tried to have a well-rounded, global narrative but I thought that that failed entirely.
This is not a professional review, just a rant review! Please remember that! I just had to let out all my thoughts because I did not enjoy this book at all and my feelings are only growing more and more into hatred as I sit here thinking about it and typing this out. I don't think this book is the feminist narrative it thinks it is, it was just so shallow. Sorry!
The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.25
3.25/5
How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
4.25/5
She was asleep. We were awake, but she was asleep. It’s important that you know this, because he will try to claim there was a battle. But there is no battle to be had between an armed man and a sleeping girl.
I immensely enjoyed this retelling. I've immensely enjoyed every other work that I've read by Natalie Haynes, but this one is my favourite so far. Not only do we delve into Medusa's story (which was definitely my favourite part) but also into several of the other prominent female figures surrounding both Perseus and the myth of Medusa.
Medusa's story is one so many seek solace in, it's one that so many know was a warped retelling, that so many have fought for the truth of. I'm so glad that Haynes took on the task of its retelling and I love that she entirely made it her own. Even though there are, of course, heartbreaking and devastating moments which sing with emotion, Haynes still writes with her classic brand of wit and humour. I loved this style especially when it was used to prove the absurdity of the gods and the stupidity of mortals. I think it paralleled very well with the more serious moments.
I adored every moment we spent with Medusa and the Gorgons. I found it to be the strongest part of the narrative, however I thought every voice was essential and added so much more to the book. I loved how they were characterised, especially Stheno and Euryale as they are so often excluded from any humanity in their characterisations. In this, we instantly connected with the care they showed for Medusa as they founded the protection that they held for her all throughout. Their bond was at the very heart of the story.
So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our teeth, our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.
I adored how intricately woven it was, every character played their part and added their own fury and grief to the narrative. I adored witnessing such a wide breadth of characters come to tell their piece. Haynes develops a voice that is quite reminiscent of oral storytelling, I found, mimicking the ways in which this story would have been sung before by a poet. It feels like a play as well, with all its moving parts. I was just sitting, reading in my room, yet I felt swept across the centuries, airborne as if on wings, travelling to every land and listening to the tales spun by each woman. It was richly evocative and astoundingly immersive. I was enamoured not only with every mortal and immortal voice, but with the abstract ones too; the crows, the olive trees, the snakes, every element added to the silken tapestry of this story.
I'm an avid Greek mythology reader, yet hearing these myths retold never bores me. Especially not when they are as imaginative as this. The ending was the most surprising part of it all for me and I've noticed this as a theme throughout the fiction I've read by Haynes. She loves to make a compelling narrative change, this one is less affecting than the one in The Children of Jocasta (which I found very interesting), but still there nevertheless. Here, in Stone Blind, it made an emotional story all the more emotional and created a fascinating ending for a thread of this myth that I have never seen an ending to. It felt cyclical, almost. A true end. I'm always so interested in these choices and I think, love them or hate them (I often love them), they are there for a reason and it's a very intentional choice that I love to think on for a long time afterwards.
Men will tell you that Gorgons are monsters, but men are fools. They cannot comprehend any beauty beyond what they can see. And what they see is a tiny part of what there is.
I highly recommend this if you enjoy Greek mythology, but know that it's not a retelling in the same vein of Circe by Madeline Miller, a story with only one person retelling it, instead it spans great distances and is influenced by a whole range of other characters as well. Medusa is just one voice in the large legacy of her myth.
She was asleep. We were awake, but she was asleep. It’s important that you know this, because he will try to claim there was a battle. But there is no battle to be had between an armed man and a sleeping girl.
I immensely enjoyed this retelling. I've immensely enjoyed every other work that I've read by Natalie Haynes, but this one is my favourite so far. Not only do we delve into Medusa's story (which was definitely my favourite part) but also into several of the other prominent female figures surrounding both Perseus and the myth of Medusa.
Medusa's story is one so many seek solace in, it's one that so many know was a warped retelling, that so many have fought for the truth of. I'm so glad that Haynes took on the task of its retelling and I love that she entirely made it her own. Even though there are, of course, heartbreaking and devastating moments which sing with emotion, Haynes still writes with her classic brand of wit and humour. I loved this style especially when it was used to prove the absurdity of the gods and the stupidity of mortals. I think it paralleled very well with the more serious moments.
I adored every moment we spent with Medusa and the Gorgons. I found it to be the strongest part of the narrative, however I thought every voice was essential and added so much more to the book. I loved how they were characterised, especially Stheno and Euryale as they are so often excluded from any humanity in their characterisations. In this, we instantly connected with the care they showed for Medusa as they founded the protection that they held for her all throughout. Their bond was at the very heart of the story.
So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our teeth, our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.
I adored how intricately woven it was, every character played their part and added their own fury and grief to the narrative. I adored witnessing such a wide breadth of characters come to tell their piece. Haynes develops a voice that is quite reminiscent of oral storytelling, I found, mimicking the ways in which this story would have been sung before by a poet. It feels like a play as well, with all its moving parts. I was just sitting, reading in my room, yet I felt swept across the centuries, airborne as if on wings, travelling to every land and listening to the tales spun by each woman. It was richly evocative and astoundingly immersive. I was enamoured not only with every mortal and immortal voice, but with the abstract ones too; the crows, the olive trees, the snakes, every element added to the silken tapestry of this story.
I'm an avid Greek mythology reader, yet hearing these myths retold never bores me. Especially not when they are as imaginative as this. The ending was the most surprising part of it all for me and I've noticed this as a theme throughout the fiction I've read by Haynes. She loves to make a compelling narrative change, this one is less affecting than the one in The Children of Jocasta (which I found very interesting), but still there nevertheless. Here, in Stone Blind, it made an emotional story all the more emotional and created a fascinating ending for a thread of this myth that I have never seen an ending to. It felt cyclical, almost. A true end. I'm always so interested in these choices and I think, love them or hate them (I often love them), they are there for a reason and it's a very intentional choice that I love to think on for a long time afterwards.
Men will tell you that Gorgons are monsters, but men are fools. They cannot comprehend any beauty beyond what they can see. And what they see is a tiny part of what there is.
I highly recommend this if you enjoy Greek mythology, but know that it's not a retelling in the same vein of Circe by Madeline Miller, a story with only one person retelling it, instead it spans great distances and is influenced by a whole range of other characters as well. Medusa is just one voice in the large legacy of her myth.