Book review – Medusa (Spoiler Free)

“I have seen many different depictions of my sisters and me. Some are admittedly fairly accurate, whilst others are so far off the mark it is almost comical. The ones that make me laugh the most are where we are depicted as beautiful women, with snakes wrapped seductively around us. Honestly, people will try to sexualize anything, won’t they? Well, I can assure you—we were not beautiful.

We were hideous.”

• Title: Medusa
• Author: Rosie Hewlett
• Genre: Fantasy/Mythology
• Pages: 204 pages
• Publication date: April 30, 2021

I got Medusa from Netgalley. I had never heard of it before I saw it on the website, but I’m glad I found it.

Medusa is a retelling of Medusa’s full story from her origin and to her death. I’ve seen her before in the Percy Jackson series, but it’s interesting to see her story taken in a different approach. Kind of like reading Grendel after Beowulf.

This story follows her mythological past well. But it also has her tell the story like she’s talking to us from the Underworld in modern day, trying to set her record straight.

I enjoyed the fact this book touches on a very difficult subject that is still debated on to this day even though it has been happening for thousands of years. I don’t want to spoil it. If you know her origin, you know. It’s an important subject that I haven’t seen discussed in books often, so I appreciate it.

Books talking about difficult topics are good to bring up discussions.

I will admit that the book kept reminding me of a Tumblr discussion I saw on Pinterest recently. It also discussed Medusa’s story, but it took a different spin on Athena’s part. So, when seeing Athena so different in this book, I kept remembering the opposite.

The only thing that stuck out to me was that the tone felt off sometimes. I feel like after a couple more editing rounds, it would be smoother. It would jar me for a second before I’d continue reading.

Overall, this book is a quick read that discusses difficult, old topics in an enjoyable, modern way.

Score: 8.6/10
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.36/5