Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

There’s a running theme in all the books I’ve read recently: men are the worst 🤷🏼‍♀️ This was beautifully written and illustrated and gave a different perspective to the Medusa myth, one that was a little more justified. This book really humanized the character of Medusa, and her sisters, and made me sympathize with her. Medusa throughout mythology was demonized, but I think this book does a good job of taking some of the misogyny out of the myth itself.

Stunning mix of poetic prose and beautiful mixed-media style illustrations that brings the Medusa story to life in a way that is unique and new. Especially powerful was the comparison between Medusa and Danae.

Medusa is one of my favorite Greek myths, and I loved the story feminist take here. Medusa deserves so much more!

I was really surprised on the direction that this book took, but I also was really pleased with it.

It is nice to see a story where Medusa doesn't stay a victim and takes control of her own life. It is also really interesting to see a story where her sisters get more of a roll and voice outside of being Gorgon monsters. The three are a family who show each other unconditional love and respect.

I enjoyed Perseus's role in this story retelling. The whole book is a nice fresh look on a classic myth.

In the vein of Circe, Ariadne, and A Thousand Ships, Burton pulls on Greek mythology to subvert our understanding of a well-known story. Here, Medusa is a victim, who was assaulted by one god before being viciously punished by another. Over the course of the story, we gain this backstory as well as new insight into Perseus, before seeing the traditional myth play out a bit differently than we might know it today. Combined with striking illustrations throughout, Burton has crafted a memorable retelling that stands apart from other YA mythology.

This story, this retelling from Medusa's point of view is everything. It's everything I never thought of and never knew I needed to read until now and I can't stop thinking about it since I read it a little while ago now. Right after I finished reading it, I wanted to read it again.
It's a Greek Myth retelling from Medusa's point of view like I mentioned above, but it's from a perspective I never thought of with Medusa and Perseus having a connection, a deep connection, and Medusa falling in love with Perseus. The truth of what happened with Medusa to put her in her current situation and what happened with Perseus that put him there on the island with her. The two of them in this story are two lonely, lost, and cursed souls, doomed from their beginnings through no fault of their own and they end up together talking and connecting on this island, Medusa's island. If ever there was a doomed, cursed, sad, and star-crossed lovers tale this one, this retelling takes the cake, it wins over them all. It broke my heart when I read this one.
If you love Greek Mythology or any Mythology and retellings then make sure to pick this up and check it out. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Bloomsbury YA for letting me have the chance to read and review this amazing and unique Greek Myth retelling. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a really lovely retelling and re-conception of the Medusa myth. I appreciated the inclusion of her sisters and the sweet, vulnerable way she reveals her story. The art is also fantastic and meshes well with the poetic language of this book.

This is a hard review to write, as I had really high hopes - but unfortunately, they were pretty thoroughly dashed.

This book was somehow both pretentious & careless - with turns of phrase that i’m sure were meant to evoke great emotion, or be tattooed in young, romantic minds - but they felt stiff and forced and unrealistic. Medusa turned from misunderstood villain to manic pixie dream girl, and it was hard not to make it through every page without rolling my eyes.

I wasn’t expecting The Odyssey, but i was expecting some effort to at least pretend like the author was trying to make it authentic to Ancient Greece… Instead, I kept finding turns or phrase that decidedly didn’t belong in this era - like “girlfriend” and “boyfriend” - and honestly it was distracting - it kept taking me out of the story.

The art was beautiful, and this book had so much promise for me - but unfortunately fell very flat.

I really appreciated the perspective on Medusa - finally giving her agency in her own story, finally not painting her as a villain, but as a victim, and as a survivor, as a teen girl subject to the whims of the gods. I think the writing wasn’t bad either - just kind of insufferable at times - which feels crappy to say.

All in all, not the book for me, but I hope I’m in the minority!

Medusa by Jessie Burton, 209 pages. Bloomsbury YA (Bloomsbury), 2022. $20.
Language: PG (1 swear, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Medusa (18yo) lives on a deserted island with her sisters after the shame of everything that happened in their village. Four years have passed, and now a boy is on her island. Does Medusa dare call out to him, or does she stay safe and scared in her cave?
Burton tells the story of how Medusa came to have a head full of snakes, but, more importantly, she tells the story of Medusa’s struggle to love herself. The reflective quality of Medusa’s story, as she recounts her experiences to readers, captivates and invites personal reflection on topics of fate and self-identity. Gill’s sketched style of illustrations supports the reflective tone and is beautiful in its own right – I could hang some of those pictures on my wall and never tire of looking at them. The mature content rating is for partial nudity and implied rape.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this! The illustrations are beautiful and the story was sad but great. Jessie is great, as always.

4 stars.

This was an interesting concept and read! Couldn’t put it down! I found the complex characters to be enthralling and entertaining!

This book was both heart breaking and deeply refreshing. Medusa reinforces the idea of taking charge of one's own narrative and claiming ownership of one's self. A definite recommendation for all young people!

I received an eARC from Bloomsbury YA through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Medusa has always been one of my favourites characters from Ancient Greek myth, so I was excited to see her get a retelling dedicated to her story.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Jessie Burton's feminist take on Medusa's tragic story, it was fast-paced and an easy read. While I would've preferred to see this as a full-length adult novel as opposed to a YA I was happy that it didn't try to sugarcoat anything because of its intended audience. The illustrations were stunning and so perfectly chosen to amplify certain scenes throughout the novel.

Definitely a must-read for fellow mythology lovers and all those happy that Medusa finally got her story told.

I have loved Greek Mythology ever since I was a child and the story of Medusa was one that I have known for a very long time. It is one that I have wanted a retelling of for many years and I am happy to say there finally is one that stands out. And it's very good. Medusa had me rooting for this young woman so much. Her tale is a sad one for obvious reasons and I was glad that she was given a voice this time around. It was powerful reading from her perspective.

I completely recommend this book to mythology fans. Its tale is well known but this retelling of it was powerful and beautiful. Especially, with the illustrations.

*I received an eARC from Netgalley for an honest review. All opinions are my own. I also bought a copy of the book that I received before the eARC and I'm thankful I have it.*

This title was quite short at about 200 pages and some of those were sketchy illustrations to help tell the story. Everyone knows the basic story of Medusa, but do they know her origin? I didn't and it was interesting to get this semi-diary like telling of it. Medusa lives on a deserted island with her two sisters and all three of them were transformed by Athena and they had to leave their home. Her sisters have wings and are able to leave the island to find food but Medusa has the worst of it, she has snakes for hair and an ominous warning of not to let a man look at her. Luckily she has her dog to keep her company while her sisters are way, until one day a man shows up on a boat to the shore with a dog. Medusa greets him from afar hiding behind a rock and they become friends. She hides him from her sisters and they tell each other stories about where they came from and why they are there on the island now. They come to trust each other and admit that they might even love eachother until it is revealed what his purpose of travel was and the warning of looking at a man comes true. This story was extremely compelling and would be great in the high school classroom.

I'm struggling with rating this one. I expected a lot for a Medusa retelling because I love Medusa. I was hoping it'd be in the same vein as Madeline Miller or Jennifer Saint. I knew that it wouldn't be exactly up to that caliber because of the short length and pages dedicated to illustrations (which are beautiful by the way), but I was still hoping for a bit more. However, it seems stupid to knock this book for not meeting my expectations when I already knew that it wouldn't. And honestly, it wasn't bad by any means. It was a good, short tale about Medusa and Perseus with a more humanized version of Medusa and there was feminism throughout the book.

The writing reads young - I was thinking more like middle grade until we got to the sexual assault part. The content itself brings it back up to YA. Just be prepared that the writing reads young even if the content is not. But I suppose that's Greek Mythology in general - many of those tales are pretty dark if you think about it.

The best thing about this book is the character work of Medusa herself. We finally get to hear Medusa's side and there is no way you won't sympathize with this mortal girl turned gorgon. I also think it makes a good statement about how society treats women in general: If you happen to be beautiful, 1) people covet your beauty while finding things to hate about you, 2) people think you should be thankful for all the unwanted attention, 3) people think you are "asking for it" by simply going out in public and being attractive. Really, it drew some nice parallels to what women go through every day and this is a story that has been around for centuries.

Do you see why this is tough to rate? I think I'm gonna go with 4 because I've written this much already and I usually just forget 3 star books. Probably 3.5 rounded up.

Medusa is such a captivating myth and I really enjoyed this interpretation. The writing was lyrical and really set the tone for how medusa views herself. The way she tells her story focusing on how other perceive her compared to what she knows to be the truth was so well written. It's a great way to blend together the different versions of her story while still presenting as the definitive true version of events. The artwork is stunning and supports the text well weaving in and out of the narrative. I love how there were some full illustrated pages, some combining the art and text, and some where the story stood alone. All around a beautiful retelling that I would highly recommend to mythology fans.

After being cursed by Athena, Medusa and her sisters have spent 4 years in isolated on a deserted island. Now 18, Medusa longs for a new life, one without snakes on her head and the fear of the sea god. When a young man washes up on the shores of the island, Medusa believes this is her chance at friendship…maybe even love. But fear if her image and Perseus’ own journey may be their breaking point. Jessie Burton’s Medusa is a stunning reimagining of Medusa and Perseus, reframing the famous myth in a feminist light.

Once I picked up this book, I was intoxicated by the poetic writing and beautiful illustrations. As a life long fan of Greek mythology, I adored the way the author took such a popular myth and reworked it in such a delicate way. I could ready this book a hundred times and never be sick of it.

A must read for fans of mythology.

For fans of Rick Riordan and Circe as well as fans of mythology in general. It is first person, which I know will make some people love it or hate it right away. Filled with illustrations, this is the story of Medusa for the new era.

Greek mythology is very popular where I work, and I’m sure teenage fans of Percy Jackson will want to get their hands on this one.