You always hear so much about Medusa and not much about her gorgon sisters. Lauren J. A. Bear did a fantastic job bringing light to their stories. And though this was focused on Stheno and Euryale for the most part, it also showed us unfairly Medusa was treated. Bear painted Medusa in a sweeter light than I had seen before.

Like some of the other recent retellings and reiterations of mythology, Bear does the women in this novel the justice that they haven’t always been given throughout history. I thought it was beautiful to see Stheno and Euryale’s relationship with Orion, who is arguably more famous than they are.

I look forward to reading more of Lauren’s work in the future, as this was absolutely lovely.

I interviewed her earlier in the year here: https://fanfiaddict.com/interview-with-lauren-j-a-bear-author-of-medusas-sisters/

Two book reviews in one day. Who is she. And yet another recent 5⭐️ Greek mythology themed read. You know I love it. Let’s do this.

✨Medusa’s Sisters by Lauren J.A. Bear✨
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This is by far the best debut I’ve read all year long. After last year’s upset about a particular book that featured Medusa on the cover, but was severely lacking actual Medusa content I’ll admit I had a fierce hunger. And now I can say that I’m deliciously satiated.

We all know Medusa, but have you been properly introduced to her sisters, Stheno and Euryale? In this epic retelling, Lauren J.A. Bear gives us the lowdown on the sisters who started as wee sea-born immortal babes growing into awkward adolescents who craved freedom and a compulsion to protect their mortal sister Medusa. After entering the human world as freshly minted adults, rivalry between sisters ensues creating a cascade of tragic events that most of us are familiar with—the transformation of these sisters into the iconic snake-headed Gorgons. “Monsters, but not monstrous,” the sisters are forced to flee, forever transformed inside & out.

This retelling is perfection. It has all of my favorite Greek mythology items—eye-gushing beautifully written prose, the quiet reflective moments & the pulse-pounding action sequences, the emotional tumult, the chorus & interludes, and some wickedly smart dialogue. I literally said aloud, “oooooh burn” during a conversation between Euryale and Poseidon there towards the end while listening to the audiobook at work. Speaking of audiobook, the dual perspective narration works so well that I prefer it to print. If you’re planning to read a Greek mythology this year, then please pick this one.

I know some readers don’t like comparisons, but I’m gonna do it anyways. Don’t hate me.
If you loved the quiet beauty of Circe by Madeline Miller, then Medusa’s Sisters is a guaranteed hit. Also if you’ve read & loved Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes, read this one to round out the whole experience. You can thank me later.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. It’s a new favorite and I cannot wait to check out Mother of Rome in 2024.

An excellent debut, exquisitely written. I was highly impressed with how Lauren J. A. Bear had expanded on fragments of myth to create such a moving tale of sisterhood.

This is a thoroughly researched book that is a great for Greek mythology lovers. It was refreshing to read a book that went beyond Medusa’s POV and spoke about her sisters as well. Stheno and Euryale are written beautifully with human emotions that shows their feelings, their loneliness and their helplessness at all that unfolds before then. The sisterhood between the Gorgons is explored in detail in this book.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

I am a huge sucker for any Greek retelling of any sort so I knew I was gonna like this one before I even opened it but wow did it really exceeded all my expectation! It was engaging and so different, and really made me feel like I got to know these characters on a personal level.

This book was so so so so good! I loved getting Medusa's story, and I loved even more that it came from the perspective of her sisters. Reading their whole story from start to finish was something else, and it was beautiful. As someone who is also the eldest sister and loves my younger sisters more than anything, reading Stheno's perspective really hit home for me, and I loved her character so much. The development all three of characters had, and the story of how they became the gorgons was incredible, and I'm recommending this book to literally everyone. This is one of my favorite books I've read this year.

I’ve been loving the amount of Greek myth retellings coming out and Medusa’s story is a personal favourite of mine. This was a wonderful, rich take and definitely highly recommended for anybody who likes fresh, feminist takes on the classic myth tales.

I thought this was very well done. Great for any fans of the Greek mythology reimagining genre. The writing really transports you to another time. Could be dry in some parts. Content warning for a very graphic rape scene.

This book was wonderful! I keep thinking the retelling of old myths will get old, but this author did a great job of keeping this retelling fresh. I look forward to following this author for more of her work. 5 star read.

I’ve been on a Greek mythology kick lately, so naturally I picked this one up. This is the third book about Medusa that I’ve read this year and I really enjoyed it. I liked how the story centered on her sisters instead of directly on her. The chaos of the family and their feelings was very unique. All in all, I would recommend this to someone who enjoys Greek mythology.

A beautiful and heartbreaking depiction of sisterhood - the gamut of emotions and experiences and choices. The stories are familiar, but the feelings were real. I found myself and my own sister reflected in these women and their relationships, the love and joy and frustration and anger, and the strange dichotomy of connection and loneliness. To be fair, I have been LOVING how many Greek/Roman retellings have been coming out recently, and it feels like they've all been amazing, but I was particularly happy with this one.

Violence: High
Sex: High

Whew, how did I forget how brutal Greek myths (and their retellings) can be? This is a heartbreaking yet also heartwarming story, and I fell in love with these characters. The relationships between Stheno, Eurayle, and Medusa felt as realistic and honest as any story of sisterhood, and I appreciated the dynamics that existed between each of them as well as their views of themselves. I did find the book to be a bit overwritten at times—which made it feel LONG—but I learned a lot, and I loved the construction, with Bear giving us first person POV with Stheno and third person with Eurayle's chapters. This one is not for the faint of heart, but lovers of mythology will really enjoy this one.

Medusa's Sisters by Lauren J.A.Bear is another wonderful tale inspired by Greek mythology. I did not want to like this book when I started it, but by the end I am an emotional puddle. Beautifully written. Great perspectives throughout the book. This book was heartbreaking but addictive. I LOVED this book!

Medusa's Sisters is a stunning story that highlights some fascinating figures that I don't often see in many modern day retellings. Most everyone knows at least something about Medusa and her gaze and popular imagery of snakes for hair, but who spends much time considering Medusa's family–and, in particular, her and her sisters?

Medusa actually has a number of siblings, but in Medusa's Sisters we mainly follow Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, the three Gorgons born from Phorcys and Ceto. Upon birth, these three are thrust into the harsh world of the gods where they often struggle to find their place or even demand any respect they feel they deserve, especially since they are considered rather unremarkable to look at since they have no odd traits or qualities. I thought Medusa's Sisters did an excellent job of portraying the cutthroat world and nature of the gods, from the Titans to the Olympians and everything in between, as well as their general perception and treatment of humans.

I absolutely loved this book and finished it in just a couple days (which is actually quite the feat given all the reading slumps I've been battling lately!). I've read a lot of Greek myth retellings and also just a lot of myth stories in general (although surprisingly, for studying Classics for both my BA and MA, I didn't spend as much time directly reading myth stories as one might think... but they are still very important!) and this is definitely one of the highlights in the Greek myth retelling genre. Bear has an eloquent prose that feels both accessible and timeless in how she narrates the actions and lives of these three sisters. And as previously mentioned, I feel like Bear really did tremendous work in capturing the way the gods interact and the sort of callous nature that exists within a world a of immortal beings with various abilities. Her writing completely transported me to the Greek world and subsequently transcended my expectations of this book.

Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa were all wonderfully complex and I found myself captivated by their stories. The story is told from Stheno and Euryale's POVs, Stheno's in first person and Euryale's in third. I enjoyed the different narrative choice for each character because it helped to not only easily differentiate them, but also provided different perspectives to better understand the world and characters within it. I felt like this alternating perspective also worked well with the pacing and helped maintain this book's steady pacing. It's a slightly slower paced story that is very much focused on characters, but not too slow to where it was boring; it never felt dry or dragged on, and I found myself captivated by each page.

I will certainly be keeping my eye out for any future books from Lauren J.A. Bear, as I cannot wait to see what else she can do. If you are at all interested in Greek myth or simply an excellently told tale full of drama, family, tragedy, finding oneself, and so much more, then you should definitely pick up a copy of Medusa's Sisters.

Disclaimer : I received a free copy of this book and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion.

DNF @ 26%

Content Warning: sexual assault, misogyny, parental neglect, murder, other things that happen in mythology that are generally bad

I really have to stop reading Greek/Roman mythology reimaginings (because they sure as hell aren't retellings). As someone who has a minor in Classical Studies, they always make me so angry because they usually miss the point of the story or fill in details that were never there to begin with to make it make more sense.

Also, for a myth that's about sexual assault and the taking away of someone's power, I found it ironic that Medusa didn't have a perspective in this story at all. I even read all the chapter headings to see if that changed later on and it didn't. I am all for taking back power and reclaiming myths and figures for survivors, as a survivor myself, but it is frustrating to see it still be a story from someone else's perspective and narrative.

Anyway, I'm not the target audience for Greek/Roman mythology reimaginings because I have too intimate of knowledge with the texts to see them in the light of today's world.

I'm delighted by the sudden growth of this particular genre, as I can't get enough of these novels based on ancient myths and gods/goddesses. Medusa's Sister is engrossing, thrilling, and educational without being overbearing. I can't wait to see what's next for this author.

I've always been interested in Medusa's story, but I really didn't know much about Stheno, and Euryale and found them to be interesting, imperfect characters with difficult and incredible stories of their own.

I liked this story but for some reason I did not love it.
It's told in alternating views from Medusa's sisters Stheno and Euryale. It's mostly a sisterly bond story but it tells of the horrible abuse that all three sisters endured.
It does drag slowly in some parts of the telling so I wanted to read it but kinda was slow making myself.
At the end I did love all three sisters and felt some sorrow from their story.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review

I relatively recently read the Medusa retelling Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes, so I was intrigued as soon as I discovered Medusa’s Sisters. Regrettably, I still haven’t gotten around to reading the major source material for Greek mythology, so I can’t speak to how this novel handles those narratives.

What I can say is that Medusa’s Sisters is a refreshing retelling that centers the relationship between sisters in Ancient Greece. Although Stheno and Euryale are immortal, and Medusa is their kin, they are uniquely curious about mortals and their lives. They develop messy romantic and platonic relationships, party with other youth, and gradually learn about religion, government, warfare, and more—just like mortals. Yet there remains a distance between them and the mortals they emulate, even while the three are just as trapped in Olympian rivalries.

I related the most to Stheno. I am not an oldest daughter, but I found familiarity in her stoicism, her service toward others, her confusion about her own desires. Though Euryale frequently irritated me, she was no less sympathetic. This story does not shy from depicting both the sisters’ flaws and their strengths. Similarly, the story does not hide the brutality of the world the sisters inhabit; a core theme is control and domination, and several women and minor goddesses attest to the prevalence of sexual assault.

Medusa’s Sisters spans many smaller, interwoven tales and elements of Greek mythology, including Perseus’ “heroism”, Orion’s constellation, and Semele’s rebirth on Olympus. At times, I had trouble holding onto each narrative without losing track of others. The pacing felt slightly off-kilter, though that is to be expected when trying to condense the equivalent of multiple lifetimes into a reasonably long book.