Thank you NetGalley for letting me get an advanced reader's copy.I loved this book! It has been my favorite retelling of Greek Mythology, from a female point of view.

Every now and then my reads fall into a pattern, the most recent being a trio of reimaginings of Greek tales. Medusa’s Sister’s, by Lauren J.A. Bear falls in between the other two in terms of the reading experience, with engaging characters, good narrative voices, a moving close, and a nice refocusing of the ancient story of Medusa and Perseus (rather than of Perseus and Medusa).

Bear begins, well, at the beginning (after an excellent opening that gives us right away the classic Perseus-Kills-Medusa moment, though she paints it in less than heroic fashion), with the birth of Medusa and her siblings Stheno and Euryale. For various reasons, Medusa is the only one of the trio who end up mortal, a difference that will loom large throughout the novel. Bear fills in the early details and family relationships, which in most versions are either wholly ignored or appear as a charted family tree. The story really picks up with the advent of the Olympians and their domineering, mercurial, volatile manner.

The three sisters end up entangled in the actions and machinations of both the gods and the relatively newborn human race. Medusa in particular is fascinated by humans. Euryale, meanwhile, is more captivated by the god Poseidon, who makes clear his interest in her, though she fails to see just how dangers such an interest can be, despite all the lessons she could have taken from the human lovers the gods take (“lover” of course often being a warped euphemism for “rape victim”). Including a lesson they all directly witness as they befriend the princess Semele, who enters into an affair with Zeus that ends (spoiler alert for the millennial-old story) with her incinerated when she is tricked into asking him to reveal his true self to her. Stheno is the most reserved, least confident of the three sisters, and also the one who worries the most about the others and who often steps in to play peacemaker.

Plot-wise, the story follows the three through their early years, then as they become guests/friends of Semele and suffer the trauma of her death. Afterward they visit Athens where Euryale sets out to learn the “ways of love” in a brothel so as to better catch/maintain Poseidon’s interest, Stheno becomes more self-confident, and Medusa starts spending a lot of time at the temple of Athena. Eventually it all comes crashing down as Medusa suffers a horrific violation, and then Athena curses all three sisters such that Medusa becomes the “snake-haired monster” known to most people. Exiled to a small island, the three eke out an existence there but of course, any potential happiness is cut short by the appearance of “the hero” Perseus, who cuts off Medusa’s head and flies off with it. The story continues past that point, but as much of this is original to Bear, I won’t go into detail so as to avoid spoilers.

Structurally, the narrative is split between a first-person point-of-view from Stheno and a third-person limited point of view from Euryale’s perspective. The downside to this is Medusa is less fleshed out, seen solely through her sister’s biased eyes, and she remains a bit distant as a character, which does somewhat lessen the impact of what happens to her. On the other hand, the book is entitled Medusa’s Sisters, so the choice of POVs makes perfect sense. The two sisters have different outlooks on life, different goals, different desires and fears, different attitudes toward Medusa and the gods, and thus the combination of POVs does an excellent job in creating a multi-faceted narration.

Given two female narrators, and other major (Medusa, Semele) and minor characters (Leto, Pandora, and others) who are also female, the book as one would expect takes a far less male-centric stance toward the Greek myths. At the very start, rather than the courageous monster-slayer, we get a Perseus who throws up at “the very wrongness of what he did. Perseus slaughtered a sleeping woman. An unarmed, innocuous stranger to him and his people . . . And she was pregnant.” Hardly the stuff of legends. Time and again we see men attempt and often succeed in dominating women, violating them, raping them. Time and again our narrators note the way the poets (you can almost hear the sneer when they use that word) erase the women in the stories. As with the tale of Zeus and Danae:

Zeus transformed himself into a golden rain and descended into Danae’s chamber … Did she welcome the rain … Dance in the puddles? When she saw the wonder for what it was, a violation, did she rage?... I’m sure no poet thought to ask her.

When Euryale is horrified at the way the brothel madame sometimes leaves the babies at the outskirts of the city for dead, the brothel owner Charmion replies: “The mothers must survive in a world where men and god — and men who think they’re gods — limit their choices … To have choices is to have power. Most women have neither.”

The narration isn’t just a champion of women, though. The toxic concept of male heroism and need for dominance is also viewed through the lens of monsters and non-monsters. As Stheno notes:

We had entered the age of heroes, and we were beasts … Medusa was the opening attack in a losing battle. All of Echidna’s children would be sacrificed to humans and demigods on quests for notoriety … Moral men who would write their names in the viscera of Echidna’s slaughtered offspring … For what? For a story. For a song.

A final, more intimate focus is the relationship between sisters which is portrayed in ways that feel wholly natural and realistic, with all the attendant joys and jealousies, pride and singular envy, protectiveness and pettiness (or so I assume, being male and having only one sister).

I said at the start that Medusa’s Sisters fell into the middle of the three most recent Greek retellings I’ve read. And in my overall hierarchy of such works, I’d say that holds true. I absolutely loved and was wholly captivated by stories like Madeline Miller’s Circe or Pat Barker’s Silence of the Girls. I didn’t fall in love the same way with Medusa’s Sisters, but that’s more testament to the rare excellence of the other two than any criticism of Bear’s work, which features engaging voices, a bitingly insightful feminist viewpoint, a well-chosen structure, and, particularly after Medusa’s death, a poignant and moving latter part of the novel. Recommended.

"Medusa's Sisters" by Lauren J. A. Bear is a compelling and imaginative retelling of Greek mythology, centered around the captivating stories of Medusa and her sisters. The author skillfully reimagines these mythical characters, giving them depth and complexity that breathe new life into the tales.

Bear's writing is beautifully descriptive, painting a vivid picture of ancient Greece and its legendary beings. The interweaving of emotions, sisterhood, and empowerment make the stories relatable and inspiring.

In "Medusa's Sisters," Lauren J. A. Bear crafts a captivating narrative that celebrates the strength of women, showcasing the power of reclaiming their own stories. This collection is a must-read for fans of mythology and those seeking stories that challenge traditional narratives.

I read this over two days and it occupied my every waking thought for 48 hours. It will continue to haunt me.

A masterpiece. An epiphany. A story.

This was a stunning, devastating mythological retelling that took my breath away and has found a permanent spot in my heart. The haunting prose left me wanting for nothing, the text drenched in heartwrenching metaphysical notions of life & death, family, love, and identity that will haunt me forevermore. I often struggle with Greek mythology purely based on the sheer number of characters, but Bear's storytelling was so precise and purposeful that, even with a sprawling cast, I never had to reference the list at the beginning.

As one of five sisters, I have high expectations for how sisterhood is portrayed in fiction, but this one did not disappoint (even though the author is an only child, which blew my mind!) and pulled relentlessly at my heartstrings. Stheno reminded me of my older sister, and as a kindred Worrier, she really stood out to me and I found her character, choices, and actions so persuasive.

This is a harsh story. The Gorgon sisters struggle to find a place in the world — both the immortal and mortal ones — and along the way, men and women alike harbor no sympathy for the three sisters. At once shivery and painful, inspiring and calamitous, Medusa's Sisters is an unputdownable tale that does not shy away from the difficult topics but manages to weave an element of the mystical & magical into its words that enchanted me until the very last page.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

I've read multiple Medusa retellings, and while I think this one was probably the best of the ones I've read, it took a while for the story to really pull me in.

I appreciated that this focused mainly on the relationship between Medusa and her sisters rather than the Perseus aspect most retellings focus on. The writing was also beautiful, but I really struggled to get into this book and actually feel like reading it. The story did not have me continually thinking about it or wanting to know what was going to happen. I guess I wanted something just a little bit more from this one.

This book was absolutely packed full of history! Often times I find books like this to be lacking in terms of providing the reader with enough background information to really see the whole picture. Bear did such a great job presenting the story in a way that just pulls the reader in. This was a hard book to put down because of the writing style and pace of the story.

Ancient mythology never held much lure for me but the synopsis for Media's Sisters was intriguing. And then I saw the cast of characters and felt that I would never be able to fully get into this one due to not knowing who's who.

Despite these two strikes (against me), I love a feminist retelling of old tales and decided to forge ahead. No regrets - the story of Medusa and her sisters is an amazing, consuming tale; I found myself immersed in it from the beginning and wow.

I cannot find the words to convey how much this story captivated me.

This debut is beautifully written, and will surely pull you in just as it did me.

* I think this one will be great in audiobook form, especially if they go with more than one narrator.


*I'm rethinking my stance on feminist mythology retelling and plan on reading some others.

Strong recommendation from me.



Thank you to Ace (Berkley Publishing Group) and NetGalley for the DRC!

For me, I think this is closer to something like 3.75, but it deserves a round up for goodreads.

This book is incredibly well put together. It can be dense at times because there is A LOT of ancient history, coupled with A LOT of mythological beings and stories. But they're very likely some of the stories that the readers is not as well-versed in and so it needs that density and the historical context.

Its no joke when I say there are a lot of mythological beings; the book graciously starts out with a glossary of characters and how they're related, which god they're born from etc. But even that glossary can't always help you remember everyone, which can be a little frustrating (this story takes place over a very, very long period of time) but for me it was helpful to go into it with and then have a little context once that character appeared.

I'm loving this "trend" of mythology retellings of lesser known characters in the pantheon. I didn't know there were more gorgons than Medusa. I didn't really know Medusa wasn't always a gorgon or the turning-men-to-stone figure that she is known to be. I find it very interesting that Bear's story basically tells us that Medusa wasn't the man-killer at all, but that her older sister did all the turning. Given the direction of this story it does make sense, that Medusa and her sisters were victims of an angry goddess and Stheno would do anything to protect her sisters, that Stheno did all the turning, but I do think it takes Medusa out of her own myth.

It also changes the tenor of the myth, from Athena granting Medusa protection from men, in a sense, and the ability to get revenge, to Athena being vengeful and cruel and the transformation was just plain a punishment for Medusa and her sisters, not against men who would harm women in the way that Poseidon harmed Medusa. I'm not sure I like or agree with that change, but this is Bear's interpretation of things and what she put together was a strong alternative story.

At the heart of THIS story, is sisterhood and the jealousies and love that sisters can hold for one another at the same time. Its a story of choices and indulgences. There are many times when their story could have been different, but indulging Medusa, likely due to her mortality, had its consequences on the immortal sisters. The heart of this story is how far would you go to get something you desire, something you need to make you whole. Its a lovely sentiment.

It was a pure pleasure to read this book..
As a admirer of mastery of Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes I expected a lot from this book and I wasn't disappointed.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher.

Wow. I put this one off for a while, and I really wish I hadn't.

The story of Medusa has been viewed more sympathetically in recent years. A feminist retelling of this character, who was punished for a crime done against her, is nothing new. However, this story is more unique from many of those retellings, in my opinion, with the help of including Medusa's sisters, Stheno and Euryale, both of whom are rather complex in this story. One feels the desire to protect and care for her siblings to the point where they are nearly all she is, and the other grows jealous of Medusa, and thus becomes cruel. Both of these sisters are flawed, but it adds a layer of realism to two women with snakes on their heads.

Even those who do not know much of Greek mythology know Medusa's story, and this book does not shy away from the harshness of it. It made me uncomfortable reading what she goes through, despite knowing what happens, and I felt as though I was a third sister watching her suffer. For this reason, I please suggest anyone interested in this book to be wary of Medusa's story, as this book hauntingly presents what happens to her as it was: evil.

But even for those who know how this story goes, the book solves that problem as well. It has quite a few twists from the original story, almost giving a Wicked like aspect to it. It had me staring at the pages in shock. And it is for that reason that I think anyone, a fan of Greek Mythology or not, will be engrossed in this book. I honestly can't recommend it enough.

Thank you to Netgalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nowadays, there are plenty of feminist retellings of Greek mythology to be found in bookstores, a true golden age for readers like me! But it can be a challenge to distinguish between books that truly offer something meaningful and those merely capitalizing on the trend. Thankfully, Medusa’s Sisters squarely falls into the former category, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Madeline Miller’s Circe (as many book blurbs promise but fail to deliver).

Medusa’s Sisters is narrated by Stheno and Euryale, Medusa's immortal sisters. Their narrative spans from their birth to beyond Medusa's death, truly immersing the reader in their quest to find meaning in life as immortals.

The world-building is top-notch, with incredible detail that pulled me right into the story. The sisters' characters are clearly defined, with personalities that feel real and distinct. Other Greek myths, including ones not normally associated with the Gorgon triad, are thoughtfully woven into the narrative, adding extra depth and meaning to the sisters’ lives.

I have always struggled to really understand Athena’s motivations behind punishing Medusa and her sisters, and while other books have tried to explain this with varying success, Medusa’s Sisters nailed it. This book contains the most amazing take and “twist” on the tale that resonated as truth.

I had the privilege of reading an advanced reader copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley, which did not influence my rating. I will definitely be buying this book when it releases in August 2023!

Medusa’s Sisters surprised me. I had read half the book and was having a hard time trying to pick it up when I gave it another go and couldn’t put it done. The later half of the book had me mesmerized. We are all pretty familiar with the legends surrounding Medusa but this retelling helped flesh out more details. I found myself caring about the Gorgons. They are driven by their loneliness and desire to be loved.

The gods are capricious beings and mortals are their playthings but two of the Gorgons are immortal and can outlaw the gods. Gods only exist because of worshippers but a Gorgon is forever.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkeley publishing!
This is a fantastic retailing for people who love Greek mythology and retellings. I'm extremely partial to this retelling as it focuses more on Medusa and her sisters. Well many retellings have a deuce has a character there aren't that many that focus on her and her sisters as the main aspect. This makes the story feel unique and I enjoy the changes made by the author to depict medusa story with much more depth. I think this adds quite a bit of emotion and up to the original myth.

Bear's "Medusa's Sisters" is the most in-depth retelling of Medusa's story along with her sisters, who have largely been removed from the retellings. This story starts from the very beginning with the birth of Medusa and how she came into the lives of Stheno and Euryale. It also chronicles their lives together before the tragedy of their transformation and what occurs after this.

Unlike other interpretations, this one does not focus on Perseus and his intrusion into the lives of the Gorgons but instead examines the relationship between Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale and how it is affected by the choices of the gods around them. This was the most compelling aspect of the story as it refocuses the attention back upon lesser-named figures from the original stories and creates a perspective and voice for them. Ultimately, this is the point of re-tellings and Bear reconstructs a gripping narrative that does justice to the Gorgons without focusing on more famous aspects.

Largely, the only issue with this retelling was the lack of cohesion between the fantastical elements and the realities of the period. Some parts of the story felt more at home in a YA fantasy novel and didn't quite grasp the balance between juggling the more whimsical qualities of the myth and the realistic depiction of the sister's relationship. It also felt like the historical aspects were borrowed for the setting without truly fleshing it out, which contributed to the YA feeling of the environment. Overall, a minor grip with an otherwise excellent addition to Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale's re-tellings oeuvre.

Even before they were transformed into Gorgons, Medusa and her sisters Stheno and Euryale were unique among immortals…Forgotten by history and diminished by poets, the other two Gorgons have never been more than horrifying hags, damned and doomed. But they were sisters first, and their journey from seaborne origins to the outskirts of the Pantheon is a journey that rests, hidden, underneath their scales.

You may know the story of Medusa and her fate, but did you know she had sisters? Lauren J.A. Bear’s debut novel Medusa’s Sisters puts Stheno and Euryale at the center of the narrative and take us on their full journey—from their “normal” birth from monsters, to their girlhood and curiosity, to the tragedy that changes the trajectory of their lives forever. In hearing the tale from these two oft-forgotten characters, we learn more about Medusa’s past and the family she left behind.

This book definitely falls into the “feminist retelling” bucket of Greek mythology that has become really popular, and for good reason. Medusa’s story is often used as an example of the role women played in both human civilization and the gods’ games. The novel speaks to the themes of sexuality, love and virginity and how those are used and abused by men. But beyond that, Medusa’s Sisters speaks to the power of sisterhood—the bonds, betrayals, grief, forgiveness and love that defines it.

I appreciated how strong of characters Bear built for both Stheno and Euryale. Their unique voices and motivations were clear throughout the story and led to satisfying character growth by the end. The POVs shift between Stheno in first person and Euryale in third person-limited. While I understand the reason for this choice, the back and forth switch between first and third person was a little jarring. This also meant Medusa’s character took a large backseat. We don’t learn nearly as much about her character throughout—this feels purposeful, but makes her personal tragedy a little less impactful.

Bear’s writing is lyrical and flows well. However, I feel like the novel was most strong after about a third in. The beginning dragged a little as it set up the story, and some of the voice felt less consistent—almost a little modern—at the start of the tale. I’m glad I stuck with it, because the book really picked up and had a strong and meaningful ending. This book is definitely for fans of novels like Circe and A Thousand Ships.

A beautiful take on the tragic story of Medusa and her sisters <3

Everything about this book from page one pulled me in. The language, the beautifully told dynamic between the sisters, the twists and turns. It all felt like reading a classic Greek myth, and yet, it was utterly refreshing. Bear really transports you to this ancient world–I felt like in some scenes I was actually there. It was just a wonderful read.

If you’re a Madeline Miller fan, pick this one up!

If you loved Circe, and a story of sisters uniting together, pick up this book. Medusa's been cut as a tragic figure in mythology but little was written about her sisters.

Many have heard the myth of Medusa and how she could turn man to stone with a single look, but what about her sisters?

This book traces the life of the gorgons from birth, through transformation, death and what comes after grieving. It highlights the difficulty of being a woman and the bond of sisterhood.

Any book written on classic mythology needs to have a lyrical and mystical tone and the author nails that atmosphere. For two sisters that are mentioned minimally in studies of mythology, they are well rounded and have distinct personalities.

Overall, this book is beautiful.

Ya'll I really enjoyed this! What a creative way to bring this story to life.

If you love the story of Medusa, then you will love this retelling of Medusa's story. Laruen J.A. Bear has taken the familiar tale of Medusa, and woven it into a captivating retelling that kept the pages turning for me.

My husband is the one who knows the old stories better than I do, so as I went through this book I kept confirming back the original story with him. Some parts really stuck to the core of the original myth, while there were some parts that strayed but in a way that I think brought more depth to the story. It worked well.

Overall the author brings to life the main characters of the myth, giving this story a fresh overhaul. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys Greek myths or not.

I did not get to finish this book before I was inundated with required reading for work, so it's sitting on my shelf half-done. Yet, I really loved what I read of it! You could easily compare this to Circe (Miller) or The Witch's Heart (Gornichev), but I hope people let Medusa's Sisters stand on its own. What I managed to finish of it was wonderful: from the poetic writing, which I ONLY tolerate in books set in ancient times such as this, to the unique backstories of characters from mythology that we just don't hear that much about, I'm really looking forward to the day I have the time to pick this up again.