This was my first retelling and I enjoyed it. It was definitely an interesting perspective. A super quick read at only 208 pages but it kept my attention the whole time. This told the story of Medusa and how she grew from doubting herself, to hiding herself, to being proud of who she was made into. It also had women’s empowerment vibes as you get the downfall of Perseus. This retelling also explores sexual harassment in a way that isn’t overbearing. After reading this, I definitely want to explore more retellings.

I'm giving this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. This was a good retelling and a very quick and easy read. Seeing Medusa as a lonesome girl hoping for love was heartbreaking. I enjoyed seeing this story from her perspective and not from a male gaze. I think I would have liked more of this story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was a great retelling of the story of Medusa. While we have all heard her story from other character's perspectives, this is told from her own. Instead of being portrayed as a monster, she is portrayed as a human who has had a lot of unfortunate circumstances happen to her.

The story begins with Medusa and her sisters exiled on a remote island. She spends most of her time alone while her sisters are away hunting for food. After Perseus crashes onto the island, she slowly begins to talk to and trust him, and finally tells her story of how she ended up isolated on the island and how she got snakes for hair. It is a sad story that makes you sympathize with her. You come to realize she isn't a monster at all; just someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and who ended up gaining the gods wrath instead of their help. Though her story is a sad one, you also see her grow into a more confident person who learns to live again after everything that has happened and accept herself the way she is now instead of seeing herself as a monster.

I wish the book had been a bit longer in order to give more time to the development of Perseus and Medusa's relationship, but overall this was a well-written story.

This was an interesting YA novella and I enjoyed Medusa's perspective in what's essentially a greek mythology fanfic. The writing was my favorite part, as it was really lyrical and beautiful without being too flowery.

I think I just wanted more from this. I wanted it to push the envelope further and dive deeper. The book ended as it was just getting good! I don't mind that, but I think I was expecting more, especially considering the horrific nature of Medusa's story. This was soft and I wanted it to be longer and darker.

Flew through this once I got into it though, the dialogue is great and this is a really easy read!

A powerful reimagining. 𝙈𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙨𝙖: 𝘼 𝙉𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 breathes new life into Medusa’s character and expands upon Medusa’s transformation into a Gorgon. The novel takes an unflinching look at the brutality that precipitated Medusa’s transformation and gives her a more compassionate and inspiring ending. I really appreciate the way Burton acknowledges Medusa’s innocence and gives her an opportunity to reclaim her identity and self-respect. This reinvented story is so much more interesting and empowering than the original. It fits well with the modern context of Medusa as symbol of survival and strength.

Thank you #BloomsburyPublishing and #NetGalley for an advanced copy of 𝙈𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙨𝙖: 𝘼 𝙉𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 to review. I really enjoyed it!

This book overall fell flat for me. Between the cover, the description, and the comp titles I was expecting something more colorful, descriptive, and immersive, but the story I got didn’t really measure up to those expectations.

The cadence of conversation between Medusa and Perseus was not very smooth and really kept me from getting immersed in the story and feeling connected to Medusa’s struggle. The random uses of modern slang and language didn’t help on that front either.

This book really just felt like I was reading a narrative essay rather than a story. Medusa’s view of her own story has so much potential and I think the bare bones were there, but I was still left wanting more emotion, atmosphere, and connection.

Even though this was a short read, I felt like it took me forever to get through it. It just wasn’t for me.

This was an intriguing short read! I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling and the fact that Medusa survived at the end..

With a short story it’s hard to write multiple characters and for each one to have depth, as we saw with Perseus struggling between his belief that Medusa was a monster vs the woman that he met and eventually fell in love with.

I def recommend this read!!

Medusa, a once beautiful girl, has gotten her new daily routine down.. Until a beautiful man washes up on the shore and changes everything.

Another Greek mythology re-telling in the bag, and I ate it up. I love the story of Medusa, and this did not disappoint. Burton does a fantastic job of keeping the integrity of the original story while putting her own spin on it. Medusa is so undeniably a badass, and I absolutely loved this book.

*projected US republish release date: December 4th, 2024*
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA!

Were I writing a one-word review, I'd jot down, "Meh-dusa," and be done with it.

But perhaps that's a bit unfair. The thing is, I opened Medusa understanding it to be "General Fiction (Adult)" and "Women's Fiction." So imagine my dismay when I found myself essentially listening in on a couple of teenagers having adolescent-deep conversations about beauty and perception and expectations in a you-hang-up-first, no-you-hang-up-first kind of way.

My eyes still ache from all the rolling.

Maybe if I'd known the novel was geared toward a fourteen-year-old audience I would have been able to enjoy it. After all, it did have some beautifully written, almost lyrical passages. Consider this description of Medusa's exilic island: "When the crescent blooms to a coin, no lantern is ever needed, no fire in the hearth. The sand on the shore is a pewter ribbon. And up on the cliffs, hares live like silver trinkets, for the grass is smooth enough to line a jewel box."

I mean, it's stunning, evocative prose, right? And that's not an isolated incident; Burton creates dozens of passages like this throughout the book.

But for most of the novel, literally nothing happens. We're just listening to Medusa and Perseus thinking, talking, having and sharing quasi-deep thoughts...

...about beauty: "When beauty's assigned you as a girl, it somehow becomes the essence of your being. It takes over everything else you might be. When you're a boy, it never dominates who you can be."

...about self-awareness: "I was trapped; I was the one person I could never escape."

...about opening up to somebody else: "We were dealing in the market of ourselves now, presenting our parts, the swift and heady bartering of tales."

...about being genuine: "...there's only so long you can wear the mask before the skin beneath it starts to curdle. Before you contort into a half-self. And you can't go back. Time doesn't work like that."

So much of this came across as forced, preachy, stilted. By the time I reached the single scene of action and agency, I was more than weary of being told so much and shown so little. And while it should have been refreshing to read Medusa's story from her perspective, this was not a tale that drew me in and made me care.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a copy of this book to read. This was such a wonderful read it was a smaller book but I highly recommended and would purchase!

So I didn't realize when I asked for this title that I had already read a different version of it previously on netgalley. It was an interesting take on the Medusa myth, but it also wasn't my favorite. Those feelings still stand at this time. Wasn't bad and I do recommend it to anyone interested in mythology and medusa.

Also this new cover is a lot more visually pleasing in my opinion.

Good book. I like Medusa’s story, it definitely needed to be told correctly and this did it! I like the dialogue and the way the author weaves the story. A good read!

An imaginative retelling of Ovid's story of Medusa and how she became the mythical monster, instead of born of monsters. A beautiful and heart wrenching tale of womanhood and the unwanted attentions of men. It was a quick and simple read, but full of fantastical mythical context. This will leave your eyes full of tears from sadness and recognition as a woman, but also feminine rage we as women all have/or will eventually feel from pressures of patriarchal society.

Medusa is a retelling of an old Greek myth and it really hits the mark. I found it heartbreaking but also uplifting. Finding our worth can be a long road for many people and Medusa has had an extra long road, being abused and villified. She is an amazingly strong and thoughtful character. I really loved her head of colorful snakes, each with their own little personality. The story is an incredibly quick read and kept my interest the whole time. I look forward to reading more by this author.

This was received as an ARC through NetGalley:
This was a lovely fast read of Medusa of her origins and struggles. Inspiring telling of the gods fickle behavior and consequences they didn’t think about.

I love me some mythology books. real, fiction, retelling, anything. It is all fantastic and I love it. Medusa was well-written, well-paced, and just all-around a good story.

***** I have received and read an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

I love Medusa and the current trend of reimagining the Greek myths and exploring the female characters with further depth.

So when I saw this book up for review, I had to give it a shot.

It's short, and I definitely found it quick and easy to read, but the story just didn't work for me.

It feels as if it's a Twilight version of Medusa rather than the in depth story that I was looking for. More of a teen romance rather than adult romance/women's fiction it was labeled as.

I received this book through a NetGalley ARC. Surprisingly, it was a shorter read and is a dramatic reimagining of the Medusa and Perseus story, with an "unexpected" victor by the end. It offers a fresh perspective on the characters and exploring themes of love, sacrifice, and the beauty that can be found within the most unlikely places- ourselves.

I wouldn't consider myself vain, but as a black woman who attended a predomintately white institution and is employed in corporate America, I have had more times than I can count of feeling lesser than as normal humans do. Cursed to be alone and wistful for the things I see others so easily retain. I wish I could tattoo “I could taste Danae's loneliness because it tasted exactly the same as mine.” (page 31) on myself as a reminder from where I have seen myself come from. Now, books like these never shy from romance, but this takes a drastic turn and unsurprisingly reflects my views on love. “'I want a man to treat you as if his happiness had found a home.'” (126). Wouldn't it be so miraculous that we should be admired not for our external looks, but our internal fears, dreams, deeds, our very beings that we hide away? This book riffs on the loneliness that can fill the human experience, but honestly it falls flat sometimes. Kind of wish it stopped there and had the two fall in love with her beauty being recognized by herself and him seeing past the unconventional "hairstyle" she had going on.

By the end, we come to realize that, as women, we all have a piece of Medusa inside of us. Full of rage, full of sorrow, fulll of questions, full of answers. And we must nurture her to take back what we wish was untrue- our very lives. At many points I found myself having to put the book down and allow myself to be angry right along with Medusa as if I was Medusa. The curse of loneliness is broken as I choose to set myself free and “Maybe I had found my space to simply be.” (116). However, I realize that I haven't broken this curse on my own, but with the help and presence of others. Medusa seems to take that for granted and edges on a "girlboss, gaslight, gatekeep" moment, which felt emotionally stunted, especially taking into account the ending.

If I was a little younger, I feel that I wouldn't have see the things I didn't enjoy, but I digress. There was no real character development and even in the moments when you think Medusa is going to reach the coming to G-d moment, it falls right on its face. Don't get me wrong, there are some good points in this book regardless of that. The book had a lot going for it, but I feel like the feminist perspective was too in your face at some moments. It read almost Wattpad-y because of this, but overall I enjoyed the book.

I love a good Greek mythology retelling - but this one... I have mixed feelings about it. Short and sweet. Another story in the trend of reclaiming women’s voices in Greek mythologies. It was a quick and easy read and told as a coming-of-age tale from Medusa’s perspective.
I didn't really like the writing style..

The myth of Medusa like any myth changes as time passes but what is the real story? Medusa is living on an island with her 2 sisters in voluntary exile when Perseus arrives. The more Medusa and Perseus talk as time passes they realize they are falling in love. But can you really love someone you haven't seen or someone you don't truly know? As they both learn the truth about one another they realize love is not enough.

While I felt the book was a bit short I did enjoy that it was Medusa telling her own story and you were able to see her growth as a girl and a gorgon. The end was empowering, "But you will find me when you need me, when the wind hears a woman's cry and fills my sails forward." - Medusa realized her worth, her power, who she was.