Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
I love mythology retellings and have especially loved the trend of books rehabilitating the unfairly despised women of Greek mythology and telling their side of the stories. But often the books have fell short in some way, be it not great writing or a slow plot.
Medea suffers from none of that and is an excellent book in its own right, and from a debut author I was stunned.
It’s a work of art.

This book was seriously amazing...

I have tried to read other recent greek mythology and wasnt able to get into it. The writing of this book just seemed so smooth.

"𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐞, 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤."

As a teacher of the genre and someone who has loved mythology since childhood, the recent influx of re-tellings have been giving me life. 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒂 may just take the award for a recent favorite.

Vilified in classical Greek mythology as a sorceress, a witch, the bitter wife of the hero Jason, and the slayer of her twins, this re-telling softens her edges and gives her the spotlight to tell her side of the story.

The granddaughter of the Titan Helios, Medea was born to King Aeetes and Idyia, a sea nymph. Her childhood was littered with stories of the gods and the awareness of her own powerful lineage, including mentions of the sorceress Circe as her aunt exiled to the island of Aeaea. Her father is a moody, unkind man prone to violent outbursts, and her mother seems repelled by her daughter and eventually abandons her three children after giving birth to Chalciope's and Medea's only brother, Phaethon.

Medea knows that she is expected to be docile and marry for the benefit of the kingdom, so she is surprised when her father teaches her 𝑷𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒐𝒏, the study of medicines and poisons. When the hero Jason arrives to capture the Golden Fleece, it becomes clear that perhaps it was always Medea's destiny to travel into the dark world of sorcery and necromancy. She devises a plan to escape her controlling father, even if that means losing her beloved brother.

Soon Medea realizes that the happiness she thought she would find is still elusive, and when she receives Jason's letter that he is marrying another, hatred burns within her. Because of her initial success with bringing Phaethon back from the dead, she makes a rash and shocking choice that she won't be able to recover from.

I've always despised Jason and never thought of him as a hero, so to see him painted in such an unflattering light was highly satisfying. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒅𝒚𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒚 is my favorite mythological work of all time, and I adore the character of Circe, so seeing her brief appearance in this book was magical. Most of all, I love the vulnerability and strength the author gave Medea and her rebellion at what was expected from her versus what she wanted for herself.

I can't believe this was a debut, and I'll be anxiously waiting for news on this author's next project. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for this stunning early copy. MEDEA will publish February 13, 2024.

I absolutely love books that make you fall for the outcast, the villain, or protagonist. Medea is well know to be a sorceress of evil whos has done disposable things. In this Greek mythology retelling of Medea we get a glimpse into her side of the story. It makes you open your eyes to the horrors that have been done to her and shows how she became to be the witch of the myth we all know. I can’t wait to see what Eilish Quin writes next!

I received this ARC via NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story of Medea. I love the fact that in this telling of her story she was not painted out to be a monster. But rather a very complex individual who was wrongfully betrayed by so many in her life. The prose in this novel was stunning and anyone who enjoys Greek mythology should definitely pick this one up.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This was absolutely amazing! The witch Medea is one of the most despised women in Greek mythology, so it was refreshing and fascinating to read something from her perspective. Highly, highly recommend! The author did research to write this and it shows, I’m in love with her version of the events that took place and of Medea.

We finally get to hear from the perspective of the most despised woman in Greek mythology, the witch Medea. This perspective sheds light on the fact that when we say someone is misunderstood, we are not admitting to the fact that it's so much deeper than that...

I absolutely love the perspective Eilish Quin writes for Medea. Quin's Medea shows that monsters aren't just mythical creatures but people that are supposed to love us unconditionally... MY HEART felt for Medea and I hate everyone who hurt her. She didn't deserve that. BUT she made the most of everything! She did not just take it.

In one scene she stands up for herself & I noted in my kindle "Such a self aware bad ass".

Truly such remarkable writing and I cannot wait to see what else Eilish Quin writes next!

Daughter of an Oceanid and the son of the Titan Helios, Medea is destined to be anything but ordinary. Medea feels like she doesn’t belong with her beautiful sister and kind hearted brother. Outspoken and strange, Medea is more comfortable learning about pharmakon from her father King Aeetes. When her mother utters a prophecy about the death of her brother Phaeton, Medea will do anything to keep his death from happening, delving deeper into her studies of pharmakon. Soon she discovers the dangers of potions and magic, seeing firsthand how her father has no qualms about using either to achieve his ends. When young hero Jason arrives, Medea finally sees a way to escape from her father. But, in attempting to flee from him, will Medea become even worse than her father?
Eilish Quin’s Medea is a well researched and well written retelling of Medea, breathing new life into the vilified woman of myth.

It was so exciting and refreshing to read a whole new take on the legend of Medea, Greek mythology's "bad woman."
We all know the official story of Medea: the witch that kills her own two children out of jealousy when her husband, the hero Jason, takes a new wife.
But this isn't the whole story. Quin paints a brand-new view on Medea's alleged murder and the truth about Jason both as a father and a husband.

Heartbreaking but refreshing that a woman’s side of the story was told from her point of view when so much of history is told by the the point of view of men that could never do their stories justice.

This was exactly what I’ve been waiting for for YEARS. A new version of Medea where she is not quite the monster she has been made out to be throughout history, but a flawed and feeling person, and a loving sister and mother. I can’t say too much without massive spoilers but I deeply appreciate the changes the author has chosen to make to this well known tale and think that every single one adds tremendously to the story. The writing is so evocative I had to take breaks because of the overwhelming despair and anguish at some parts. I am just so glad that this character has finally been given a redemptive voice.

Also Jason has always seemed like the absolute worst of all the heroes and I’m glad that comes through here.

4.5/5 stars, rounded up. For those that enjoy Greek mythology retellings, especially from a feminist perspective, this is one to add to the list.

"Medea" is told from the perspective of the eponymous character, starting from her childhood as the second child of King Aeetes of Colchis and Idyia, a sea nymph. Growing up, she's made aware of her lineage with Helios as her grandfather and Circe as her exiled aunt, all while shadowed by a mercurial, never-pleased father and a mother who eventually abandons them after giving birth to her third child and Chalciope's and Medea's only brother, Phaethon. In the patriarchal time, Medea is assumed to be a docile princess, one that will obey her father and enter into a future marriage to benefit the kingdom, but her own desires are far more complex. Her father initially teaches her Pharmakon, the study of medicines and poisons, and she grows her own knowledge of herbs and tinctures, traversing into the dark arts of necromancy and sorcery. Meanwhile, her own thoughts on love and marriage are tainted by the failure of her parent's relationship as well as being forced to craft her own sister's marriage to Phrixsus, a prince from Boeotia who lands on Colchis.

Medea's life is changed when she meets Jason after he arrives on Colchis with his Argonauts to claim the Golden Fleece, and it's with this event that she hatches a plan to escape her controlling father, even with the risk of losing her brother. Despite her success, Medea comes to realize that the future to hoped for - with a loving husband and children, a safe place to call home - is much farther from her grasp and is again forced to make an irrecoverable choice, one that she cannot come back from.

For a debut work, Eilish Quin has crafted a beautiful and complex story about an oft-forgotten and scorned woman in Greek mythology. For many, Medea is only seen as a heartless and brutal sorceress who killed her own flesh and blood and betrayed her own family. In this retelling, however, Quin presents a woman forced into a life she never asked for, trying to piece together a life and love that was never hers to begin with. Despite the surface level of hardness she's forced to maintain, we see the affection and care she has for her siblings, her attempts to support Jason and keep him by her side, and the love she grows for her own children. She's a complex, multi-layered individual that changes over the course of the story - and while I couldn't agree with all of her actions and decisions, I did empathize with her.

The writing is descriptive and immersive, the plot flows smoothly, and Quin is a master at unraveling the events that follow. I finished this novel within a day and can only hope for the chance to read more of Quin's future writing. Very much a recommended read for when Medea is published in February 2024!

The premise of this book sounded intriguing, and based on the synopsis it's the kind of book I should have loved. I appreciate what the author is trying to do with this story, but unfortunately the book is marred by some awkward writing and errors which hopefully a revision will address. I would have loved to continue reading, but I found that these issues pulled me out of the story so distractingly that I had to DNF.

I am thankful to the author, the publisher, and to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my sincere opinion, and I hope that my feedback is helpful.

Medea is a beautifully written mythological retelling. Quin allows the reader a glimpse into Medea’s character including her childhood and the impact that it had on her life. I loved being able to empathize with Medea. So often we are told stories of evil women but without mention of the catalysts that brought them to their brink. I look forward to reading more work by Quin.

Medea is a feminist look at the mythological Medea. Told from her point of view, the book is well written and researched.

If you are interested in the subject you can't go wrong with this book

Medea by Eilish Quin is a great historical fiction that is an entertaining retelling of a fascinating figure in Greek mythology.

I always enjoy a good retelling, or in some circumstances, a new story delving into uncharted territories and exploring an often overlooked or misunderstood figure. Following along as Medea is slowly transformed…it was bittersweet. Enthralling for the reader…hard for the character…but it makes for an excellent book.

I really enjoyed how smooth, engaging, and interesting this book was. I am picky about my HF involving Greek mythology, and this one passed my expectations.

Highly recommend.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Atria for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my NG account immediately and will post it to my GR, Bookbub, Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 2/13/24.