I usually dont do greek retellings but this was great! Well paced, great story and interesting characters. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I had a hard time with Circe, but this was easier to follow with enough plot to keep me engaged.
I knew nothing about Medea before reading this, but what a character. She was used, abused and rose from the ashes as a powerful, terrible sorceress.
The audacity of the men in this story 🤯 there were so many times I wanted to scream at Medea to tell them off and throw the book.
But the end! Satisfying, emotional and beautiful!
Well done, can recommend!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy.

While in the recent years, there has been an influx of retellings for mythologies I will never get tired of reading them. The Witch of Colchis is an amazingly written journey about Medea that dives straight into the whirlwind of her life. This book is not only engaging it is also an interesting and exciting take on the Greek myth. The only part of the book I didn't like was Jason, BUT not liking him made me love the book all the more. I feel that if an author can make you utterly despise a character rather than love them it is a testament to their writing.

Thank you NetGallet and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing the ARC.

Wow! First let me say that Medea is my favorite myth. She has fascinated me for literal decades. So I have very high expectations when it comes to her story. Thankfully I can say that my expectations were exceeded.
The thing about Medea is, I need to see the passion, the rage, the love, the madness, the justification. I I got everything I wanted. I raged for her treatment by her family. I was swept up in Jason with her. I was hurt with her by the rejections of her actions, especially when Jason got the adoration. I tipped over the edge into darkness with her as she was asked of more and more by Jason. I ached with her as she broke ties with Circe and Atalanta. And I rage, oh how I raged, with her in Corinth. It’s an almost out of body experience when you’re justifiably angry and a man tells you that you’re being hysterical.
The great tension in these stories is, how will her story end? We know what Euripides wrote. I will not spoil it for you. But as much as I raged and cried and felt her pain, I think this version of the story really works.
I think Hewlett did a masterful job here, and highly recommend this retelling.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the preview. All opinions are my own.

I was very excited for this book because I've read so many Greek myth retellings but I've never seen one about Medea. For such an interesting and seemingly evil story, I was very excited to see how Hewlett portrays her story. However, something about it just really fell short. I think most of it can be boiled down to not understanding Medea's motivations and the disconnect between her personality and actions. The beginning of the story portrays Medea as so strong-willed and determined to escape her father's abusive household. While I understand that once she saw Jason and he gave her the littlest bit of kindness, she was immediately taken by him and saw him as a way out of her situation, I really don't understand why she stayed with him. She was so easily duped by a man that started to exhibit the same red-flags as her father and she was fully aware of them. I just don't understand why she decided it was a better idea to stay with Jason than with Circe on her island. Medea looked up to her aunt so much as a child and still admired her and her power when she finally found her. It made no sense to me when she decided not to stay with her. There were so many other examples of weird decisions, and there were even times when Medea was confused why she was making these choices, so it was just so frustrating when she never tried to better herself. We're supposed to believe that she's incredibly strong, but she's constantly being controlled by the men in her life, which I guess might be the point but it just didn't make sense.
The author also kept telling us everything instead of showing us. We kept getting beat over the head with the point she was trying to make. The amount of times that Hewlett said something along the lines of "Women will always be either be expected to be an angel or devil and it all depends on the men who control her" is crazy. The author never trusted us to come to this conclusion on our own, we had to be told that's what we were supposed to think. We also never really saw Medea's magic evolve too much. One moment she was a young girl naive about her magic and then all of a sudden she's this super scary and powerful witch with insane powers that she never actually uses to help herself. Maybe I'm missing something but this story just didn't resonate with me like other myth retellings have.
It was an interesting story and mostly entertaining, but I just found myself frustrated by the Medea's choices. Also, Atalanta and Medea should have just gotten together. They had way more chemistry than Medea and Jason ever did.

this books is focused on a greek myth - love! - AND medea - which i loved even more because im pretty sure this is the first book ive ever read written about her. absolutely loved this book and the way the author showcased medea growing as both a person & into her powers. also if one says you're an evil witch, how long till you become one 🫣

“The world tried to make me the victim, so I became its villain.”

I feel like a rarely give books 5 stars, but this one is so deserving of it. It is honestly a masterpiece. While I enjoyed Circe by Madeline Miller, that enjoyment was tripled in The Witch of Colchis. It was heartbreakingly beautiful and did the myth of Medea justice. It was intriguing, the imagery was vivid, and the retelling of Medea’s myth was imaginative.

I thought it was paced wonderfully. Sometimes retelling of myths can get weighed down by excessive descriptions and imagery but I didn’t find myself bored or lost in details. I am also not well read in the Greek myths and did not feel completely lost. This is a must read for anyone!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

The Witch of Colchis has a traumatic story that is presented beautifully and lyrically by the author. A disturbing story it may be but I found this retelling to be highly engrossing and emotive.
The complexity of Medeas character is laid bare and evolves throughout. Other characters, such as Atalanta also shine.
It’s dark and it’s compelling - simply five stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Growing up, mythology held no appeal for me - now that I’m middle aged, I find that I have much more interest in it - and I really appreciate clever feminist retellings.

This pulled me in and held on tight throughout my reading - I was invested. I found this well written and captivating and kept turning the pages, finishing the story in two days.

Though I found the time jumps confusing from time to time, and Medea’s story is certainly a tragedy, I enjoyed this and look forward to reading more by the author.

Recommended!



Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the DRC

I’ll start by saying I had fun reading this. I struggled to connect with Medea, whose feelings often seemed abrupt and shallow. At times she’s reminiscent of the iconic creepy non-emotive child, Wednesday Addams. Then in the scene she’s blushing, flinching, and being driven by a level of hormones that only Bella Swan could empathize with. While the characterization and plot pacing didn’t win me over, I don’t think anyone would regret picking this up.

As a mega-fan of Greek mythology retellings, I knew I had to pick up this book! Ever since Madeline Miller's Circe, I've been devouring Greek retellings as quickly as I can. 4/5 stars!

Overall, I enjoyed this fresh retelling of Medea's story. I especially liked the scenes with other mythological characters like Circe. My favorite scene was the one with Glauce at the end; it was incredibly suspenseful and skin-crawlingly effective! I'd happily read more from this writer.

I was kind of frustrated by the time-jumps. There are two years-long time jumps in the book, and it was jarring and made it hard to connect with Medea since we are just told that she's now been married for ten years and had two kids, but we didn't see any of that happening so we can't really connect to it.

I also thought the overly modern lingo was a little jarring. Characters say "OK" to each other, which was odd in this Ancient Greek world.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book, in exchange for a review.

I've been a fan of Greek mythology since I before my memory was entirely cemented (therefore, I am not sure if Riordan is to blame), but The Witch of Colchis provides a particularly devastating spin on what always felt like too-distant mythology. I won't lie, I love dark characters, and Medea did not disappoint. I can't say that this is my favorite mythological retelling, but it did hold my attention from the beginning, invest me in her story, and leave me numb in a "I don't want feelings anymore" sort of way. It, sometimes at the expense of the world, is a study in character, how power and greed and the absence of love twists and shatters. It will hurt. It is dark. It will frustrate you. But if you, like me, sometimes want to watch a character burn down the world, then this story will deliver.

I will keep my eye on Rosie Hewlett. Especially if she gives us an Atalanta retelling.

“When you fill a person with such ugly things, is it surprising that they would unleash it all back on the world?”


I’ve only recently started dabbling into Greek mythology retellings and so some characters are new to me, such as Madea. Therefor, everything about the story of Medea aka “The Witch of Colchis” was a surprise and quite frankly had my jaw GLUED to the floor.

And to be completely honest this was a perfect 5 star read for me. I can not think of one thing I did not like. Instantly you are immersed into Madeas world and you take turns wanting to hug her and also wanting to scream at her!!

This is my first book from Rosie Hewlett and after reading this beautifully, horrifying, heart breaking story about Madea and what led her to become the infamous “villian” she is, I will now be reading everything Rosie H. has ever written and will write in the future!!

Thankyou so much to netgalley & for proving me with an Arc I can not wait for everyone to read this.

Let's begin with the things I enjoyed about this book. The prose is stunning and the author did a wonderful job researching the iconic Medea. However, the magic described in the book fell a little flat for me and we really didn't get to go on a journey with Medea as she learned what she was truly capable of. The pacing and sudden time jumps just seemed random and not well done. But overall, this was an enjoyable read.
*Side note, I didn't know Medea was Circe's niece.

🐍 BOOK / REVIEW 🐍

#thewitchofcholchis by @rosiehewlett.author showed up at my door unexpectedly over the weekend! I am not normally a #greekmythology fan, but the high ratings for this book on @goodreads had me jumping in immediately.

I read this book in 2 days - and she is THICC. It was so incredibly fast-paced that the book flew by in mere hours. I was fascinated by the story, the setting, and most importantly, the characters. Medea is one I hadn't heard much about in my lack of research, so I really enjoyed getting to see her blossom throughout the book.

This is not a happy story - in fact, it's wrought with blood, death, and a whole lot of sadness. I was definitely not prepared for the ending, but I think Hewlett did a good job of bringing some closure to the story. I love that she reintroduced one character specifically (I guess you will have to read to find out who I am talking about!!).

This makes me want to read more by this author and genre. Really well done, Rosie! Thank you @bookmarked for my copy - out Sept 10, 2024!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“But do you know what is stronger than a lover’s love? Their hate.”

The Witch of Colchis is a thrilling retelling of the tragedy of the sorceress Medea. This story dives in and explores the consequences of being torn down over and over and over again.— But, instead of letting it break her, Medea takes her pain and suffering and embraces the darkness instead of succumbing to it.

Medea’s story has always captivated me and I believe Rosie Hewlett did an incredible job in unpacking her story. We’re given insight into Medea’s life from when she was a child, throughout her journey of aiding Jason in stealing the Golden Fleece, to the aftermath of his betrayal.

This book made me feel a lot of things. There were times when I was her biggest supporter and others when I wished I could reach through the page and shake some sense into her.

I can’t get enough of Greek myth retellings that focus on a woman’s journey and their perspective. Having her embrace the darkness and be unapologetic for her actions after having been pushed over her breaking point and then was something I was fascinated by. Of course, it doesn’t excuse some of her choices and actions but it gives insight into why and how she ended up doing what she did.

Thank you to the publisher; Sourcebooks Landmark, the author; Rosie Hewlett, and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this ARC. This is my unbiased opinion and is given with free will.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year so I was thrillllled to get a chance to read early! Greek myth retellings is one of my favorite subgenres and I especially love to read stories about characters I haven’t read much about. I was READY to witness Jason’s downfall bc I HATE THAT MAN.

I really enjoyed this! Medea was a fascinating character and it was so interesting to read her inner monologue during all of her infamous misdeeds. Seeing Circe and Atalanta make significant appearances was wonderful! I loved seeing everything come together (or fall apart?) in the end, I think the final few chapters were my favorite. The author did NOT shy away from Jason’s insidiousness and it was vindicating to see him painted in such a harsh light. He’s truly SCUM.

Overall, a really good addition to my retellings shelf; a relief after being let down by quite a few of them in recent years. Would definitely look out for more from this author in the future!

This was a phenomenal read. Captivating right from the start. They will never make me hate you, Medea