Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Medea by Eilish Quin

13 reviews

starw0man's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed reading this book because it gave a more empathetic and feminine perspective of Medea. I really enjoyed the characters in the story, especially Medea and I found that I relate to her in some ways 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child death, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexism, Grief, Murder, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness

khymihr's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Murder, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Death

shay43geek's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Confinement, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Child death, Blood, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Animal death

kingkorok's review

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I think this book was decent, but I struggled with it. I didn't really find any of the characters likeable. I didn't adore the writing -- it got caught in a place that was in-between modern, casual language, and elevated, more "classic lit" language -- in a way that makes the author feel well-read, but still young. There were tiny glimpses of ideas that I would have loved to see developed (Medea maybe being queer, feeling happy or hopeful about literally anything), but mostly it was a long slog of tense, sad anxiety and trauma-responses, with not much deviation from that. I will say that I appreciated the author's afterword a lot, as it revealed more of her rationale for depicting the protagonist the way she did. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Murder, and Blood

crystalleighwrites's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Murder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, and Gore

Minor: Pedophilia

Pedophilia - one character implies he prefers girl underaged.

rowanelise's review

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

kylosten's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Medical content, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Rape

moonytoast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Thank you to the team at Atria Books for  sending me a physical ARC of this book!

My fellow queer Greek mythology and Frankenstein enjoyers.... DO I HAVE A BOOK FOR YOU!!!!!!

Eilish Quin’s Medea follows the titular character from Greek myth from her childhood on the island of Kolchis, where she begins to learn the art of witchcraft, to the high seas alongside Jason and the Argonauts to the city of Corinth. The book seems to ask: Whose narratives are perceived as monstrous and whose are not? What do the monsters we fear—or hate—most say about us? When monsters can take mythic or mortal form, what do we define as monstrosity? Lush with its writing style and character interiority, Medea is an amazing addition to the growing body of feminist Greek myth retellings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Body horror, and Grief

Minor: Sexual violence, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Vomit

savvyrosereads's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

[Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free copy!]

Rating: 5/5 stars

A feminist reimagining of the story of Medea, one of the most complex and reviled women of mythology.

In my freshman English class in college, I was assigned a Medea retelling (BY THE BOG OF CATS) and I absolutely devoured it and never looked back. The story of Medea is one of my absolute favorites—dark and devastating and captivating and thought-provoking. This version of Medea’s story was, consequently, one of my most-anticipated releases of the year, and it lived up to all of my expectations.

Eilish Quin handles Medea’s story with subtlety, nuance, and grace, spinning a tale of someone who is both a victim and a survivor of her own destiny. It is easy to envision Medea as cold, cruel, and heartless, but Eilish’s version—a woman who feels too much, cares too deeply, and loves more fully that she even realizes—is the portrait this complex figure (and we, as readers) truly deserves. I was also astounded at the deft handling of the character of Jason, another complicated figure in his own right. Medea’s journey to understand her husband and her realizations along the way gave me actual chills.

Finally, the Circe cameo was everything I ever wanted it to be, and very nearly made me cry.

If you enjoy mythology and retellings, please please read this one!

CW: Blood/death/violence; animal death

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Child death, and Death

literatelizard's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Overall it was very well-written, but to me it really struggled with pacing. It felt like things didn't ever happen, and when someone significant did eventually, it was sped through. I felt very disconnected from every character that wasn't Medea, which isn't necessarily a criticism - she is, after all, ultimately disconnected from them herself by the nature of her being. It served as a good insight and deep dive into a character who doesn't get as much attention as she should, and I did enjoy the framing of the retelling to paint her in a more sympathetic, tragic light.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Minor: Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, and Domestic abuse