Reviews

Medea by Eilish Quin

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

dvo19's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

perpetually_reading_'s review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

a_strix_named_strix's review

2.0

This is not Bright Air Black, but it still has issues. Overwrought prose, pacing is too fast, setpiece characters, disconnected events, lacking fleshed out plots, etc.

Basically, better Circe.

atsignamy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

thatblushingbookgirl's review

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

mammalfish's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

hthrfy's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

linda_s's review

tense medium-paced

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

4.0

willybee's review

I understand that Medea isn't likeable but this Medea is just so 2d and unlikeable. The slow pace of the book makes it feel like chapters are 50 pages instead of 10-15. I also don't feel like there's much happening really, Medea really has no personality. 

I did really like how much internal monologuing there was, but that wasn't enough to get me through this book.