Reviews with content warning for Death - Stone Blind

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

111 reviews

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.5

I was somewhat disappointed with this book and I really had higher expectations from this novel. There were things that did work well, but for the most part, I don't think the format worked for what Haynes was trying to achieve.

I will start with what I enjoyed about the book first. The portrayal of Perseus as a self-righteous and stuck-up 16 year old was my favourite thing. I liked how Haynes had depreciated him in the story and really emphasised how much of a coward he was, despite being praised as a hero. However, there were several chapters where Haynes breaks the 'fourth wall' and writes in second person to the reader, instilling her fury in you that Perseus has always been painted in this way. Listening to the audio of this, this was quite jarring, although I appreciated her intentions of the chapters anyway.

When we got a perspective of Medusa, I also appreciated her point of view.

I even quite liked the separate perspective of her head after it had been decapitated.

However, I really thought that for a book about Medusa, which even on the cover says 'Medusa's story', I didn't really feel like we got much from Medusa herself. We had perspectives from so many Gods, who largely seemed one-dimensional, and it detracted away from the story. Whilst I liked having multiple perspectives to tell the story, there were far too many God's, statues and creatures involved in telling the story. It would have been more effective had there been less. Further to this, there were so many points of view and their background or purpose to the story was never really explored. I appreciate Haynes is a classicist, but she could have been more explicit with her character's purpose and background.

Perhaps this is just me, as I don't read lots of mythology books, but I felt a lot of the conversations in this book were really basic or childish. And it only ever worked well when we got conversation from Perseus, as it helped build Haynes' portrayal of him. One example that really stuck with me was

Medusa's conversation with Poseidon before he rapes her. I know Medusa is 16 as well, but the conversation felt drawn out and unnecessary in parts, especially painting Medusa, who I know was largely sheltered from the world, as completely oblivious and naive. It just didn't work for me.

I can appreciate why people have enjoyed this book, but I just felt as though this book did not deliver to the standards that it was marketed by. I do enjoy Medusa's story generally so I stuck with it, but there was certain elements that just did not work for me.

Content Warnings

imageryx's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is mainly a retelling of Perseus's journey, but it does spend time on the origins of the characters. The story is told only through women's perspectives and definitely reframes the story. I love that there are many different kinds of women portrayed in the story. None of them are one dimensional or the same basic character with a different name.

I will say, the middle part of this book was a slog. The author had to set up a lot to really drive the ending home. It picks up again in the last quarter.

Content Warnings

bee12345's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.25

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Content Warnings

annakh16's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

I‘m a bit torn on how to rate this. Ultimately, I found this story easy to get through and I enjoyed learning from it.

Poseidon was disgusting, and both Athena and Perseus were utterly annoying - that’s a compliment to the writer, though it did make some of the scenes a bit hard to bear.

However, in general, the writing felt a bit bare and flat to me - I feel like especially the very emotional scenes could have done with more elaboration.

I also think that the ending felt rushed and quite abrupt. Perseus‘ story felt somewhat unresolved.

like what about that grandfather he was meant to kill? It was quite important to the story. I‘m not saying it needed a full scene, but at least some mention of his future would’ve been nice.

And Athena‘s story was resolved too quickly for my taste.

Overall, I would recommend this to someone interested in mythology, as I do like the new perspective on Medusa & think she’s a bit underrepresented in the retellings. It’s not my favourite retelling though, and I prefer „A Thousand Ships“ from Haynes.

Content Warnings

rickle400's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

2.5

Great book to learn about Greek mythology but I didn’t enjoy the writing style

Content Warnings

ashareadsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny medium-paced

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

3.25

Content Warnings

jaynovara's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

caelfind's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

chanlo1994's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

savshanae's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

I really loved this book! I loved the twist in the stories, and of course I came for Medusa, which did not disappoint. I would definitely recommend this book looking for a quick read about Greek mythology with a feminist twist.

Content Warnings

More...