Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood

13 reviews

alanacterry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Alternative title: “Man Child Makes His Misery Everyone’s Problem”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Physical abuse and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, and Slavery

standardchaos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I really enjoyed Heywood's take on the story of Perseus. I didn't mind that it didn't have any magic or god interference, I thought it was still plenty interesting. Perseus in this is an annoying little man child who never really grows up and I wanted to dnf so many times just because he was so unlikable!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Murder

abi_lowe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

A powerful retelling of the inner thoughts and choices women face, that is still poignant today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Abandonment

clovetra's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

honestly i dont really know what to say about this. this is the most average book ive read. somehow disinterested and curious about the book.
perseus was insufferable for the entire book, which was difficult as he's lowkey the main character. yeah thats the goal of this book but idk i wanted to deck him more than i loved the main characters.
danae was... fine. her beginning was super interesting, and then her story teetered out. andromeda was also interesting to begin with, but by the end she lost all her characterisation. that was probably intentional but it does make for a super boring story when i hate one main character & dont care about the other.
i really liked medusa's story. it was the shortest yet the best. im still confused about if in this retelling if she actually had snakes for hair? or she just liked snakes? i know about the gorgon bit but... idk. she was the best but she still wasnt great, as yet again she just felt like a plot device.
idk this book was fine. i dont think it achieved the feat of being a "feminist retelling" of perseus, as all the female characters just existed to drive the story. yes theres probably a deeper commentary about how perseus objectifies women and this is expressed in their significance within the book but.. i dont care if a book has a deeper meaning if i dont find the book interesting its complexity literally means nothing to me.
like i said, this feels like an average book. this is like a movie you'd go and see because your voucher expires tomorrow & this is all that has seats left, yknow?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Minor: Bullying, Child death, and Death of parent

psychnp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

3.75

The author manages to somehow stay true to the traditions of Greek mythology, most of the most popular telling of Perseus, while offering a fresh perspective in this retelling 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Gaslighting

pippling's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

I loved this retelling of the myth of Perseus told from the perspective of three women, his mother Danae, his wife Andromeda, and his victim, Medusa. This is a Greek myth brought to life by realism and without the intervention of gods or monsters. The story is medium-fast paced, and full of emotion and beautiful scene-setting. For a fairly short novel it’s full of heart, if often heartbreaking!

smolhandsdan's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

lmilfort's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.0

I liked Heywood’s debut better than this. Although the story is told through the eyes of the three most impactful women in Persus’ story the violence and misogyny that is described had me scowling almost the entire time. Honestly it got a bit hard to finish with all the gore and more specifically the abject depravity of the main character. I don’t feel like the ending was very satisfying either to make up for it. He never apologized or expressed remorse for

kidnapping and raping his wife or killing his stepfather and his friends in cold blood

. Honestly the writing and storytelling is fine but I guess I just hated the story/character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

janeleef's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

santinasimile's review against another edition

3.25

 I'm a sucker for mythology and was so excited to read this version of Perseus's story. While there were some intriguing parts, overall, the story fell flat. The story is told in chunks from the three women's perspective, but none of them felt fleshed out enough to maintain interest. As soon as I felt hooked with the characters or story, it would jump to the next and leave the threads hanging.
I love the concept of women taking back their stories, and there is only so much that can be done without going against the originals, but this just did not have the strength I expected. Perseus was a very annoying character, which may be on purpose, and Danae, Medusa, and Andromeda seemed muted by the end in a way that seemed more from the writing than the events in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy