Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

STONE BLIND - Der Blick der Medusa: Roman by Natalie Haynes

30 reviews

lizzieg22's review against another edition

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

3.75


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savshanae's review against another edition

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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.

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sohva's review against another edition

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

3.75

The book was fun and witty, but jumped from place to place, story to story too much. It didn't really feel like the different plotlines truly formed something that felt truly complete. The book was better when I just read it as a collection of anecdotes from the Greek myths.

Athene's ending came a bit out of nowhere too.

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hfleur's review against another edition

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

4.75


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citybookspgh's review against another edition

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

4.5

Feminist retelling of classic Medusa myth. So good. Audiobook is read by the author. 

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sas_ram's review against another edition

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3.75

So describe this story in a few words: victim-blaiming, multiple timelines/perspectivs that take away from Medusa, less focuse on Medusa than expected (it's just as much Athenas story as Medusa's), not that mythologically correct ending, makes the gods look almost human, Athena is egoistic as hell, you literally get to know more about Athenas character than Medusas, there are some parts that are much better in how it's written than most of the story. In general in just lacks depth.
It is a good read but definitly not one of the best retellings out there.

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notthatcosta's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.25

I've never been a Classics girlie but I found this book utterly compelling and charming. Although it took about 60 pages to really grab me, it didn't let go after that.

I didn't know I was longing for a woman-centric take of mythology and one that challenges the notion of monstrosity and evil women, but I was so utterly captivated by Natalie Haynes' fresh and witty take on well-trodden ground.

Of course, many parts are deeply sad, but it's filled with humour, pathos and intention, so I can't really resent it. Also, most of the plot is pretty established...being based on Greek myths and all that. 

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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No

1.5

I love a good feminist retelling and I've read another Medusa reimagining before. This one was not good compared to the other I had read previously. I liked some aspects like how most of the povs were female characters, but it was so slow and that many povs didn't add anything to the story. It didn't feel like the focus was supposed to be on Medusa. The ending was okay, liked how Athene "went home", but otherwise the ending was quite a letdown. I was hoping for so much in this and didn't get much of anything. Honestly with how slow it was, I should've dnf'd but I pushed through.

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thefluffyowl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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znvisser's review against another edition

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

2.5

I expected this to be a story about Medusa but instead it was mostly written around the man hunting her - which felt quite contrary to the point. It felt like the author had a vision but discovered along the way there wasn't actually enough source material or creativity to pull from. So instead, many subplots are piled onto the core story, in which we merely meet characters so one-dimensional you don't even get the chance to ponder how to feel about them. And if you still do, you don't have to wait too long for an intermezzo in which some extras come out of nowhere to spell it out for you even more explicitly. I love reading about Greek mythology but to me, the strength in a modern retelling lies in the capability of its story telling: does the writing convey new dimensions to a story long told? To me, this was unfortunately not the case with Stone Blind.

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