A review by auggieval
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

Blehhhh I want to like all the feminist retellings but man sometimes they are just like this. Nothing much to empower the female lead, just characterize her to make her death sadder. Nothing much to complicate the supposed hero, just make him a prick with issues. And that’s fair, but it’s really just a rehash where you get to feel bad knowing what’ll happen eventually. Percy would absolutely not be a hero worth remembering fondly today, and I get that. It would have just been nice to see something more complicated than “man bad woman good,” because that’s not feminism. 

I really appreciated the unorthodox framing devices the author used, it made everything feel so neat and mythological. And we always appreciate greek gods-bashing, Ovid was so right for that one.

I should probably just go read Circe again.