A review by znvisser
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Murder, and Death

Minor: Blood, Animal death, Confinement, Grief, and Sexual violence

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 for this book but discovered along the way there actually wasn't enough source material or creativity to pull from, leading to many loosely related storylines being piled onto it. And every single character in those subplots is one-dimensional, so we can't be too confused about how to feel about every single one of them (and if you still are, you don't have to wait too long for an intermezzo in which mostly irrelevant extras spell it out for you even more explicitly). I do love reading about Greek mythology but to me a key factor in the success of modern retelling is the storytelling: does the writing convey new dimensions to a story long told? Unfortunately, I didn't feel that way about this one.