Take a photo of a barcode or cover
aethyta 's review for:
Stone Heart
by Katee Robert
Even condensed to 80-something pages, it’s such a great little read.
I love that Katee Robert dives into Greek pantheon stories deeply, illuminating the characters with thorough understanding. Medusa is one of the three Gorgons (Gorgon meaning ‘protector’) who could turn men into stone with just one look. While her sisters were immortal, Medusa wasn’t, which is why tasked by Athena, Perseus cut off her head and gifted it to the Goddess as a weapon to decorate her shield.
Before her untimely demise, Medusa was a beautiful woman, who dedicated her life to Athena, swearing chastity as her priestess, which didn’t protect her from Poseidon’s sexual advances. He rapes her, and Athena punishes her for being raped, giving her snakes for hair, making her into a target for people who wanted to use her head as a weapon. So it’s double betrayal that Athena ends up giving the very shield to Perseus that seals Medusa’s fate. A popular theme in feminist literature because all Gods know she deserved better.
Now in Katee Robert’s world Perseus ends up becoming the new Zeus, so let’s hope nothing bad happens!
Making Calypso into a seductive con artist who fools Odysseus out of his money is genius. According to Homer, Calypso traps Odysseus on her island for seven years, trying to make him her immortal husband, raping him every day, refusing to let him go back to his wife, Penelope, he cries over every day… Homer is certainly a bro, especially mentioning that Zeus demands Calypso lets the poor guy go and she calls him a hypocrite to his face. There are other accounts, telling this story as her following Poseidon’s orders after the hero blinds the God’s favorite son Polyphemus.
Can I forget to mention the acts of lesbianism in this book? Nope. Oh, they’re there, with no stereotypical language (cough scissoring cough) and described like the author is bisexual and definitely looked at a vulva before. What a thrill! The contract-killer-turned-lover was done before (or after), so there’s little to say about that trope, the moral reservations are highlighted and the crisis of faith Medusa has in her master is addressed. Nailing this transition from “it is what it is” to “actually, fuck this” in under 100 pages must have been an extremely edited, iterative process. Very well done!
I love that Katee Robert dives into Greek pantheon stories deeply, illuminating the characters with thorough understanding. Medusa is one of the three Gorgons (Gorgon meaning ‘protector’) who could turn men into stone with just one look. While her sisters were immortal, Medusa wasn’t, which is why tasked by Athena, Perseus cut off her head and gifted it to the Goddess as a weapon to decorate her shield.
Before her untimely demise, Medusa was a beautiful woman, who dedicated her life to Athena, swearing chastity as her priestess, which didn’t protect her from Poseidon’s sexual advances. He rapes her, and Athena punishes her for being raped, giving her snakes for hair, making her into a target for people who wanted to use her head as a weapon. So it’s double betrayal that Athena ends up giving the very shield to Perseus that seals Medusa’s fate. A popular theme in feminist literature because all Gods know she deserved better.
Now in Katee Robert’s world Perseus ends up becoming the new Zeus, so let’s hope nothing bad happens!
Making Calypso into a seductive con artist who fools Odysseus out of his money is genius. According to Homer, Calypso traps Odysseus on her island for seven years, trying to make him her immortal husband, raping him every day, refusing to let him go back to his wife, Penelope, he cries over every day… Homer is certainly a bro, especially mentioning that Zeus demands Calypso lets the poor guy go and she calls him a hypocrite to his face. There are other accounts, telling this story as her following Poseidon’s orders after the hero blinds the God’s favorite son Polyphemus.
Can I forget to mention the acts of lesbianism in this book? Nope. Oh, they’re there, with no stereotypical language (cough scissoring cough) and described like the author is bisexual and definitely looked at a vulva before. What a thrill! The contract-killer-turned-lover was done before (or after), so there’s little to say about that trope, the moral reservations are highlighted and the crisis of faith Medusa has in her master is addressed. Nailing this transition from “it is what it is” to “actually, fuck this” in under 100 pages must have been an extremely edited, iterative process. Very well done!