I'm going to say this first because I feel the need to defend Haynes: If you're expecting the standard 'feminist' retelling of a Greek myth, this isn't it. This book doesn't just follow Medusa through her story it follows everyone through every corner of this myth. With Haynes you're not just getting one woman's story: you're getting them all.

I love that about Haynes's work. It was fundamental to the thesis statement of A Thousand Ships. It works here, too, because there are so many moving parts to this myth, and it isn't only Medusa's story; it's Andromedas, Danaes, and Athenes. I think it also works because Medusa's story alone isn't long enough to fill a whole novel. Showing the audience her as a defenceless baby dropped at the cave entrance of her sisters is a wonderful way to introduce us to a character usually represented as a monster. Sthenno and Euryale are also shown as much more human than monster, seeing them learn to love Medusa, mortal and constantly changing though she is and then changing themselves to care for her is beautiful. They are the most human characters in the cast.

I do think we see little of Medusa's character in this but the few scenes she has really steal the show, she is compassionate and cares so deeply. For her sisters who she refuses to let test her gaze and even for mortal girls she has not met. She also has an undeniable wit. I love how Haynes didn't turn her into a hero or a martyr. It's easy to go too far in the other direction when recharacterising someone from a monster but Haynes does it just the right amount. Her Medusa is incredible. She's weak, weaker than her sisters, but also strong-willed and caring. She doesn't go down fighting but she also isn't defenceless. The only reason Perseus kills her so easily is because she could kill him with a glance. But she refuses to, which makes Perseus- who kills indiscriminately because of his cowardly nature- an interesting foil for her. Both are young, weaker than their peers and protected by others. But while Medusa is caring and protects others Perseus is petulant and harms others to feel strong.

Athene is also characterised amazingly. She is childish and wields her powers pettily (like most gods) but there's a sadness below the surface. She wants to be recognised and connected with her fellow gods and seeing her struggle to do so even with her power is weirdly relatable. Her last chapter us how much bigger the gods are than the human characters, a century goes by without her noticing and that scale reminds you what insane creatures gods are. But still, in the end, all she wants is to go home. 

definitely an interesting read, a look into what life is like with someone so beautiful and naturally charismatic that they can get away with murder and turn everyone against you with a few choice words. 

The main character, Korede, is interesting, more intelligent (especially emotionally) than her sister and 100% more moral yet still complicit in her actions. Tade tells her she's even more culpable than her sister 
"There's something wrong with her, what's your excuse?" and it's interesting. She could stop Ayoola and have her arrested very easily, even by just not helping her depose of the bodies she would put a stop to her sister's behaviour. She knows her sister will continue to kill and even when it affects people she cares about she chooses to protect her sister over everything. Her loyalty is unwavering even if her sister doesn't deserve it. 

Perhaps she is more at fault for enabling the murderous habits of Ayoola. Everyone else in Ayoolas life lets her get away with everything: their mother, her string of partners, her "minions". Korede notices his flaw in them but never acknowledges that she enables the worst behaviour of all. 

Very human characters, they interact in such realistic ways and sometimes that makes for wonderfully frustrating scenes as Korede navigates the situation. 

definitely recommend, didn't stun me but it did captivate me and it's a book that you can really think about for a while. Why does Korede choose her sister despite everything she's done? How does Ayoola manipulate everyone so easily? Who is to blame for the deaths of those men and who isn't?

All that to day something in this book fell short: It didn't feel tense enough or emotional enough and the final decision didn't feel dramatic enough. It feels like it just sort of ends. I understand the ending and not every book needs a big dramatic final confrontation but still. I loved the premise and loved the characterisation of most of the characters i just wish more was done with all of it.

I found this book incredibly interesting. The plot and the central mystery stayed engaging throughout and there was always new information to keep the theories coming without it becoming overwhelming. There was a lot going on but everything came together in the end. I expected certain plots to get resolved separately but they came together well making the final resolution beyond satisfying. 

The characters in this book feel so human. They are 3-dimensional and emotional. The main character, Riley, is somewhat a generic detective (workaholic, slight alcoholic, no close friends outside of her partner) but she doesn't feel boring. She's got a dramatic past that slowly gets revealed and interesting family dynamics that go beyond the usual. The more you learn about these characters the more their behaviour and relationships make sense. 

That's true for everything in this book. There's characters and plot points that become more nuanced the more you learn about them. This can also be an issue: there are sections in this book that are very information heavy which sometimes pop you out of the narrative. It's not super interesting information but it is necessary to understanding the plot. It's a lot about how corporations and farms work and interacts.

Personally I could get through it and learning the information made the ending make more sense for me (as someone who grew up far away from iowan farms it was completely new information for me) but I feel like there was a better way to convey it than long paragraphs. This is largely contained to the start of the book so it's part of the set up and doesn't disrupt the more interesting or intense moments. 

For a debut novel it's a great start and I can't wait to read the 2nd edition to the Riley Fisher series. 

I bought this book at the peak of its popularity when I was like 15 but never got past the first chapter. I think if I had read it then I would have really enjoyed it and probably read the rest of the series. Not to say I didn't enjoy it at all there were definitely parts I liked but I feel like it's more suited to a younger audience or people more interested in romance I guess since the romantic bits were what fell flat to me. I know the Lunar chronicles had a bit of a cult following back when it was coming out and I can see why I just don't think this series is for me.

I found the beginning a bit boring, obviously it's a retelling of Cinderella but I feel like it was a bit predictable. Obviously we know Cinder will end up at the ball but even the "twists" are painfully predictable. From the second you hear about the Lunar princess you know it's Cinder but the reveal is held off until the last minute like it's some amazing moment. Then of course since it's like 10 pages until the end there's no real payoff, Cinder gets captured and the reader basically gets told "read the next book for any payoff or actual ending to this story!". Very "The game is on" 

I didn't feel attached to any of the characters and I don't care enough about the ending to buy the next book. The book failed to captivate me I only kept reading because I liked some of the world building and wanted to see the ending. Now that that goal post has been moved I'm throwing in the towel. 

The Sci-Fi elements are the most interesting part of this book. The world building stands out and is the only thing I want more of. The idea of Cyborgs being an oppressed class and the concept of them "owing" society for their continued survival is so interesting. It's not a generic stand in for any type of oppression it's a well thought out example of how society treats people it deems different or worse.  Not just science racism. 

The Moon people were interesting too even if the whole glamour thing was a bit far fetched. I wish this book was more science and politics to be honest. The prince got a few chapters but was never developed further than a charming guy with a dead dad. Most of the cast felt equally 1 dimensional.

I can see why some people would enjoy this more than I did but still I stand by my complaints.

I absolutely loved this book. Not usually a sci-fi person but the cover and synopsis really spoke to me so i picked it up and I'm really glad i did.

Lyrically written and full of beautiful metaphors. Doesn't bombard you with them at first it gets more and more poetic deeper into the text which very much fits with the arch of the two characters as they fall deeper and deeper in love. 

Despite being a highly crafted text it isn't hard to read since the chapters are short and broken up with the letters the characters send.   I didn't want to put it down, I always needed to know how each character would respond to what I just read.

I do not typically care for romance but I feel in love with Red and Blue as they fell for each other. It was inevitable but it was beautiful. I found their relationship and its developments intriguing and romantic. They understand eachother so well and have such a deep love for one another at the end. 

It also does a wonderful job of world building without too much exposition or unnecessary explanations about complicated sci-fi concepts. There are sections of explaining but it's done in very in character ways the reader learns more and more about each faction as the characters divulge more and more to each other meaning the information is gained at a steady pace. And the world it builds is wonderful each faction is unique but nether feels like the good or bad guy in the war and the technologies introduced are interesting. 

Also love that it did time travel without a complex explanation of how! just a metaphor about braiding and talk of strands and streams. 

first of all- I feel biased about this book because I am a huge fan of this series but also I think that the rest of the books are required reading to understand this book at all (call that a flaw if you want, I get it tbf). I did enjoy reading it but also felt it is a huge lost opportunity and waste of potential.

Positives first! Love Ghastly as the perspective character. Ghastly is an underrated main character in the other series and I missed him a lot in Phase 2. Great to have him back! and great to see his mother! It makes her being dead in the later series so much worse because god what a cool woman. We already knew she was cool (boxer, warrior, psychic?? sign me up) but seeing how loving she was and her relationship with Ghastly made me way more mad at Lord Vile for killing her. 

Also loved Rapture and Ghastly, a star crossed lovers who only ever meet in one version of a disrupted timeline who save the world but doom themselves to never meet? beautifully tragic. Also tragic is the hint at a romance between Saracen and Dexter since we know their main timeline counterparts never expressed this and now ever can. 

The other Dead Men are also great in this, they always are. Landy has got writing them down perfectly and their dynamic and banter is fun and witty. The addition of adult Valkyrie into their group is fun especially with her being mad at Ravel because tbf I can't forgive him either. 

Do think the cast is a little overcrowded, the 7 Dead Men plus Valkyrie plus other characters make for hard to follow scenes and fights. In certain more information heavy scenes the Dead Men are basically interchangeable and some of them could have just been left out for the sake of clarity. It also does a disservice to each of them since we only get so many character moments there's not enough to go around so you're relying on your knowledge and love for these characters from the other books. This is particularly bad for Hopeless since he isn't in the other books and giving him some focus would have been interesting yet he's just there to be the assassin one. The only character we actually learn more about and get interesting stuff that we could only get by looking at their past is Ghastly. 


The biggest gripe I have is that the concept of going into 1907 or any point in the war and seeing what the Dead Men were up to would be a very interesting book without all the time travel involved. In fact, adding Valkyrie and time travel made the book worse. None of the plot matters, none of this really happened and it won't affect the real versions of the characters. Why bother writing this? If it were up to me I'd have it follow Ghastly again after the Death of Skulduggery but during the period of him being lord Vile and I'd centre it around the death of his mother. Lots of dramatic irony since the readers know Lord Vile is Ghastly's best friend who he's currently mourning. 

Any plot that actually happened to the characters we care about would have been better though. I love Valkyrie but when the twist happened and she appeared I was actually disappointed. I know Landy loves a twist but this one was a bit too much. It made the book less enjoyable and killed any reread value.