Book Review: The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood

Note: I received this book as an arc from the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this book. I personally really enjoy greek mythology retellings from the point of view of the women that the heroes affect.

Particularly, I want to focus on the story of Medusa in this. When it comes to Medusa in most mythology, we hear about her as the Gorgon. She is essentially boiled down to being a monster without anyone looking too closely at what got her there. I’ve heard two sides to this myth, one is that she was turned into a Gorgon to protect her from men, and one is that she was turned as a punishment. Personally, I like the first option a lot more and that’s what this story focuses on and it’s what my Medusa short story focuses on as well.

We also have our character Danae, who tried her best to keep her son from turning into a monster even though his destiny is to be the ruin of her father. I love Danae, she is a survivor and does her best to make do in every situation she is in.

We also have the story of Andromeda and I truly love this retelling. In the original myth, you get the story Perseus tells in here as well, that he saw a sea monster, saved her, and married her. I love the way this story turns that on its head and really shows the other side of things that isn’t completely masked by what the heroes say.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and I think it was a fun story. I am personally very into greek mythology retellings, so this was a fun read for me.