I honestly cannot stress enough how much I love retellings and reimaginings…which might be the reason why I read so much fanfiction, but add in some mythology, and color me intrigued! The Shadow of Perseus was a captivating novel that tells the myth of Perseus from a female centered point of view. I honestly could not put this one down! The writing was great and the story was exactly the kind of thing I look for in a book!

This is easily one of the most immersive books I’ve read this year. I loved this beautifully crafted take on the myth of Perseus- cleverly providing a new and unique perspective told from the viewpoint of the women in his life. I truly love stories/retellings like this. Ones that make you think about the surrounding factors, the whys and the what’s ifs, delving deep enough to root out another narrative. A narrative that was wonderfully written, empowering, and one I reveled in reading!

this story give a different side to a hero from myth and it made Perseus an ass and gave the women in his life a voice. over all it keep me listening to the audiobook but I wouldn't say I'll reread it anytime soon.

I love a good Greek Mythology retelling and this one is no exception. I loved making these three different women the stars and it was really interesting to read how they interweaved with Perseus.

3 stars!

I love a Greek mythology retelling, but unfortunately I didn't find anything specific about this book that really stood out to me in any way. I think the other issue is that the story of Perseus is one of the more popular Greek mythology pieces, and so I still felt like the women involved in his story were overshadowed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Dutton and Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited by the concept of this book because I grew up loving the Clash of the Titans movie as a teenager. I love Greek myths and Greek myth retellings are so fun, especially when they're feminist retellings. I unfortunately think I'm burnt out on Greek myth retellings.

While this was a powerful and heartbreaking yet empowering story about the three women affected by Perseus's hubris and malice, it overall fell a little short for me. I think if I were in a different head space I would have enjoyed this more, but alas it was a bit lackluster. If you generally enjoy Greek myth retellings do pick this up though, because it might work better for you.

I loved this book. After a few chapters I was deeply invested in each of the women. I love that Heywood chose not to include fantastical elements, instead creating a story that is realistic to the time period.

I love a mythological retelling - seriously, I think I've read *all* of them. I do really enjoy the twist on this one and the fact that it's in a more real-world setting.

Book Summary:

Most of us have grown up hearing the legends of old. Specifically, the legends of Greek gods, goddesses, and the humans that found themselves in their way. Recently, many authors have been working to provide new angles on these classics.

This is the story of Danae, Medusa, Andromeda, and Perseus. Who is the story's true villain, and whose story has been twisted by time and corrupted by the speakers? Read on, and you'll find out.

My Review:

So, I'll admit that I was a bit conflicted while reading The Shadow of Perseus, and to be clear, this conflict is entirely of my own making. On the one hand, I adore a good feminist retelling. On the other hand, I'm feeling pretty tired of Greek and Roman retellings. I know it'll come back around, but I realize I need a break—a long one.

So that mood of mine almost certainly colored my opinion of The Shadow of Perseus, so please keep this in mind! That said, it was a pretty solid novel. It does justice to the core material, turning events slightly so that the female characters have more agency. Gotta love that, right?

I should probably mention that while the story does justice to the core myth, it does have a few significant changes. For one thing, the magical scale is gone. Not altered, gone. So I imagine readers will be split about this. Some will love the more human take, while others will hate losing the supernatural element.

Highlights:
Greek Mythology
Retelling
Fantasy

Trigger Warnings:
Banishment
Sacrifice

I found this retelling very interesting because it seems to deviate quite a bit from the original myths in order to make a different point. Because of that, I can definitely see some people not really enjoying this book because of it, but I personally ended up really liking the spin it gave on the original myths, and the new framing the story had because of it.

While I was semi-familiar with the myths this retelling was based on, I wasn’t recently familiar with them, and I think that helped! I was more open to the liberties that Heywood took with the source material because I couldn’t clearly see what exactly was new and what wasn’t, beyond some of the obvious changes. Myths in general are also fluid, and I feel like keeping the spirit of them is often more important than keeping the exact events, and I felt like that was still kept here. It was also fascinating to sort of focus on one character (Perseus), but only ever see him through the lens of other characters. It gives such an interesting idea of a character, and I’d love to see more stories written like this, retelling or not!

I also quite enjoyed the writing style of this book, and it worked well with the audiobook narrator I listened to. It just read very smoothly to me, and it made it really easy to just keep moving throughout the book. Often, these sorts of retellings can feel very dense and bogged down by fancy prose, but this book had such an easy storytelling style that it made it easy to keep on listening. I never felt like I had to take a break or pause for a bit, as my brain had enough space to process the book while reading it, rather than it being too dense for that.

While I definitely don’t think this retelling will be for everyone, I do think fans of looser retellings will end up enjoying it!

This review will go live on my blog on July 21st.

Mostly a dark and depressing story about an overindulged teenage psychopath whose violence is endlessly covered for (if not fully accepted by) the women in his life, usually at their immediate peril. Perseus' violence was so extreme and his ego so fragile it genuinely felt like a greek myth rewritten with an incel school shooter at its heart.

I have voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this title given to me via NetGalley. I really enjoyed this book. It was really well written and it just had you trying to solve the mystery. I look forward to seeing what’s next from this author.

This is a stunning novel of Greek mythology through a feminist lens. I loved reading about the hero Perseus from the lens of three women and how that drastically changed whether the title of hero even applied. Such a masterful piece of literature.

I'm starting to think I don't really enjoy retellings. There wasn't anything wrong with this book per se. It was well-written and there was no extra fluff, each new POV getting right into the meat of their story. But I still found myself not very compelled to keep going. I can't quite put my finger on it so I'm going to assume it's just something about me (sucks to be a mood reader sometimes) since I can't point to anything specific. If mythology and/or retellings are your jam, I'd still say it's worth giving a shot to see if you like it.


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

I have a lot of mixed feelings on this book. On one hand - there's absolutely nothing wrong with this book. Fans of mythological retellings or just mythology in general will have a good time reading this. It's a good retelling of Persus and Medusa, but told through the women's perspective. I always love getting the female side of things for retellings because so much of mythology is all about the male perspective. It's written very well and it's easy to follow.

However, on the other hand, it doesn't feel like a myth is being respun. In fact, it almost washes all aspects of the fantastical elements that make the story of Persus a good myth. I can almost guarantee those with no knowledge of Persus or Medusa would not know it was originally a myth. This could be a good or bad thing - it's always nice to be able to put them side by side to compare but also it's nice to have them read as their own entity.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, but it wasn't a 5-star for me. Others may enjoy it far more than I did.

The ending wrap-up bumped this up a star for me, reminding me of the famous line in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding - that the man may be the head, but the woman is the neck that ultimately has control of how that head turns. Quite a clever re-telling and re-working of this mythology. For some reason I've always been drawn to mythology, and even though I didn't really connect to any of the three heroines drawn up along the way, in the end I related to the line spoken by Danae that "so little of my life has happened as I thought it would." The story-telling kept me wanting to read forward, and it was relatively clean language for young readers despite all the gore and heartache portrayed.

The Shadow of Perseus is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a good mystery. Heywood has written a compelling story filled with suspense, intrigue, and unexpected twists and turns that will keep readers hooked until the very end. Highly recommended!

theres nothing wrong with this story. its a feminist recounting of the tale of perseus, narrated from the perspective of the three women in his life. i am all for retelling greek myths with a feminist view, but there was just nothing that excited me about this specific book. i think this particular type of retelling has just become so overdone in recent years that its difficult to really add anything new to the genre.

In this stunning reimagining, Heywood turns our understanding of the Perseus myth on its head and gives voice to the remarkable women closest to him—his mother Danae, his conquest Medusa, and his wife Andromeda. Instead of painting Perseus as a hero, we come to know him as an impressionable, deeply flawed boy who was largely shaped by the wise women in his life. Heywood shifts the focus to these fascinating women of mythology who’ve been traditionally submissive, vilified, or ignored. A deeply immersive story that immediately grabs hold of you and will not let you go.

If you want a review that delves deep into the ins and outs of the real legend; that's here but its not this one.

I like any retelling pretty much and/or one from different perspectives. Is it completely accurate? No. But it's interesting and maybe will have people think on the tales of the others a bit more. Enjoy!