I am a big fan of myth retellings and was excited to read this.

It certainly has a unique take on things as it is read from the perspective of the lesser known gorgon sisters of medusa. After a slow set up this refreshing perspective allows us to experience the trying bond between sisters as well as to explore some lesser known Greek myths that are often overlooked.

The narrative is intriguing and well written, and even though you know how the story will end if you know the story of medusa, you are still drawn into the world and are filled with hope despite the reminders that that things will not end well.

This is definitely one to pick up for fans of other myth retellings with powerful women in.

“There is no perfect trinity, for three connotes competition. Power struggles. Favoritism and loneliness. We were almost not a trio; although now that she is gone, neither of us feels like a duo. We are not twins, nor will we ever be. Our third was the center, and when we lost her, we also failed each other, collapsing inward upon ourselves. A broken triplet. Thrice blessed. Thrice cursed.”

This is a retelling of the story of Medusa, but it isn’t only about her. Not much is said usually about the other Gorgons, however Medusa’s Sisters is told from the perspective of Stheno and Euryale, and we only see Medusa when she crosses her sisters’ paths. We get to see the dynamic of the trio, how jealousies and conflicts arise, the bitter rivalry surrounded by intense and unwavering devotion that can only exist between siblings. We get to see the sisters’ origins, and their journey from young maidens to beasts of legend. From the beginning, we understand that we are learning of a tragedy, and that gives the novel a sense of tension which is felt throughout. The good times, we are told time and time again, will not last. Medusa is a mortal. Her fate has already been sealed.

I was concerned for the first 10% of the novel (the classic ‘getting you up to speed with Greek Mythology’ section) that I was going to be reading another generic mythology retelling, however I was pleasantly surprised when Bear began to divert and cover lesser known narratives, and started to bring fresh takes to the story (I am so hesitant to speak about any surprising takes on the myth, because they really are refreshing!) The story is complex and the characters have a distinct voice and complicated motives.

This is not just another retelling; Medusa's Sisters is full of character and vibrancy and feminine rage, and while the pacing is slow at times, Bear’s reflections on family, power, patriarchy, beauty, and the complex inner lives of young women provide sustenance reminiscent of Miller. Fans of Circe would love this!

Love, love, love Medusa's Sisters by Lauren J A Bear. I am a big mythology fan, especially Greek mythology so I am thankful to Netgalley and Titan Books for providing me with an ARC.

There are a few Medusa myth retellings out there at the moment but I think this is the first with focus on her two sisters, Stheno and Euryale. The two sisters are the narrators of this story and it is told from their alternating POVs. I thought this was a unique way to present this familiar tale as it added depth to the siblings relationship, showing sisterly love and support to ugly jealousy and everything in between.

The author really knows her stuff and doesn't hold back in creating a bold, heart pounding and original retelling. There are even a few twists and curve balls to keep things fresh and exciting. Fans of Circe are going to love this one.

I don't think I have ever read a reimaging of Medusa that focuses on her sisters so I definitely learnt something here. An emotive, hard hitting story that will captivate any reader!

“Men and women never pay the same price for passion - not in the human world, not in ours.”

I loved this novel. I adored exploring Medusa’s sisters and the story reimagined centered on them. All of the characters were complex and beautifully well rounded, but Stheno and especially Euryale were something else.

I went through a whirlwind of emotions when it came to Euryale. At times I hated her, and others I pitied and raged with her, but I could also emphasise with her choices and feelings. She felt relatable which is extremely impressive on the authors part considering everything she does.

I was heartbroken a lot throughout this tale and can easily recommend this novel. It explores themes of sisterhood, betrayal, love and transformation just to name a few.

A big thanks to Net Galley and Titan Books for the ARC.

Everyone knows the story of medusa, but do you know about her sisters? This book intrigued me but I found it quite slow. It was OK.

I love Greek Mythology so I was so excited to get a chance to read Lauren J. A. Bear’s debut ‘Medusa’s Sisters’. This is retelling of the story of Medusa’s sisters, Stheno and Euryale, who often in history have just played background characters in Medusa’s story. This take gives them a chance to tell their stories.

Bear’s writing in this was BEAUTIFUL. It was so atmospheric and poetic and really put forth such a gorgeous retelling that really shone the light on two ignored figures in mythology and gave them a voice, which is a common theme throughout the story. I loved the new twists that were put in which offered a fresh perspective to the usual story. It really highlighted the cruelty of the Olympians and the power they held but, more than than, it was a story about women who learnt that the world of men will always try to shut them down and take their power. It highlighted how these men were made uncomfortable when challenged by a woman who they could see becoming their equal, and so they tore them down whenever they could to assert dominance. It also highlighted the cruelties of powerful women like Athena and Hera who were also, in their own right, subject to the cruelties of men and societal expectations. I love that it gave a voice to those who are seen as monsters in mythology, and really portrayed them as more ‘human’ than the actual humans, particularly Echidna.

This was a heartbreaking but beautiful depiction of the story of the Gorgons. A stunning debut, this was easily on the best ARCs I’ve received.
Miss @laurenjabear I am officially a fan 🤍 and will absolutely be reading anything else you put out!

4.75/5⭐️’s

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review 🤍

Medusa and her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, were immortals who entered the human world seeking a place to belong. They faced Olympian rivalry and learned that gods' love is violent. Stheno and Euryale, once horrifying hags, now reveal their journey from sea-born origins to the Parthenon outskirts. They struggle against the inherent conflict between sisterhood, individuality, myth, truth, and vengeance and peace.
Written by Lauren J.A. Bear, Medusa’s Sisters is narrated by Medusa’s two older triplets Stheno and Euryale. The story starts with the triplet’s birth, where it’s revealed that Stheno and Euryale are immortal, while Medusa is mortal. All three grow up with Medusa’s death looming over them. In search of a place to belong, Stheno and her sisters enter the human world, quickly finding out the dangers of humanity, but more so who violently the Olympian god’s love.
Many authors have told countless retellings of the Greek myths and Bear manages to make this a refreshing take on Medusa’s myth, without making Medusa the main character. Stheno and Euryale are virtually unknown, but Bear manages to bring these women to the forefront of this story, examining the sister’s lives beyond their Gorgon curse. As a reader, you get to witness retellings within this story, from Semele to Leto, these three young women are witness to the Olympian gods and their cruelty.
It's a beautifully written story that is full of heart. As these sisters grow together, you will feel their grief. Bear perfectly captures sisterhood in every possible way. From the ups and downs, once you finish reading Medusa’s Sisters, you will feel like you truly have gotten to know and understand their motives, no matter if you agree with them or not. Being the oldest sibling, Stheno is always trying to balance each sister, while her crippling fear that one day Medusa will die, has her swaying more in her favour. It's understandable given her love for her sister.
One of the things that resonated with Stheno was her anger. Even at the start of the novel, she is hurt and angry at the world and how her sisters have been treated. If anyone has experienced any kind of grief or loss, Bear perfectly encapsulates this feeling in her books through Stheno. Stheno loves her sisters with every ounce of her being and in doing so, silenced herself for many years. When Stheno speaks out, it’s as if a fury has been released to protect the two people she cares deeply for.
Bear creates a very vivid world within her pages, and it's evident that a lot of research has gone into Medusa’s Sisters. Many things are explored, from sisterhood, jealousy, grief, and individuality are all explored with each sister, but also the cruelty women have endured at the hands of the gods. From the way the chapters vary from first person to third person was perfectly executed. Bear also includes Perseus, one of the greatest in Greek mythology.
Perseus had to be included in this book, given his involvement in Medusa’s death. Bear adds him to the story, showing his background without it eclipsing the main storyline. His chapters are named differently, and could have been a story on its own, but it weaves perfectly with the main story of the sisters.
Medusa’s Sisters show each sister with their own distinct personalities and aspirations that make it easy for any reader to connect with. It’s a brilliant, heart wrenching story and given it is only Bear’s debut novel, Medusa’s Sisters will leave readers eagerly awaiting Lauren J.A Bear’s next book.

This is such a stunning retelling of this myth! It is written so beautifully and the familial relationships are just impeccable. It generally handled sensitive content really well and I very rarely felt uncomfortable reading it. I fell in love with the three sisters and their story, and their love for one another kept tugging at my heartstrings. I can't stop thinking about this masterpiece of a book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an ARC in exchange for honest feedback.

"Medusa's Sisters" was a very enjoyable read, but I felt like there was something missing. It's a great story, written beautifully, but as a whole was just a little bit flat for me. It's possible this was deliberate. Is it wise to get too close to the children of monsters? This one's on my re-read list, as it's likely my perspective will change second time around.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

We had entered the age of heroes, and we were beasts. [loc. 4449]

Debut novel Medusa's Sisters tells the story of Stheno and Euryale, the Gorgons who were not murdered by Perseus, from their youth as beautiful immortals (the snake-hair came later) to the death of mortal Medusa, and the different ways in which Stheno and Euryale grieve and endure. Other myths are woven into their stories: they spend time with Semele, and witness the tragic fate of a mortal who loves a god; they travel to Athens, where they meet Ligeia, a female musician who is perhaps the most vividly-drawn character in the novel; they flee from Athene's rage to Sarpedon, an isle in the furthest west, where Euryale bears a child.

The story is told in two voices: Stheno's first-person narration, measured and poetic and full of rage, and a third-person account of Euryale's actions. Euryale, I fear, is hard to warm to: she is secretive and full of envy, and it's she who inadvertently sows the seeds of her sister's demise. Euryale has her own agenda, and she does not share it with her sisters. Not that Medusa doesn't keep secrets of her own...

Semele burns, Medusa is raped, Euryale is monstered: but this is not only a novel about the perils, and the power imbalance, of relationships with the Olympians. Medusa's Sisters also deals with the ways in which women (mortal and immortal) are complicit in these inequalities. Victim-blaming Athene punishes the victim, not her attacker; Euryale's envy leads her to betray a goddess' secret; Stheno dedicates her life to her sisters, leaving nothing for herself.

I liked Bear's prose (especially Stheno's voice) and the ways in which she wove the Gorgons' stories into the wider canon of Greek mythology. There were points where the pacing seemed uneven, and I think I would have preferred to have Euryale's first-person narrative rather than a less intimate third-person account: perhaps this would have rendered her more likeable, or at least more relatable. True, she doesn't have an easy time of it, but out of the three she seems to suffer least ... unless you count her envy and sullenness.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK publication date is 12 SEP 2023.

As a fan of Greek mythology retellings this book has all of the elements I love about this genre. Even though you know the outcome of Medusa I was still engaged with the story and I loved the way the author incorporated other characters into it. The writing was lyrical and enjoyable to read and I loved the family dynamic between Medusa and her sisters. I really enjoyed this book and would love to read more by this author.

“I hate the number three. It is an unholy character, complicated, messy and confrontational. Small and odd and prime. It was my identity and then it wasn’t. Now I’m haunted by it’s prevalence.”

⭐️ B O O K R E V I E W ⭐️

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD….. 👀

📗 Medusa’s Sisters by J A Bear
💚 17th August read

I received an E-arc of this novel from @netgalley in return for my honest review and honestly, it will be going on my shelf once I’ve bought a hard copy because I loved it that much from the first sentence!

I’ve read various Greek retellings and they’re certainly incredibly popular right now but I’ve not read anything from the monsters side before. It was very well researched and as much as I appreciate it is a novel and therefore a work of fiction I found the structure of the book was clever at capturing other stories within to cultivate the central theme and we feel all the emotions!

I am as guilty as many of us in imagining Medusa as an evil gorgon, a monstrous woman delighting in killing her prey and turning them to stone but this story turned the entire notion around.

We meet Medusa’s mother, an original monster from the Cronus and Rhea era, as Olympians are phasing out the old for the time of hero’s and her family are all considered as blights on the landscape who need eradicating by such types as Perseus, Jason, Hercules etc….

The Olympian gods are used to coming down and having what they want, from lesser deities, mortal women and they are vain, egotistical and powerful.

We see Medusa, Euryale and Sthenos , three sisters, growing up and going out to the world of mortals and the devastation that occurs as the different eras cause devastation for them.

We have chapters in turn following both Euryale and Stheno (I wished I’d known how to pronounce them properly!!) and Medusa’s story graces them both until her demise (hopefully that isn’t too much of a spoiler for folk). I’d write more but my caption is too long!

I recommend this book whole heartedly, and give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars!

I enjoyed the concept of Medusa’s Sisters more than I enjoyed the execution of it.

While this book has many moments of wonderful, introspective writing (I have a quite a few highlights) the writing on a whole didn’t appeal to me. I just don’t feel like I could every truly connect with Stheno and Eurayle, even if I did feel empathy for them (not so much Eurayle).

The pacing in this book also wasn’t my favourite. For the most part it felt incredibly slow, and at others, confusing. While Stheno was looking back in reflection, I think sometimes details got muddled up (maybe because she is an unreliable narrator due to her memory being so long), and I found myself confused as to what part of the story that we were in. Towards the latter end of the book Stheno narrated a moment which was Medusa’s death, yet that moment isn’t where she actually died but days later.

I’ve also read reviews by other reviewers, and I agree with those who have spoken about the representation of sexuality in this. I too felt uncomfortable with how this handled a sapphic relationship. While the homophobic comments could be excused as “fitting in to the time period” I wish we had at least one moment (or one character) that refuted these homophobic statements. The comments just felt so unnecessary, I feel like the sisters could have been in support of Medusa and the story would have carried out the same.

Ultimately, while this book had some great moments of writing and some decent exploration of themes and characterisations, it felt inconsistent. I enjoyed the new side of the story Bear set out to tell, and I like how she adapted the myth, but overall I did not love this.

Medusa’s Sisters is a beautifully written reimagining of the myth of Medusa and her sisters, Stheno and Euryale. It details their relationships with each other as they journey through the human world. It is a fresh new take on a well known story.

I don’t think I will ever be able to do this book justice in my review. This was so beautifully written, I was captivated from the first page. Bear’s writing is so immersive that you feel like you’ve known the characters your whole life. I laughed with them, I cried with them, I shared their pain.

If you have any doubt about reading this book, please take the opportunity to read it. You won’t regret it. This is by far my favourite Greek myth retelling. Part of me wishes I could wipe it from my memory just so that I could experience reading it for the first time again.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for providing me with this arc, it was a pleasure to read it.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I look forward to reading more of Lauren J. A. Bear’s work in the future.

I received this book as an e-arc by Netgalley and Titan Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for this opportunity!

« How do you free yourself from a god’s lust? For it is a sentencing, usually fatal, and once you’ve been locked down, you can rattle the chains, slam on the bars, and scream at the wrongfulness, but you will never be innocent again. »

Rating: 5⭐️
Pages: 368
Genre: Retelling, Mythology, Fiction
Series: Standalone
POV: Two POV
Check trigger warnings for any book – Rape Scene

This book was beautifully written. I loved the back and forth between the two sisters as they tell their and Medusa's story. I honestly did not know much of Medusa’s story prior to reading nor did I know the names of her sisters. This is now one of my favorite retellings as it is heartbreaking and raw but just perfection.

Please keep in mind there are graphic scenes in this book so it may be a trigger for some.

This story starts with the sister's birth and continues their story as they leave home to explore the human world. The story is narrated by the two sisters and each chapter swaps who is narrating. The differing points of view really added to the story for me because it showed Medusa was not all bad nor was she perfect. Stheno is the oldest daughter and often spoke of Medusa as perfect, while Euryale the middle child is jealous when it comes to Medusa, and it shows while she narrates. Personally, I love how it showed all their flaws yet their strength as a family. I also enjoyed how it was Medusa’s story but not told by her. It gave a name to her nameless sisters who hold importance too. The ending is the ending we all know but it is who Medusa was which has changed. This story shows her as innocent and naïve and caught between a god's wrath. She and her sisters were then cursed with the serpents and the wings and the story of the Gorgons that we know starts to take hold.

This story is one I believe will stay with me for some time and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. I highly recommend it as a must-read for any fan of Greek retellings or not. Even if you are not familiar with the story as I was not, you will still enjoy the book. There are many important takeaways, and it really is just so beautiful. If I could give it more stars, I would.

« We do not apologize for the sins of men, Dora. Not today. Not ever. »

This book was so wonderful, and it was such an enjoyable yet heart-wrenching read. This kind of book is not usually something I would find myself reaching for, but I read the about and decided to give it a go.

The book follows Medusa and her two sisters, Euryale and Stheno. I only knew the basics of Medusa's story, and I never knew she had sisters, so I really loved learning about these characters and their lives. Each character was given the same love and attention and their own personalities. It was nice to read a book where the characters are so well written, and you really feel you get to know them.

The writing was so beautiful, and I especially loved the chapters that were told from Stheno's POV. I cried when it got the Medusa's death. It was heartbreaking to read it from her sisters POV and not just a retelling. I felt so many emotions reading this book, and I was sad when it ended as I could have read this story for days.

I am now tempted to look more into this genre of Greek mythology books as I absolutely loved this! Would 10000% recommend this book to everyone!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I thoroughly enjoyed this original reimagining of the Medusa myth. As much as Medusa is a key character of this story, we see things develop and unravel through the eyes of her sisters, Stheno and Eurayle.

What I loved most about this book was its prose. The language in this book was so lyrical and intricate; the descriptions just poured off the pages. It brought the life and the sisters’ experiences to life.

I loved the description of Medusa through her sisters’ eyes. Euryale herself was a complex and sometimes frustrating character to read from and Stheno was a constant companion throughout the story. Medusa herself broke my heart.

Overall, this book was a refreshing read. I loved Bear’s take on things and the story had its twists and turns despite being an ancient myth. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a lover of mythology but who also wants a tale about sisterhood.

I absolutely loved this Greek myth reimagining. This is a brilliant debit from Lauren Bear and I couldn't fault anything - The story, language, poetry, writing and characters were just everything I was in a Greek myth retelling.

The story is told from medusas sisters Euryale and Stheno's point of view and as expected lots of gods, goddesses, monsters and stories were intertwined.

As always there are quite some shocking moments and tales of revenge and violence aplenty

I really enjoyed reading about the different powerful women and the story being told from the females perspective, which have been lost in previous decades and older stories.

favourite lines - We do not apologise for sins of men, not today not ever - Charmion
- I think love bores the gods unless it is violent. They achieve the ecstasy of love through ravishment and ravage. Zeus chases innocence. Poseidon drowns it - Stheno

I will be recommending this book to others and looking out for others from this author.

Book Review 📚
Medusa's Sisters by Lauren J.A Bear - 4/5 ⭐

I love a book based on greek mythology, they always keep me engrossed and love reading about god's and goddesses.

I was pleasantly surprised with Medusa's Sisters as we hear about 2 sisters, who I never even knew existed! The story was joint POVs from the sisters, Stheno and Euryale. It's their story from the before and afters of the known events of Medusa. An amazing take on Medusa's siblings and I absolutely adored it.

I look forward to see if Bear releases more story's like this because she has a brilliant way of retelling a greek mythology story and uses such detail and description!

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan books for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.