This wouldn't be my usual sort of read but I found it incredibly compelling.
Looking forward to reading more from Rosie Hewlett.
4 stars.

A well-crafted story with plenty to appreciate. The pacing, characters, and plot twists kept me interested throughout. I'm looking forward to seeing how readers respond once it's released!

I was already in love with Rosie's debut Medusa, and have been keeping my eyes peeled for her next masterpiece ever since then. And oh boy Rosie DID NOT disappoint. Medea is one of the most interesting characters and witches in ancient history, often villainized. And I love what Rosie has done with her and her story! No spoilers, just, go READ THIS. It's absolutely worth your time!

Medea is in-depth, imaginative and lively retelling of the story of Medea. The prose is beautiful, rich with detail but easy-to-read at the same time.

I really enjoyed the book, it shed a different light on the story of Medea who is usually portaited as the ultimate villian. The characters were well-developed which I value. When you roughly know the story you should be led by the characters.

So all in all, recommend this title to everyone who enjoys mytology retellings or is interested to get into reading more of them!

Wow! I had no idea about the story of Medea, soreceress and wife of Jason "the Argonaut".

Like so many women in history (or mythology) we only learn of their stories in relation to the men in their lives. Their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons. Medea is no exception but as the book unfolds and we learn about her relationships with her sister, aunt and friend, you fall in love with her in a conflicted way.

Enjoying Medea's story and supporting her is an ethical dilemma throughout. From the abuse, gaslighting and abandonment of the men in her life, to the stubbornness she displays against the women who care about her and her horrific acts against the innocent, Medea is a real rollercoaster.

And I loved it!

Absolutely fantastic.

This so fantastically weaves the story of medea while remaining true to the original tale. Medea is such a fascinating figure and the spotlight on her instead of Jason is frankly unmissable.

It was exactly what I wanted from a Greek myth retelling and flawlessly written. It evokes so much feeling from the reader and honestly, I couldn’t reccomend this enough.

disclaimer: I received this free from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review

content warnings: violence, abuse, gore, child abuse, child death, sexual assault, rape

'They'll either make you his adoring, lovesick damsel or they'll make you the villain. Those are the only roles they feel comfortable with us occupying'.

Medea follows Medea - obviously - throughout her childhood, her marriage to the legendary hero Jason, and then the killing of her own children & we see her slowly spiral and give into her rage, her power, and her darkness & fully embrace it. Medea was a... difficult character for me, & rightly so - she was multifaceted. I felt a lot of things - I hated her naivety, her co-dependance & her anger & her slow descent into the 'villain' but I also hated how she was villainised by everyone around her! You sympathise, you hate, you love, you weep & you seethe in anger alongside her. The complexity to accomplish this!

Honestly, she should have run off with Atalanta & lived happily ever after.

I love Euripedes’ Medea so I was excited to dive into this book. It was great to see Medea’s back story masterfully fleshed out, such a great read.

4.5 ⭐️

I love it when a book makes you completely unsure how to feel about a character by the end. This book is certainly not for the faint of heart as check the content warnings.

I knew how Medea's story ended going into this, so I wasn't expecting to feel bad for her. But you do, you spend most of the book seeing her be gaslighted into destroying herself in the name of love for a man you know doesn't care about her.

It's sad and beautifully written. The author did an excellent job of stirring emotion and keeping the pacing even. The plot moves along nicely and keeps you engaged. The book has also made me really interested in the story of atalanta.

I received an advance review copy of this book, and this review represents my honest opinion. Thank you to netgalley, Rosie Hewlett, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

One of the best Medea retellings I've read! The world is so beautifully drawn, the characters painfully human (despite their origins). I absolutely loved this book.

Medea by Rosie Hewlett offers a captivating and feminist retelling of Medea’s story, exploring her life from childhood to her tumultuous relationship with Jason and beyond. Hewlett provides a fresh perspective on Medea, delving into her experiences and the reasons behind her actions without fully absolving her.

Hewlett skillfully blends the style of Ancient Greece with a subtle feminist touch, focusing on Medea’s relationships with the men in her life, such as her abusive father, King Aeetes, and manipulative Jason. These relationships are central to the story, highlighting the pain and anger at Medea’s core. Equally important are her relationships with her Aunt Circe and Atlanta, who teach her about her power and inner strength.

The novel does not seek to redeem Medea but rather to provide a deeper understanding of her character and motivations. Each chapter is filled with drama, passion, and sharp insights, making it difficult to put the book down. Hewlett’s writing is detailed and emotionally engaging, offering a complex portrayal of Medea while questioning whether she is truly the villain or a product of her circumstances.

Hewlett’s Medea stands out among Greek mythology retellings, delivering a thrilling and compelling story from start to finish. If you enjoy Greek mythology with a modern twist and strong character development, this book is a must-read.

I wanted to love this, love the idea of a feminist retelling and premise of the book but unfortunately I found it hard to engage and care about her. There was no real plot just a rambling through a series of events that held no interest.

One of my favourite retellings ever! I had never heard of Medea before this but she is now a stand out figure in greek mythology for me. Rosie's writing was so engaging and I love how she stayed true to the darkness in Medea.

🎧Audiobook Review🎧

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I want to thank NetGalley for approving me for an ARC of this book.

🌩️Tragedy
🖤Dark
⭐Revenge
📖Mythology

I enjoyed this feminist retelling of Medea's story. Besides her marriage to Jason, I am not familiar with her tale. Medea's journey is filled with darkness, hatred, love, revenge and anguish. It's impossible not to become engrossed in her tragic story!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of Medea!

I requested this because I wanted to get back on the Greek myths train, and I’d seen a lot of love on here for Hewlett’s other novel. Unfortunately this one just didn’t quite do it for me and it ended up being a DNF as I just wasn’t really vibing with the writing style.

As far as I know this isn’t marketed as YA, but that is definitely how the writing style came across to me. Medea’s story, even in it’s early stages, is one of the most horrifying and stressful (or at last, I think it is!) in Greek mythology, and unfortunately I just didn’t feel the gravity of it in this retelling.

This was particularly true when Jason makes his appearance - at this stage, the book drifted too far into YA-style swooning for me to continue on.

I don’t think that necessarily means that this is a bad book or that others might not enjoy it; this is purely a personal preference of mine, so if you enjoyed Hewlett’s first novel or similar retellings like Ariadne and Elektra, you might well find a lot to love here! I think I’ll also still pick up a copy of Hewlett’s retelling of Medusa to see if it was just this story in particular that wasn’t working for me.

If you’ve read this one, let me know how you found it and if you think I should give it another chance!

“I chose to live. I chose to live. I chose to live”

I have been a little bit burnt out with mythological retellings as of late but I utterly ADORED Medusa by Rosie Hewlett so I had such high hopes for Medea and honestly she has out done herself.

Having known the story of Medea already and some of her actions I was curious to see how the author would handle these aspects and she done so beautifully. Medea is a broken and beaten girl turned into a villain by her peers as she battles to just survive and honestly…chef kiss, the writing was so beautiful and the story powerful.

Cried like an absolute baby by the end of it (no surprises there) I cannot wait to see what the author writes next as she has absolute fan for life in me!

Thanks so much Netgalley & publisher for the ARC!

Medea, daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, is 'chosen' by Hecate and has been 'blessed' with witchcraft. Her aunt Circe is brought in to help her manage those powers, but pretty soon Circe is exiled. Medea is left trapped with and used for her power by her abusive father and brother and separated from her sister. When Jason (of Argonaut fame) comes to Colchis to find the legendary golden fleece, she offers him her help, setting in motion a whole new life for herself.

I really enjoyed this - it's haunting and emotional but it reads like a train. The subject matter is pretty challenging as it's much more difficult to 'reframe' Medea than it is some of the other greek goddesses based on her actions in the source material, and at times it's therefor a pretty harrowing read - but it's quite artfully done and the book does a good job at showing both the darkness and the the light in Medea.

N.b. I was given a free digital copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Medea is no character that I paid much attention to, at all, ever. I requested this book not really knowing what I should expect, and I was pleasantly surprised by the way this retelling was done. Medea is such an intriguing character who will carve out a place for herself in the world at any cost, even if it means being corrupted by her magic - after all, everyone claims her powers make her evil and dangerous anyway, right? I love to see that!

What irked me a bit was the way in which Medea fell for the first person who ever showed even the slightest bit of interest in her not once but twice, and in Jason's case while being well aware that he had ulterior motives that should have made her a lot more hesitant that she was. Medea was such a fierce, intelligent and oftentimes dark character throughout the rest of the book, but here she acted rather out of character and, honestly, stupidly.

Other than Atalanta and maybe Orpheus, the side characters all fell rather flat for me. Medea's father and brother were well-portrayed in their cruelty, but Jason was a deceptive villain with no redeeming qualities, and most of the other characters were frankly forgettable. Even in such a harsh setting that feels like mc-against-the-world, I want three-dimensional characters with nuanced interactions and relationships, but that came a little short in this book due to the focus on Medea and her own thoughts and feelings.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the story. It was a quick read that managed to hold my attention, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys mythology retellings!

4/5 stars.

So beautifully written. I loved the craft behind the description, whether for characters, settings or action scenes — the storytelling was immense.

Medea is a flawed and not completely likeable character, particularly by the end, but I loved the way writer delivered this sensitively. We’re totally aware of her faults at all times, we sympathise with her to an extent, but we also don’t glamorise her bad decisions. Understandably as the eponymous character, she is the best-written. This however meant some of the other characters were incomplete (I would have loved to know more about Circe, Chalciope and Atalanta — even Jason felt very 2D).

The time skips felt slightly jarring and lacklustre by disrupting the pace of the novel. To be fair to the writer, I can’t see a way around it in order to cover as much of the myth as she wanted, but personally I found the book slightly harder to get back into after such big time leaps: hence the 4 stars and not 5.

Overall though, this was highly enjoyable especially for someone who loves a Greek myth and a strong female protagonist!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written and totally captivating. I love Greek mythology, and this was excellently executed variation of the myth about Medea and Jason. I really expect to see more books like that. The characters are not one dimensional and deep. The author successfully keeping balance between the original story and psychological research of timeless human relationships problems and traumas.