"But I was always me," said Medusa. "I never changed." "You always changed and never changed." The beginning of this book was surprisingly wholesome and funny, I loved seeing how the other Gorgons learned to care for Medusa. However, the story soon started to focus more on other characters (which is fair, as it was all connected to Medusa's own story and heartbreaking fate) and the change of pace was a bit distracting. Almost every character seemed to feel a great deal of self-importance, and Athene and Perseus in particular were incredibly capricious and selfish. If the goal was to make the reader dislike them to the point of annoyance, it was very well achieved. Sure, we're supposed to feel sympathy for Medusa and the injustice she suffers at their hands, but when there are only a couple of tolerable characters in the whole book it gets a bit tedious. The writing itself was fine, although at some points it was so straightforward that I felt, as a reader, that I was being treated like an idiot. I had very high expectations for a feminist retelling of Medusa's story but this was not at all what I expected. The book didn't really focus on her, and Hayne's take on Perseus' character is not one I agree with. If you're interested in Greek mythology you might still enjoy Stone Blind, but if you already know the myths and are looking for a fresh perspective this is probably not it.
