A clever, illuminating feminist take on Greek mythology.
In this ingenious novella-length prose poem by Leonard, Medusa finds herself at the epicenter of a modern-day feminist power struggle.
“Medusa was raped. / Medusa was not raped. / Medusa was given rohypnol,” read the opening lines of the prelude to this contemporary retake on Greek mythology. The language addresses issues of rape culture, particularly the way survivors are scrutinized rather than protected in the press and social media. Enter Medusa, known as Duse to her friends. She and her gorgon sisters inhabit the city and work regular jobs. Medusa happens to be a humanities professor, but she’s also a guardian of women (“Like Batman, she will always be a vigilante”). But the famous gorgon has a problem; Athena is coming for her. Here, Athena is a symbol of “misplaced feminism”—a goddess who favors and supports the patriarchy. Medusa wants Athena to change voluntarily and feel remorse for the harm that she, as a “slut-shaming bitch,” has caused other women. A confrontation between Duse and Athena comes in the form of an assembly attended by all manner of mythical beings. Leonard’s novella astutely examines the consequences of “cruelty between women.” Leonard’s message is a positive one of compassion and self-empowerment—and this resonates in her simple, stirring use of language: Medusa chooses to forge “a path from the past to power.” And goddess Hera says, “I can create real sanctuaries for women, places of protection, ways of power.” This book urges women to care for one another and reconsider the ways their perceptions of female identity are shaped. Fans of contemporary rewrites of ancient mythology, like Margaret Atwood’s exploration of society’s double standards regarding women in The Penelopiad (2005), will be particularly intrigued by this astute debut offering by Leonard. And although some knowledge of the classics would be helpful, newcomers can still enjoy a captivating storyline.
A clever, illuminating feminist take on Greek mythology.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 9781950730636
Page Count: 208
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
