Book Review: I, Medusa: A Novel by Ayana Gray
Retelling of classic Greek myth checks the boxes for YA Romantasy
Ayana Gray’s new novel, I, Medusa, checks most of the boxes for a conventional young adult (YA) Romantasy: teenaged protagonist; neglectful parents; magical school; loyal best friend; racist, blonde bully; 1,000-year-old non-human romantic interest; LGBTQ romance—it’s all here, ripped from the pages of the Twilight and Harry Potter series and other novels in this category.
The story begins with a prologue that shows the mythical, snake-headed monster Medusa as a priestess in a temple of Athena, the Greek goddess of war and wisdom. The scene is dramatic, but after it, the pace slows while readers wait for the anticipated, already revealed events to unfold.
After the prologue, a seventeen-year-old Medusa, known as “Meddy,” hangs out at home with her parents, the haughty sea god, Phorcys, and his wife, the boozy sea goddess, Ceto, and her older sisters, Stheno and Euryale. The family live in a palatial residence on an unnamed island, where Phorcys and Ceto seek to entertain politically and socially important suitors they hope will marry their daughters. Meddy’s parents and sisters are immortal; she isn’t. Nor is she a monster—at least not at first.
After an accident involving one of the suitors, Meddy flees the island to become an acolyte of Athena, a position comprised mainly of household chores, unauthorized visits to the city of Athens, where she inevitably gets into trouble, and three simple tests she and nine other young women must pass to become priestesses. When she returns briefly to the island to attend yet another of her parents’ feasts—this one to impress the socially superior Olympian gods—her acquaintance with one of them—the powerful, immortal sea god, Poseidon—turns ugly:
“Poseidon is the king of the sea; I am just the mortal daughter of two lowly sea gods. The idea that I might have any power or effect on someone like him thrills me, terrifies, me, intrigues me.
“’I have to confess something else,’ he says. ‘But I would ask you to keep it a secret, something between only us.’
“He trusts me with a secret. Me. I’m nodding before I’ve even processed his words. ‘Of course.’
“Poseidon’s smile turns wry. ‘I was not entirely honest when I told your parents why I’ve come here.’”
The prologue leaves a gaping hole near the end where the missing scene should’ve been. After that, a too-large amount of story-telling is crammed into a rushed ending and epilogue.
Meddy is a sweet girl, impossibly naïve, with dreams of adventure for her future. Her relationships with her sisters are mostly loving, and at first, she proves a caring and resourceful friend to one of her fellow acolytes, Apollonia. But Meddy has a dark side: she’s erratic, rebellious, disobedient, callous, dishonest, sneaky, prideful, and very, very angry, though never without cause.
Despite its preponderance of YA elements and Meddy’s youthful voice, I, Medusa is billed as Gray’s debut adult novel, following her three-part “Beasts of” YA fantasy series. Gray handles the adult material, including nonconsensual intercourse and sexual violence, well, especially when she shows Poseidon’s pattern of abusive behavior toward young women and the adults’ rush to blame the victims. Meddy’s relationships with the deliciously peculiar Stheno and Euryale and the elusive and capricious Athena are also among the novel’s strengths.
“Athena looks slightly impatient now. ‘The priestesses who serve in this temple serve at different parts of their natural life cycle. Apollonia is young, unmarried. Women of her status are to maintain their chastity while in my service. She did not, and so she can no longer serve.’
“Something she’s said stops me. ‘Chastity, Goddess?’
“Athena’s expression sharpens. ‘Dear child,’ she says, ‘Did your parents never explain to you how babies are made? How women become pregnant?’
“’No.’ My cheeks warm. ‘They didn’t.’”
While readers who love YA mythological retellings may embrace I, Medusa as a welcome addition to the category, those looking for more complex and sophisticated stories may prefer the critically acclaimed The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller, Claire North’s exciting “Song of Penelope” series, or Natalie Haynes’s creepy Stone Blind, which also features Medusa. #
Photo by Nice M Nshuti on Unsplash.
I, Medusa
by Ayana Gray
Random House (New York)
336 pgs.
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