I do like my Greek mythology, although my knowledge is patchy at best. I first got sucked in when I read Mythos, then The Song of Achilles, and then got fully invested after my trip to Greece.
However, one story that I have zero knowledge about is the story of Jason and the Argonauts. I got curious about it when I read Glorious Exploits, which gave me a brief teaser of Euripides’ Medea, but I definitely wanted to know more and when I stumbled on No Friend to This House in the library, I grabbed it without a second thought.
About the Book
Jason and his Argonauts set sail to find the Golden Fleece. The journey is filled with danger for him and everyone he meets. But if he ever reaches the distant land he seeks, he faces almost certain death.
Medea—priestess, witch, and daughter of a brutal king—has the power to save the life of a stranger. Will she betray her family and her home, and what will she demand in return?
Medea and Jason seize their one chance at a life together, as the gods intend. But their love is steeped in vengeance from the beginning, and no one—not even those closest to them—will be safe.
Based on the classic tragedy by Euripides, this is Medea as you’ve never seen her before
~ Synopsis from goodreads
My Review
This book was quite hard to follow at first. There is a 4-page list of characters at the front of the book, which helped. But I was constantly moving back and forth trying to understand who is the person narrating the story.
In addition, there is a narrator or two that appears, seems to be a key character, and then vanishes never to appear again. This kind of goes on until almost 40% of the book in, and it’s only when Medea makes her appearance was I able to lock in to her as the main character and get into the story.
It’s immediately obvious that Haynes is a master of the subject, probably because the book is absolutely stuffed with amusing and interesting asides (that don’t often have anything to do with the main story). However, once I got used to all the twisty and meandering ways that Haynes used to tell the story, I liked all the little detours she took.
That said, I do think she took liberties with the main story – presenting Medea as a much more likable person that even I (a Greek mythology novice) knew was not the case in the original story. She glosses over some of her more heinous acts – killing her uncle in law, her kids, or participating in her brother’s murder. Everything is positioned like she had no choice in the matter.
Still, despite its many departures from the original play, I quite enjoyed most of the book. I wasn’t too interested Jason’s pursuit of the Golden Fleece, but once Medea enters the stage, the book really picked up the pace and the drama.
Really enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading more of her Greek mythological retellings.
