Medea

Author: Rosie Hewlett

Rating: 3/5

Medea, a princess of Colchis, is capable of performing magic. Unfortunately, pretty much everyone takes advantage of it.

Spoilers ahead.

Detailed Summary

The book starts with Medea turning her brother Apsyrtus into a pig. Her father Aeetes, king of Colchis, gets his sister Circe to teach Medea how to control her powers. Circe stops coming after a few years and it’s only years later that Aeetes revealed he banished her. Aeetes is an abusive father and Medea is prevented from practicing magic until Phrixus comes with the golden ram. They cut the fleece from it after the ram is killed and Medea is asked to magic defenses. She agrees but only if Phrixus marries her. Medea transforms a loyal bodyguard into a dragon. Chalciope, Medea’s younger sister, is promised to Phrixus instead. Medea’s magic is weaponised. Jason and the Argonauts arrive. Medea falls for Jason and helps him if he promises to take her to Circe’s island. Medea gets a vision from Hecate as well who tells her how the fleece has no power. Medea kills Apsyrtus. The Argonauts cut him into pieces so the navy has to find them. Jason promises to marry Medea. On Circe’s island, Circe tries to stop Medea from going because she had her heart broken too. Medea feels insulted and goes with Jason. Atalanta tries to warn her about Jason’s honeyed words which Medea ignores. They have to fight of the Sirens which they are able to do thanks to Atalanta (and Orpheus, I guess). They then face Talos, the bronze giant, and Medea defeats him. They arrive at Iolcos to great fanfare. The king Pelias doesn’t give his throne instead saying Jason would be named his heir. Medea gets the princesses to kill the king instead. Acastus arrives while Medea is unconscious and challenges Jason to a duel. Jason loses so he and Medea flee to Corinth. They have two sons. Years later, when the King of Athens arrives, Medea learns that Jason has become engaged to Glauce, the king of Corinth’s daughter. Jason tells her she’s been banished too. Medea goes to the princess the night before the wedding with a dress that she presents as a gift. Glauce wears it and the poison in it is like acid and dissolves her body. Creon (the king) dies trying to save her. Medea kills her children seeing that they will become corrupted like her (she’s been taken over by dark spirits from the Underworld). Jsaon finds her but she escapes in a chariot and calls the dragon’s help as well. She buries her sons then goes to Athens to marry the king. Five years later, she rules Colchis. She wins Zeus’ favour by helping with Herakles’ madness. She has a son from the king of Athens (though she was exiled from there too). Chalciope comes to visit her and observes Medea’s change.

Review

I have very mixed reviews on this one. The more I reflect on Medea, the more I feel it didn’t quite bring something new to the genre (as harsh as that sounds!). The writing was absolutely glorious, descriptions like “the sand was powdered dust” made me gasp because damn, I wish I could write like that! I appreciated how readable this book was and I do think it was a good book. I just didn’t feel much while reading it.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Medea’s actions being justified by the dark magic corrupting her soul. I wanted her to be fuelled by rage too. While towards the end, she did realise the extent of her power and basked in it, I wanted more emphasis on her feelings. I also felt her feelings towards Jason were a bit meh. Like, okay, I get that it’s easy as a teenager to be swayed by someone you have deep feelings for. I was also okay to suspend annoyance when both Circe and Atalanta disapproved. What did it for me was when Medea realised all that Jason was doing to her, wanted change and STILL was naive enough to think one sex-filled night would reverse his treachery.

There were many times I wished Medea’s story deviated from the source material. I wanted her to stay with Circe and learn more about her magic. I wanted her to run away with Atalanta and be gay together. But alas. Speaking of Atalanta, I still don’t know how to feel about the way her queerness was handled. It felt weird when she said she had different preferences. I would have preferred if she had been more forthright.

I didn’t like that Chalciope was the one who narrated the last part of the book. Also, the time jumps were a bit annoying to read. It would have been nice to have seen the ups and downs of Medea and Jason’s relationship rather than to be told that they were not happy.