LitPick Review
This book retells the ancient myth of Perseus, the god touched son of Zeus and the beautiful princess Andromeda. Perseus and his mother are refugees from main land Greece. They were thrown out after Perseus's mother's Immaculate Conception and the birth of her son. Whether by luck, chance, or fate, the mother and son survive being locked in a box and thrown out to sea. Many years later they end up living in Serifos where they lead an easy life working in a restaurant. Then Perseus meets and falls in love with Andromeda (or Kore). Now they must set off together to Gorgon's Head to fight her sacrificial destiny.
Opinion:
I was not interested in this book at all. I think, at the start, it threw way too much information at you at once and didn't give you any time to get to know the characters or surroundings. So after a slow start I was never caught by this book. I never felt any incentive to read it. I do acknowledge that it would have been very hard to rewrite an ancient Greek myth but none of the fictional characters she introduces nor the characters from the myth were very interesting or people to whom I could relate.
Overall I think Ann Halam has a wonderfully descriptive imagination and creative ideas, but I think they could have been put to better use in maybe a more suitable genre. If I were to recommend this book to others it would be to those who are interested in Greek mythology and could take something from this rendition of the story.
