Snakehead

"Snakehead" by Ann Halam is the story of Perseus, Danae (his mother), Andromeda, and the monster Medusa. Perseus is introduced as a young man raised by Dictys to the ways of peace and hospitality at the tavern which Dictys owns and runs even though he is the rightful king of the island on which they live. Dictys took in Danae and Perseus when he found them floating in the box that her father had nailed them in because he was trying to avoid his fate to be killed by his grandson. Andromeda meets Danae and Perseus when they go to trade goods for the tavern. She travels back with them and works at the tavern under an assumed name. She, too, is trying to avoid her fate of being a human sacrifice.
The politics and varying religious beliefs show more are presented well in the novel as well as natural disasters. Earthquakes and tidal waves are seen as indications of the gods' disfavor by some and by just bad luck natural occurrences by others. The story of the challenge by Polydectes to Perseus to bring him the Medusa's head is also presented well. The gods are presented well but are not so much bigger-than-life than manipulative to help themselves. Athena is shown to have a temper and Hermes to be a stand-up guy.
I like the way the author fleshed out the story of Perseus and Andromeda, the one love story in mythology that has a happy ending! show less

An interesting reworking of the Greek myth. It was different getting know the characters and seeing them as actually individuals, with all their quirks, weakness, dreams, etc. You don't really get to know them very well in the myths. I enjoyed the story but then I've always like the Greek myths.

A retelling of the story of Perseus, Andromeda and the Medusa. Andromeda, a brilliant scholar, is to be sacrificed to the sea god. Perseus must conquer the Medusa before he can save Andromeda and his war-torn country. This retelling mixes in some modern elements. For example, when Perseus goes to meet his father Zeus, it is on a modern-day yacht. Halam also uses elements of other Greek myths to move her story along - Andromeda and Perseus are given a lift by Jason and the Argonauts.

I picked this book up for my teen son who is an ancient history buff. He gave it back to me after reading a few chapters. I tried to read it as well, but the plot is slow. When one of the characters claimed to be a potato-growing Peruvian living in ancient Greece, I too gave up on the book. I do commend the attempt to write a piece of fiction that included characters from Greek mythology.

This book is really bad. It took me 2 weeks just to get through the first 100 pages!!!! it was very weird and i could find none of the original myth in it! i know the author was trying to create a new myth but it just fell flat. I couldn;t find much backround on the charcters and the writing was just blah. Dont read this is you want a cool book and a revamped myth!