The Witch of Colchis

I was quite nervous going into this retelling. I have heard many great things about Rosie Hewlett's writing and her adaptation of Medusa so I had hopes that this would be great but I have also read numerous adaptations of Medea before and they can never seem to get her right and not make her seem simply a victim and innocent to her circumstance. I am so glad that this adaptation did not follow the same trope.

Rosie Hewlett completely understood this character and allowed her to still be evil while also letting us see exactly why. I have read too many myth retellings that paint the female protagonist as an innocent woman and claim to be a feminist story but this feels like one of the first TRULY feminist retellings I have read. Hewlett expanded and created opportunities for female connection with Medea and other characters in a way I have not seen before in other versions of this story. I also loved that (no spoilers) Hewlett made a slight change to the delivery of the iconic wedding present at the end of the story and it was so menacing. This gave me everything I wanted from Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid and satisfied that itch for me.

The only thing that I would possibly make this retelling better is having the dialogue feel less modern and feeling more placed in ancient times. There were a few moments where I noticed characters encouraging consent and using all too modern sayings which took me out of the world a bit but those moments were a small handful sprinkled across a fantastically detailed novel.