The perspectives of three women reveal the cruel, damaged man behind the hero of legend in The Shadow of Perseus, the second inventive reinterpretation of Greek mythology from Claire Heywood (Daughters of Sparta). Danae's father's attempt to thwart the prophecy that her son will be his ruin goes just as badly as such attempts normally do, leaving Danae in exile but pregnant and alive to raise her son, Perseus. Danae tells her son that he's a son of Zeus, conceived in a shower of golden rain. Perseus fears being thought of as weaker than the other boys and, far beyond the age when Danae expected him to realize what everybody else already knew, clings to the belief that he's destined for greatness. He sets out on a voyage meant to make him into a man, which leads him to a reclusive band of women known as the Gorgons--and to Medusa, whose kindness to him becomes her downfall. Andromeda, whom he carries away from her people, finds a determination to survive and, if possible, temper him.
In some ways, this is a bleaker work than Heywood's previous reimagination of Greek myth. This Perseus is an archetype of fragile, toxic masculinity, and readers follow the points of view of women whose lives are upended, at best, in his wake. Yet a strand of hope for an uplifting resolution remains, as those who survive find their voices and learn to mold their own futures. Fans of Madeline Miller's Circe will be enthralled. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library