The Plaid Pladd

It’s Steven’s favorite time!! Finishing a Goddess Girls book!! Meaning I won’t be forcing him to read one till at least the end of July (when Goddess Girls Super Special: The Girl Games comes out!). This one was about Medusa and was definitely my favorite so far!

Antiheroes are the bomb

Summary of Amazingness
By Patricia
Medusa is super unpopular at Mount Olympus Academy because she has green skin, snake hair, and a penchant for telling it like it is! Girl’s got sass, but it doesn’t help her make friends or win any ground with Poseidon, her “supercrush”. Hera and Zeus are getting married and Ancient Greek God custom(?) dictates that the seven groomsmen get to choose their own bridesmaids through ridiculous contests! Of course Medusa wants to get chosen by Poseidon, but to do that she’ll have to win his swimming contest. No big deal, considering her parents are inattentive, tragic-back-story sea monsters, but she orders a magical Pegasus necklace that’s supposed to give her immortal powers anyway, just to be on the safe side. It looks like she’s going to win too, when she decides to Do The Right Thing and rescue her kindergarten buddy Andromeda from bullies instead. Poseidon finally notices her anyway, but says she’s got to wear a hat to cover up her snake hair if they’re going to hang. She realizes he’s bad news and dramatically gives up her crush! It’s cool, Dionysus doesn’t mind her snakes, and loves her sassy sense of humor. You go, girl!! Also, a stray Zeus lightning bolt combines with kindergarten Perseus’ toy Medusa shield and the remains of her probably-fake(?) Pegasus charm to create an actual real life Pegasus!! Best wedding present ever??

Faithfulness to Original Mythos
By Steven
Short answer: what mythos? Seriously, they didn’t really try with this one. But, using the open-ended approach does let them pretty much make it up as they go along without being restricted by the myth, so I’ll award bonus points instead for honorable mentions. Points go for the mention of Medusa’s parents, Ceto and Phorcys, and (as usual) the inclusion of her sisters, Euryale and Stheno. There are a fair number of other minor mentions throughout, notably the appearance of Perseus and Andromeda roughly halfway through. Loss of points for Perseus being basically useless and contributing nothing to the plot apart from his Medusoid shield. At the same time, double points for their clever re-imagining of Medusa’s decapitation/Pegasus’ birth. Which, admittedly, required Perseus’ shield. So I’ll give them a pass and let’s call it even.

Being more faithful to myth would have made the ending kind of a downer

Tween Girl Life Lessons
By Patricia
1) Don’t get so caught up in a guy’s dreamy turquoise skin that you don’t realize what a loser he is on the inside.
2) Guidance counselors are never as helpful as BFFs.
3) Ancient Greek God gift registries are attended by creepy puppets.

Steven’s Favorites!
Character: Dionysus. He gets all the ladies.
Part: “…Career-ology Week. (Or Job-ology Week, as the students called it.)”
Thing I Learned: Go for the drunken ones. They’re more fun.

She just wants friends, you guys

Patricia’s Favorites!!
Character: Medusa!!! I love that she paints her nails in class so people will think she’s super blase about school, and then studies really hard secretly when no one’s looking
Part: At Zeus and Hera’s wedding when asked if anyone objects, a fly buzzes into the arena! Oh no, is it Athena’s inexplicable fly-mom coming to throw her tiny weight around?? Nah, just a normal fly, we cool. Loved this Ancient Greek insect fake out.
Thing I Learned: Medusa’s snakes apparently are named: Viper, Flicka, Pretzel, Snapper, Twister, Slinky, Lasso, Slither, Scaly, Emerald, Sweetpea, and Wiggle. Why don’t Ancient Greek legends record this? Apparently we never asked.

Next Time: Super Special: The Girl Games!
Previously:
Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, Book 5, Book 6, Book 7