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revengelyne's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the concept of the Furies from mythology. This was the first read for me to see them as prominent characters. I hadn't come across them before like this and I really liked the blurb. I did not, however, care too much for Meg. For such a young adult, she was far too angry at the world. I understand that she had a lot of reason to hate people like "The Leech" and the surfer crowd due to plenty of humiliation but once she finds out exactly what she is capable of she kinda begins to take it a bit too far. What she did to Brendon after his friends found them together really took it a bit too far.
And let's not get started on the other two. A tree-hugger and surfer-girl with anger issues.
But correct me if I am wrong, the Furies were not entirely violent. If my memory of mythology serves me correctly, they tormented those who did wrong. Sometimes stopped their torment if the person corrected a past mistake they made that incited the fury of the Furies. Of course there could have been times that the Furies drove their subject to madness and even death but not like the way this book did it.
All in all, this book's concept was interesting but just because you have become a Fury does not mean to take out your anger and hatred on everyone who crosses your path. The Furies are just not like that.
And let's not get started on the other two. A tree-hugger and surfer-girl with anger issues.
But correct me if I am wrong, the Furies were not entirely violent. If my memory of mythology serves me correctly, they tormented those who did wrong. Sometimes stopped their torment if the person corrected a past mistake they made that incited the fury of the Furies. Of course there could have been times that the Furies drove their subject to madness and even death but not like the way this book did it.
All in all, this book's concept was interesting but just because you have become a Fury does not mean to take out your anger and hatred on everyone who crosses your path. The Furies are just not like that.
books_plan_create's review
2.0
You know, I was really excited about this book. It started off great, I was really enjoying it, but then my interest fell. My interest was so low I don't even feel like writing a review.
pagesplotsandpints's review
2.0
2.5 stars
Initial Impressions: Really nowhere near what I hoped it would be. Loved the mythology involved and accurate from what I know of it but it did not make a very good translation into YA.
Review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: I’ve always been interested in mythology even since I was a youngster, so I’ve really been into trying to pick up mythology retellings lately. When I hear about FURIOUS, I was like “HMMM. The Furies myth redone? I’m curious!” Sadly, curious was about as far as it went. I made it about halfway through before I found myself reading quickly, forcing myself to finish.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with the myth, the gist of it is that the three Furies were born from the blood and anger of the god Uranus after he was… erm, castrated (I can see why he was pissed) and they are responsible for the eye-for-and-eye type of justice in the world. In the retelling of FURIOUS, they’re three high school teenagers who are “discovered” to have the powers of the Furies deep within them and when the three hone into their skills, they can bring the high school jerks to their knees, right the wrongs of their own home lives, and bring even bigger justices to the world.
It’s hard to judge and say that this could have been done better since I’m not sitting here writing my own retelling, but I just didn’t feel like this interpretation of the myth came off well. All of the specifics and background of the myth were included in the book so it’s definitely thorough and accurate, but as a retelling, I think I wanted it to be LESS accurate. It was so integrated in the original myth that I feel like it almost got boxed in and pieces were forced to fit together that didn’t really go together. Some of the characters felt forced, the situations were the Furies use their power seemed a little silly, and I just felt like as a whole, it didn’t really come together to make one cohesive story. Personally, I would have liked to see a looser interpretation of the myth to fit more of a high school setting since it was drawn up for YA versus a more literal retelling and having some of it feel unauthentic to its setting.
As far as characters go, I didn’t really feel a connection to any of them. Except for maybe Raymond, the main character Meg’s best friend… And now that I’m thinking about it, maybe because he wasn’t a part of the myth so he wasn’t forced into a specific role? The development of the Furies’ powers and how they discover them didn’t feel natural for me and Meg as our main character wasn’t likable. I sympathized with her for the most part, but I mean, they’re FURIES. They’re mad, they want revenge, they want justice. It’s hard to connect with main characters who are basically pictured like bad guys who think they’re good guys.
FURIOUS just wasn’t for me. I rushed through the second half of the book so I could finish it, but really, I just wasn’t interested. I actually found myself not caring what happened to the end but it was going by pretty quickly so I figured I might as well finish. This was close to being a DNF for me but I pushed through it.
Initial Impressions: Really nowhere near what I hoped it would be. Loved the mythology involved and accurate from what I know of it but it did not make a very good translation into YA.
Review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: I’ve always been interested in mythology even since I was a youngster, so I’ve really been into trying to pick up mythology retellings lately. When I hear about FURIOUS, I was like “HMMM. The Furies myth redone? I’m curious!” Sadly, curious was about as far as it went. I made it about halfway through before I found myself reading quickly, forcing myself to finish.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with the myth, the gist of it is that the three Furies were born from the blood and anger of the god Uranus after he was… erm, castrated (I can see why he was pissed) and they are responsible for the eye-for-and-eye type of justice in the world. In the retelling of FURIOUS, they’re three high school teenagers who are “discovered” to have the powers of the Furies deep within them and when the three hone into their skills, they can bring the high school jerks to their knees, right the wrongs of their own home lives, and bring even bigger justices to the world.
It’s hard to judge and say that this could have been done better since I’m not sitting here writing my own retelling, but I just didn’t feel like this interpretation of the myth came off well. All of the specifics and background of the myth were included in the book so it’s definitely thorough and accurate, but as a retelling, I think I wanted it to be LESS accurate. It was so integrated in the original myth that I feel like it almost got boxed in and pieces were forced to fit together that didn’t really go together. Some of the characters felt forced, the situations were the Furies use their power seemed a little silly, and I just felt like as a whole, it didn’t really come together to make one cohesive story. Personally, I would have liked to see a looser interpretation of the myth to fit more of a high school setting since it was drawn up for YA versus a more literal retelling and having some of it feel unauthentic to its setting.
As far as characters go, I didn’t really feel a connection to any of them. Except for maybe Raymond, the main character Meg’s best friend… And now that I’m thinking about it, maybe because he wasn’t a part of the myth so he wasn’t forced into a specific role? The development of the Furies’ powers and how they discover them didn’t feel natural for me and Meg as our main character wasn’t likable. I sympathized with her for the most part, but I mean, they’re FURIES. They’re mad, they want revenge, they want justice. It’s hard to connect with main characters who are basically pictured like bad guys who think they’re good guys.
FURIOUS just wasn’t for me. I rushed through the second half of the book so I could finish it, but really, I just wasn’t interested. I actually found myself not caring what happened to the end but it was going by pretty quickly so I figured I might as well finish. This was close to being a DNF for me but I pushed through it.
dreamer4ever's review
2.0
I did not care for this book at all. I think the idea was good but not executed well. I was glad to be done with it.
owlishbookish's review
2.0
This review was originally posted on Book Brats on April 8, 2013.
Meg, Alix, and Stephanie are three very different girls. Yet, there is something that binds them together that will forever change them in ways they can not possibly know. Mysterious classmate Ambrosia enters their lives and proceeds to turn things upside down. As the three girls discover more about themselves, they will find that things aren’t always as they seem. In this dark tale of mythology meets reality, Furious pushes the boundaries of what is right, what a person is really owed, and what is going too far.
At first, Meg was a character I felt pretty bad for. Trapped in a never-ending cycle of less-than-pleasant foster homes, Meg continues to do her best to carve out her place in the world. At first, I had trouble reconciling the rage hinted at in the book’s description with this character. All of that quickly changed, however, as Meg’s true nature was revealed. At this point, I wasn’t quite so sure as to why this character needed my sympathy. I understood the difficulties of her life as a foster child, but what began as longing for a steady home quickly turned into a materialistic, vicious attitude. Even before the more mythical aspects of the book picked up, I was quickly losing interest in this main character. Call it self-preservation for the sake of my patience, if you will, but it soon became apparent that Meg and I would have a struggle. Alix was at least more believable since she was pretty consistent from beginning to end. Once I learned more of her background, it really became apparent that she fit very well into the plot. Stephanie was another one that gave me pause. I’ve known many people with similar priorities and opinions, but the level of anger she displays seems a little over-the-top, at times. Upset, yes. Emotional, you bet. All-consuming, destructive rage? I’m not so sure about that. I was left having a lot of trouble fully buying into this set of characters and still have ambivalent feelings about the whole thing.
The plot was probably the most difficult thing for me to ponder. While the story has a certain atmosphere that lets you know that the subject is a weighty one, as well as eerie, there were moments that struck me as just plain messed up. Some of the situations the girls bring about are truly horrible and leave no room for either empathy or sympathy. In fact, the girls’ actions proved to widen the gap between me as the reader and the book. That there are frequently no consequences also strikes me as entirely too improbable. Overall, there was a serious disconnect between my reader’s sensibilities and the story as a whole.
I normally love anything with a mythological angle. In fact, I’ve read more mythologically-based books that I can even count. I’ve enjoyed the vast majority of them, truth be told. Furious, however, won’t be joining their ranks. While the description proves to be both tantalizing and somewhat spooky, Furious simply fell short of my expectations. The Furies is a topic that has a lot of potential in contemporary books, but Furious just isn’t the “Furies-centric” book that blew me away.
Meg, Alix, and Stephanie are three very different girls. Yet, there is something that binds them together that will forever change them in ways they can not possibly know. Mysterious classmate Ambrosia enters their lives and proceeds to turn things upside down. As the three girls discover more about themselves, they will find that things aren’t always as they seem. In this dark tale of mythology meets reality, Furious pushes the boundaries of what is right, what a person is really owed, and what is going too far.
At first, Meg was a character I felt pretty bad for. Trapped in a never-ending cycle of less-than-pleasant foster homes, Meg continues to do her best to carve out her place in the world. At first, I had trouble reconciling the rage hinted at in the book’s description with this character. All of that quickly changed, however, as Meg’s true nature was revealed. At this point, I wasn’t quite so sure as to why this character needed my sympathy. I understood the difficulties of her life as a foster child, but what began as longing for a steady home quickly turned into a materialistic, vicious attitude. Even before the more mythical aspects of the book picked up, I was quickly losing interest in this main character. Call it self-preservation for the sake of my patience, if you will, but it soon became apparent that Meg and I would have a struggle. Alix was at least more believable since she was pretty consistent from beginning to end. Once I learned more of her background, it really became apparent that she fit very well into the plot. Stephanie was another one that gave me pause. I’ve known many people with similar priorities and opinions, but the level of anger she displays seems a little over-the-top, at times. Upset, yes. Emotional, you bet. All-consuming, destructive rage? I’m not so sure about that. I was left having a lot of trouble fully buying into this set of characters and still have ambivalent feelings about the whole thing.
The plot was probably the most difficult thing for me to ponder. While the story has a certain atmosphere that lets you know that the subject is a weighty one, as well as eerie, there were moments that struck me as just plain messed up. Some of the situations the girls bring about are truly horrible and leave no room for either empathy or sympathy. In fact, the girls’ actions proved to widen the gap between me as the reader and the book. That there are frequently no consequences also strikes me as entirely too improbable. Overall, there was a serious disconnect between my reader’s sensibilities and the story as a whole.
I normally love anything with a mythological angle. In fact, I’ve read more mythologically-based books that I can even count. I’ve enjoyed the vast majority of them, truth be told. Furious, however, won’t be joining their ranks. While the description proves to be both tantalizing and somewhat spooky, Furious simply fell short of my expectations. The Furies is a topic that has a lot of potential in contemporary books, but Furious just isn’t the “Furies-centric” book that blew me away.
aprilbooksandwine's review
3.0
Straight up, I will forever and always love books about the Furies, the avenging Greek goddesses, because I LOVE reading about stories of revenge and people getting their just deserts. YET, not all of the stories starring the Furies are created equal. Furious by Jill Wolfson fell flat, despite my exuberant excitement for it. While I did connect with the main character somewhat, because she has a sad backstory, I felt that something was off with the writing style.
Read the rest of my review here
Read the rest of my review here
midnightbookgirl's review
5.0
I love Greek mythology, but so often I've been disappointed with YA books and their re-imaginings of myth. The Furies have been covered by a few other authors, and none really did them justice. Wolfson does.