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The Stone Butterfly
It's a miserable, wet afternoon and Marcus is stuck at home, full of cold and bored. He has promised not to leave the house whilst Aunt Hester is down at the shops, but when a stranger leaves a box on their doorstep, he fetches it in. Although it looks like an ordinary parcel, it shudders with movement and is emitting strange noises - as if the contents are alive. Alive, ill-tempered . . . and keen to get out. Before Marcus has time to investigate further, Aunt Hester arrives home - and it is then that Marcus discovers exactly what it is in the a Medusa's Head. It is impossible and unbelievable, deadly and nightmarish. But it is true.
As if the venemous serpents that grow from her head aren't bad enough - just one glance into the Medusa's terrible eyes will turn you to stone. If Marcus can outwit her, he'll have the power to inflict dreadful revenge on all the people who have ever made his life difficult. But first, he himself will have to resist the intense pull of the Gorgon's gaze . . .
Laced with myth, this modern story writhes with thrilling danger and suspense.
As if the venemous serpents that grow from her head aren't bad enough - just one glance into the Medusa's terrible eyes will turn you to stone. If Marcus can outwit her, he'll have the power to inflict dreadful revenge on all the people who have ever made his life difficult. But first, he himself will have to resist the intense pull of the Gorgon's gaze . . .
Laced with myth, this modern story writhes with thrilling danger and suspense.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published February 6, 2014
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12 people want to read
About the author
Simon Rae
33 books2 followersSimon Rae is a British poet, broadcaster, biographer and playwright who runs the Top Edge Productions theatre company. He won the Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition in 1999 and has also been awarded an Eric Gregory Award and a Southern Arts Literature Bursary and held Royal Literary Fund fellowships at Oxford Brookes and Warwick Universities. His play Grass won a Fringe Highlight award in 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 2, 2019
Light reading, in a throwaway book kind of thing.
Throwback to an older style of children's writing though it's a 2014 book.
Throwback to an older style of children's writing though it's a 2014 book.
September 29, 2022
I have high hope on this book as i love any retailing of Medusa. The first chapter was slow but still interesting keeps wanting to read, then proceed to chapter 2 onwards the story just doesn't make sense. I tried my best to keep reading the next few chapters but i dislike the writing it makes me unable to connect with the character especially Marcus!
November 21, 2023
I can undetstand why thr aunt is complaining about the mess, its hard to clean up someone elses shit everyday while they just sit there and dont lift a finger.
Really, if i found out my partner left a teen/preteen alone at the house and that they ran off i would be at home the second i put down the phone not continue working jezz this is so unrealistic. If i read this when i was a preteen i wouldve enjoyed it alot more. It was cute. 2.5 stars
Really, if i found out my partner left a teen/preteen alone at the house and that they ran off i would be at home the second i put down the phone not continue working jezz this is so unrealistic. If i read this when i was a preteen i wouldve enjoyed it alot more. It was cute. 2.5 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2016
I have a lot of problems with this book. Mainly, I think it's really not written right for the intended audience and for the story that was was being told. I found the main character an unconvincing portrayal of a teenage boy in many ways, and aside from that, just a really unengaging character. As for the writing, sure, Simon Rae can write description, but the overly formal tone didn't fit the age range at all and it bored me, so I can't really see it entertaining younger readers. That, coupled with the main character's lack of spirit, made this simply not a fun book to read for me.
Marcus has the mannerisms and the capacity for fun of a grumpy old man, and the narration further emphasizes this. He describes people acting “mellifluously” and talking “seductively”, likes “reassuringly military” words, and is concerned about “further fabrications” of his actions. His favourite hobbies are sitting in silence for hours waiting for fish to come along (I get that fishing can be fun, but not the way Marcus does it), and... actually that's his only hobby. I would describe him further but honestly I struggled to find anything interesting about his character.
If his dullness didn't make him unlikeable enough, our thirteen-year-old protaganist spends most of the story murdering and blackmailing multiple other people. He's an expert of lying and hiding things from people, and knows how to beat them up effectively (including knowledge of how to punch people in the “solar plexus”). And through all this, I never felt any sense of remorse or even emotional scarring from him. He would say there was a cloud of desolation over his head, or something equally as pretentious I'm sure, yet he's still able to come up with convincing lies and never comes close to giving up and just telling the truth. I get that he was but even in the aftermath he didn't seem very affected by all these terrible things he'd done.
Aside from the droning writing style, I think the main reason I found this book quite boring was the lack of conflict and therefore direction through lots of it. The villain of the story (named “Mr Darke” – seriously?) wasn't introduced until halfway through the book, and the 'butterfly' of the title not until fifty pages after that. Medusa is present almost as soon as the story begins, but as a villain she didn't add much tension to the story for me as most of the time she seemed more helpful to Marcus than actually threatening.
Another thing I didn't think was done well was the subplot with Hannah's dad. He's clearly abusive and this was dealt with at the end with him making the same promise he's repeatedly made - “he is going to change” - the same one he's been inexplicably forgiven for breaking multiple times throughout the book. The characters just acted like he was sorry so it was OK, which I really didn't agree with.
On the whole I found this book quite a slog to get through and not one I think will stick in my memory for very long. The reason I didn't give it one star is because though I didn't think the writing was appropriate, it wasn't particularly bad (however I did find the dialogue very placed and unnatural, particularly between the younger characters) and this is not the worst book I've read or anything – I just think Rae's ideas could have been executed a lot better. Seeing Marcus's from his own point of view makes it less obvious to the reader and almost made it seem as though everything he did was cool. I think if it had been from Hannah's perspective, with a couple of tweaks so she was more involved in the lead up to the climax, it would have worked a lot better. That's just my opinion, but, yeah, for me personally this book was a disappointment.
Marcus has the mannerisms and the capacity for fun of a grumpy old man, and the narration further emphasizes this. He describes people acting “mellifluously” and talking “seductively”, likes “reassuringly military” words, and is concerned about “further fabrications” of his actions. His favourite hobbies are sitting in silence for hours waiting for fish to come along (I get that fishing can be fun, but not the way Marcus does it), and... actually that's his only hobby. I would describe him further but honestly I struggled to find anything interesting about his character.
If his dullness didn't make him unlikeable enough, our thirteen-year-old protaganist spends most of the story murdering and blackmailing multiple other people. He's an expert of lying and hiding things from people, and knows how to beat them up effectively (including knowledge of how to punch people in the “solar plexus”). And through all this, I never felt any sense of remorse or even emotional scarring from him. He would say there was a cloud of desolation over his head, or something equally as pretentious I'm sure, yet he's still able to come up with convincing lies and never comes close to giving up and just telling the truth. I get that he was but even in the aftermath he didn't seem very affected by all these terrible things he'd done.
Aside from the droning writing style, I think the main reason I found this book quite boring was the lack of conflict and therefore direction through lots of it. The villain of the story (named “Mr Darke” – seriously?) wasn't introduced until halfway through the book, and the 'butterfly' of the title not until fifty pages after that. Medusa is present almost as soon as the story begins, but as a villain she didn't add much tension to the story for me as most of the time she seemed more helpful to Marcus than actually threatening.
Another thing I didn't think was done well was the subplot with Hannah's dad. He's clearly abusive and this was dealt with at the end with him making the same promise he's repeatedly made - “he is going to change” - the same one he's been inexplicably forgiven for breaking multiple times throughout the book. The characters just acted like he was sorry so it was OK, which I really didn't agree with.
On the whole I found this book quite a slog to get through and not one I think will stick in my memory for very long. The reason I didn't give it one star is because though I didn't think the writing was appropriate, it wasn't particularly bad (however I did find the dialogue very placed and unnatural, particularly between the younger characters) and this is not the worst book I've read or anything – I just think Rae's ideas could have been executed a lot better. Seeing Marcus's from his own point of view makes it less obvious to the reader and almost made it seem as though everything he did was cool. I think if it had been from Hannah's perspective, with a couple of tweaks so she was more involved in the lead up to the climax, it would have worked a lot better. That's just my opinion, but, yeah, for me personally this book was a disappointment.
dnf
December 13, 2018Read to halfway through chapter 3
I enjoyed Chapter 1, despite it being slow-moving and detailed - the detail puts you right there with Marcus. But in chapters 2 and 3 the pace does not speed up and we're still stuck in the house with Marcus and the creature. Even though his friend turns out at some point, he doesn't share what's going on with her and she eventually leaves - I think it would have helped if she'd got involved as well, inject a bit of dialogue and banter.
I enjoyed Chapter 1, despite it being slow-moving and detailed - the detail puts you right there with Marcus. But in chapters 2 and 3 the pace does not speed up and we're still stuck in the house with Marcus and the creature. Even though his friend turns out at some point, he doesn't share what's going on with her and she eventually leaves - I think it would have helped if she'd got involved as well, inject a bit of dialogue and banter.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews