Quick summary: After King Midas finds Dionysus's pet goat, Dionysus grants him a wish: the golden touch. Midas isn't being greedy though. He just needs money to restore his broken kingdom, destroyed by Typhon in book #14. Midas makes his prize rose gardens gold on accident and laments so much that Medusa offers to take the golden touch from him. (Dionysus had to leave, but he left behind instructions on how to do this.) Medusa has some fun with the golden touch, but quickly realizes she can't swim or take a shower anymore. Then after some terrible bullying from those assholes Makhai and Kydoimos, she accidentally turns her snakes to gold! She's broken-hearted and then receives a letter from some pirates who have kidnapped Dionysus! She, Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite go to the rescue, but the letter instructed her to come alone, so it's all in Medusa's hands. She tries her stone stare, but it's connected to her snakes and with them frozen in gold, she's powerless. Dionysus himself is powerless, because he can only do the tiniest spells for 3 days after granting a wish. But he's able to cure her golden touch, which restores her snakes and her skills. Most of the pirates flee and the other goddessgirls come in for the rescue. They take the pirates' stolen treasure and give it to Zeus and Hera, who will make sure it's returned to the temples and such it was taken from. Zeus rewards Medusa with a fancy necklace, which she mails to Midas for "disaster relief." She also wins a comic contest, but the prize doesn't turn out to be what she thinks.
So my first problem with this book is it's the second one in a row with an abusive family. Medusa's parents treat her like crap because she's mortal, and her sisters, having been raised in this mindset, are horrible to her. It's really uncomfortable to read. I hate it. It's like an Ann Rinaldi book. I hate that Medusa gives in so easily and gives all of them gold. Tell them to fuck off! Then she's even nice to her sisters in the end after she's lost her touch. Just for once, I'd really like to see the bad characters get some sort of comeuppance. They've been getting away with acting like assholes for far too long and in far too many books. They're barely ever punished! It's ridiculous. Maybe her sisters will be briefly nice to her after she helped them in the end, but I think it will be very brief.
My second problem is that Medusa is one of the smarter characters. She's got a closet full of old ratty chitons. TURN THEM INTO GOLD. Turn a bunch of useless crap into gold and keep it stashed away so you've got something to fall back on if you have to ditch your golden touch. And don't give it to your unworthy family either. She's smart enough and crafty enough that this should have occurred to her.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but yeah, those two issues really stood out.
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