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purpleren331's review against another edition
3.0
More of a 3.5 than a 3. I liked this books, but there were some things that bothered me. I'd describe it as twilight meets Greek mythology.
lielos99's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
I don’t read much mythology, but got this for free on kindle and I have to say... i was quite disappointed. The writing was not as well done as I thought it should have been, and had mistakes and the language of the teens and how they conversed seemed so... off. Many times I just wished I could edit certain sections but couldn’t. If the writing was better (including the transition of how the plot went) I could have liked it better, but writing wise was just not that good
I don’t read much mythology, but got this for free on kindle and I have to say... i was quite disappointed. The writing was not as well done as I thought it should have been, and had mistakes and the language of the teens and how they conversed seemed so... off. Many times I just wished I could edit certain sections but couldn’t. If the writing was better (including the transition of how the plot went) I could have liked it better, but writing wise was just not that good
amybraunauthor's review against another edition
1.0
I think this is the first book I've ever given one star to. It really was that bad. I had to struggle to get through it, and since I got it in a collection, I honestly thought about skipping to the next story. The main story was bland, uninteresting, and pointless. I could probably sum up what was supposed to be going on, but if you asked me about the events corresponding to it, you'd think I was talking about another book. The characters were awful. I couldn't stand the main character and had no idea why everyone seemed to love her. She was annoying and melodramatic about everything, yet she had the rest of the characters all but grovelling at her feet. The love interest was completely whipped and couldn't decide if he wanted to be broody, arrogant, or optimistic. The only characters I liked were his sisters, and they never really got to show how badass they were supposed to be. The writing was awful and honestly quite childish. None of the dialogue sounded "real" to me, things happened for no reason, and there were too many exclamation marks. And the ending? Ugh, talk about disappointing. I thought it would pick up and actually engage in some kind of action, but no, it was basically a game of hide and seek. So glad I didn't have to pay for this.
ammbooks's review against another edition
3.0
It was a very pleasant change in YA romance….I liked the change from vampires and werewolves …. granted we switched over to the greek gods… but willing to try the rest of the series.
melindavan's review against another edition
4.0
If you like YA and Greek mythology, this is the series for you. I'd never thought of Death being someone to lust after, but that's what he is in this book, and our protagonist will follow him to hell and back, literally, to have her happily ever after. This is a romance, with a backbone of mythology and mystery. Will she get her man? And which man will she chose? Read it, and find out!
rainlady6's review
5.0
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.
I love nothing more than a great series that I can really sink my teeth in to and I think this series will end up being one of my favorites. The Gatekeeper's Sons draws you in right from the start and has enough twists and turns to keep you enthralled all the way to the end. Not to mention building a love story that is so powerful but at the same time remains innocent enough for a young adult book.
The book starts out with the murder of Therese’s parents and Therese’s near death experience. In this book the traditional Western view of heaven and hell have been replaced by the Greek myth of the afterlife. In the Greek tradition souls of the deceased are escorted by Thanatos, or Death as he is sometimes called, to the underworld where they are transported for judgment and placement in to paradise or in to ‘hell’ where they are tormented forever. When Therese’s parents are killed she is close enough to death herself that she is able to follow the souls of her parents to the underworld. Therese believes she is dreaming the entire thing so when she meets Hip (Hypnos, god of dreams) and his brother Thanatos (Than for short) she has no problem being forward and she wraps Than in a huge hug and gives him a big kiss. No big deal for the girl that is dreaming but to Than that kiss changes his world completely. Than’s job as Death means that he rarely has any interaction with anyone other than dead souls and Charon, the man who ferries the souls down the river. Suddenly Than feels drawn to Therese and know that he wants to always be near her. He gets his father, Hades, to allow him to travel to the mortal world in order to win Therese’s love.
I had so much fun reading about all of Than’s experiences of being mortal. You can’t help but feel sorry for him because of his destiny. What a horrible existence he must have had before Therese came in to his life. Imagine an eternity of escorting the dead to the underworld and living there. Than describes it almost like living in a cave, no suns, no stars, no wind, nothing that we humans take for granted. You long for him to be with Therese so that he can finally have some joy in his life.
Therese is like the perfect girl that doesn’t know how great she is. She is always more worried about others, loves animals and nature and is so giving and loving. It is no wonder Than wants to be with her. She is such a great person that she ends up garnering the favor of many on Mount Olympus and most of the gods and goddesses are rooting for her and Than to get together. Between her the strange experiences Than brings in to her life and the drama of her parents murder her life becomes very interesting but Therese is able to see how strong she can be and continues to fight for her and Than to be together and for the safety of her family.
There was only one thing that I did not completely love about the book and that is Than’s sisters, The Furies. Anyone that knows anything about Greek mythology will know how scary The Furies are and this book does not disappoint when it comes to these characters. The Furies are sent to earth to help find out who killed Therese’s parents. They do not operate under any rules when hunting down criminals so their methods of gaining information can be a bit intense and disturbing. They do get the job done quite easily with these methods so I do see why the author chose to write their encounters the way she does. Just know that these scenes may be a little intense for younger teen readers.
I have been given book two to read and review also so I am anxiously waiting to get in to the book. It is killing me that I have other books lined up first but I am trying to be a good girl and read those first even though book two is calling to me. Keep a watch out for that review as I am sure I will love book two just as much if not more.
I love nothing more than a great series that I can really sink my teeth in to and I think this series will end up being one of my favorites. The Gatekeeper's Sons draws you in right from the start and has enough twists and turns to keep you enthralled all the way to the end. Not to mention building a love story that is so powerful but at the same time remains innocent enough for a young adult book.
The book starts out with the murder of Therese’s parents and Therese’s near death experience. In this book the traditional Western view of heaven and hell have been replaced by the Greek myth of the afterlife. In the Greek tradition souls of the deceased are escorted by Thanatos, or Death as he is sometimes called, to the underworld where they are transported for judgment and placement in to paradise or in to ‘hell’ where they are tormented forever. When Therese’s parents are killed she is close enough to death herself that she is able to follow the souls of her parents to the underworld. Therese believes she is dreaming the entire thing so when she meets Hip (Hypnos, god of dreams) and his brother Thanatos (Than for short) she has no problem being forward and she wraps Than in a huge hug and gives him a big kiss. No big deal for the girl that is dreaming but to Than that kiss changes his world completely. Than’s job as Death means that he rarely has any interaction with anyone other than dead souls and Charon, the man who ferries the souls down the river. Suddenly Than feels drawn to Therese and know that he wants to always be near her. He gets his father, Hades, to allow him to travel to the mortal world in order to win Therese’s love.
I had so much fun reading about all of Than’s experiences of being mortal. You can’t help but feel sorry for him because of his destiny. What a horrible existence he must have had before Therese came in to his life. Imagine an eternity of escorting the dead to the underworld and living there. Than describes it almost like living in a cave, no suns, no stars, no wind, nothing that we humans take for granted. You long for him to be with Therese so that he can finally have some joy in his life.
Therese is like the perfect girl that doesn’t know how great she is. She is always more worried about others, loves animals and nature and is so giving and loving. It is no wonder Than wants to be with her. She is such a great person that she ends up garnering the favor of many on Mount Olympus and most of the gods and goddesses are rooting for her and Than to get together. Between her the strange experiences Than brings in to her life and the drama of her parents murder her life becomes very interesting but Therese is able to see how strong she can be and continues to fight for her and Than to be together and for the safety of her family.
There was only one thing that I did not completely love about the book and that is Than’s sisters, The Furies. Anyone that knows anything about Greek mythology will know how scary The Furies are and this book does not disappoint when it comes to these characters. The Furies are sent to earth to help find out who killed Therese’s parents. They do not operate under any rules when hunting down criminals so their methods of gaining information can be a bit intense and disturbing. They do get the job done quite easily with these methods so I do see why the author chose to write their encounters the way she does. Just know that these scenes may be a little intense for younger teen readers.
I have been given book two to read and review also so I am anxiously waiting to get in to the book. It is killing me that I have other books lined up first but I am trying to be a good girl and read those first even though book two is calling to me. Keep a watch out for that review as I am sure I will love book two just as much if not more.
lbean1975's review
1.0
Sorry I downloaded this...possible spoilers.
I'm sorry, but I was extremely disappointed by this. The jumping from reality to dreamworld was annoying, and could have been better demarcated. The characters were... Juvenile. Which would be understandable as they are teenagers (the lead is what, 15?) except we are supposed to believe the lead is mature enough to (a) fall in love, and (b) be both willing to kill to avenge her parents while also realizing that isn't the answer.
And let's not get started on the fact we have an immortal willing to marry a freaking child. Ew.
Will NOT be recommending or reading further.
As an aside, can we address the poor writing skills of this person in charge of teaching writing?
I'm sorry, but I was extremely disappointed by this. The jumping from reality to dreamworld was annoying, and could have been better demarcated. The characters were... Juvenile. Which would be understandable as they are teenagers (the lead is what, 15?) except we are supposed to believe the lead is mature enough to (a) fall in love, and (b) be both willing to kill to avenge her parents while also realizing that isn't the answer.
And let's not get started on the fact we have an immortal willing to marry a freaking child. Ew.
Will NOT be recommending or reading further.
As an aside, can we address the poor writing skills of this person in charge of teaching writing?
sassyykassie's review against another edition
2.0
DNFed at about 80%.
The things I loved:
The take on Greek gods and goddesses felt very flushed out. I enjoyed getting to see all the different gods and their reactions with each other as well as with our main human characters.
The things that I didn't love:
It feels a lot like Twilight but greek gods instead of vampires.
While this is supposed to take place in current time with a 16 year old as our MC... our characters' actions made it feel like a historical fiction. The biggest thing for me was our characters waiting until they got home to call each other on their home phones. Teens generally don't do that.. they text or FaceTime whenever they want.
Our main character experiences both of her parents' death in a very traumatic situation at the start of this novel. And for approximately 1 week, she feels like an accurate representation of someone who has gone through that. But her grief is quickly forgotten when the cute god-boy comes onto the scene.
Why I DNFed: (minor spoilers)
In less than ten minutes, we have two very big moments that happen to our secondary and tertiary characters that just didn't feel like they were explained in a respectful way.
TW - suicide, sexual assault -
First, our MC's friend calls her up and suddenly tells her that another (tertiary) character's mom committed suicide last night. It just felt weird. I had some vibes about the scenes that follow and how our MC talks with the tertiary character, etc
Then we find out that our MC's good friend's dad has come back home and there's some tension about that. We switch perspectives and watch this friend's youngest brother take the dad's side while the friend is clearly upset that the dad has come home. In this scene there is a line where the youngest brother says something like "it's your (the friend who is the only female sibling) fault he left in the first place and it's (the oldest brother's fault) for telling!) In this scene the mom does appear to have our female friend (her daughter) as her first priority. She first says that between the dad and her, she'll pick her every time. All feels like this is going okay. EXCEPT the mom then says "but doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?" NO NOT IF THE FIRST TIME HE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED HIS OWN DAUGHTER. It felt gross and I couldn't continue, especially given that these aren't our main characters. It doesn't feel relevant whatsoever to the main plot.
The things I loved:
The take on Greek gods and goddesses felt very flushed out. I enjoyed getting to see all the different gods and their reactions with each other as well as with our main human characters.
The things that I didn't love:
It feels a lot like Twilight but greek gods instead of vampires.
While this is supposed to take place in current time with a 16 year old as our MC... our characters' actions made it feel like a historical fiction. The biggest thing for me was our characters waiting until they got home to call each other on their home phones. Teens generally don't do that.. they text or FaceTime whenever they want.
Our main character experiences both of her parents' death in a very traumatic situation at the start of this novel. And for approximately 1 week, she feels like an accurate representation of someone who has gone through that. But her grief is quickly forgotten when the cute god-boy comes onto the scene.
Why I DNFed: (minor spoilers)
In less than ten minutes, we have two very big moments that happen to our secondary and tertiary characters that just didn't feel like they were explained in a respectful way.
TW - suicide, sexual assault -
First, our MC's friend calls her up and suddenly tells her that another (tertiary) character's mom committed suicide last night. It just felt weird. I had some vibes about the scenes that follow and how our MC talks with the tertiary character, etc
Then we find out that our MC's good friend's dad has come back home and there's some tension about that. We switch perspectives and watch this friend's youngest brother take the dad's side while the friend is clearly upset that the dad has come home. In this scene there is a line where the youngest brother says something like "it's your (the friend who is the only female sibling) fault he left in the first place and it's (the oldest brother's fault) for telling!) In this scene the mom does appear to have our female friend (her daughter) as her first priority. She first says that between the dad and her, she'll pick her every time. All feels like this is going okay. EXCEPT the mom then says "but doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?" NO NOT IF THE FIRST TIME HE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED HIS OWN DAUGHTER. It felt gross and I couldn't continue, especially given that these aren't our main characters. It doesn't feel relevant whatsoever to the main plot.
solangelo3088's review against another edition
4.0
There were a few grammar errors but I really enjoyed it. it kinda bugged me that at every inconvenience the main character literally begged for death or said she deserved to die or that she wanted to die, but it's not a huge issue. and also hades is literally rolling on the floor laughing one minute and then being really sarcastic and then being outright mean and yet even poseidon, who is kind of an enemy? is more supportive??? but i really loved this book. would recommend.
mnboyer's review against another edition
1.0
Let me begin with the following: I'm not sure why this book is receiving such high reviews. Perhaps the fact that I received the free Kindle one plays into my review, but at the same time, I think a lot of my problems are with the book itself.
1) The writing is sloppy, and someone needed to go through and heavily edit this book before it was published. While some of this may be a Kindle issue, the Kindle did not write this novel. There are terrible moments of dialog that do not make sense. The scenes are often more about appearance (oh wow, the sons are hot, tell me more... but then don't tell me more) and lack any depth in terms of character development, emotion, etc. Scenes are completely unbelievable--but this stems from problems with the plot.
2) Plot? The plot lacks any sense of realism, which is a problem for me. I allow some suspension due to the content (Greek myth was supposed to be fun, but it gets stifled here) but there are so many problems. The main character's parents die, and she seems to move on quite quickly and just goes about being on her own (keep in mind she should be 15). She is supposed to be 15 but acts like a 5-year-old the entire time (no hero here) until moments where she fantasizes about a boy around 18 (ok, wonderful, is this the 15/18 age relationship we want to approve of for young adult readers) which seems childish at some moments and adult at the other. But here is the biggest problem with the plot..... the main character is supposed to track down and kill the person that killed her parents in an accident? What? Really? No.
I like young adult fiction. I like Greek mythology. Maybe I expected this to be a little like Percy Jackson (my fault for assuming it would be) but it is nothing like this at all.
Save yourself some time and skip this one. I got it for free and spent way too long reading it.
1) The writing is sloppy, and someone needed to go through and heavily edit this book before it was published. While some of this may be a Kindle issue, the Kindle did not write this novel. There are terrible moments of dialog that do not make sense. The scenes are often more about appearance (oh wow, the sons are hot, tell me more... but then don't tell me more) and lack any depth in terms of character development, emotion, etc. Scenes are completely unbelievable--but this stems from problems with the plot.
2) Plot? The plot lacks any sense of realism, which is a problem for me. I allow some suspension due to the content (Greek myth was supposed to be fun, but it gets stifled here) but there are so many problems. The main character's parents die, and she seems to move on quite quickly and just goes about being on her own (keep in mind she should be 15). She is supposed to be 15 but acts like a 5-year-old the entire time (no hero here) until moments where she fantasizes about a boy around 18 (ok, wonderful, is this the 15/18 age relationship we want to approve of for young adult readers) which seems childish at some moments and adult at the other. But here is the biggest problem with the plot..... the main character is supposed to track down and kill the person that killed her parents in an accident? What? Really? No.
I like young adult fiction. I like Greek mythology. Maybe I expected this to be a little like Percy Jackson (my fault for assuming it would be) but it is nothing like this at all.
Save yourself some time and skip this one. I got it for free and spent way too long reading it.