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cdoubet's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Physical abuse, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying and Child death
Minor: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking
ursa_arlo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Positives. The concept for "Lore" is fantastic; the continued ever repeating cycle of rulers dethroned by subjects and houses that hold onto cruel traditions to have a shot at killing a god... But in practice, it was a bit of a mess. I liked some of the twists, such as spoiler Gill being revealed to be the original Hermes (even if his motivation for taking Lore and Miles in was very unclear and he should have been reinstated as a god for his actions). Unfortunately, this novel was too ambitious, leaving a lot of plotholes to be filled.
Negatives. In spite of the intriguing worldbuilding, New York feels empty. If you're going to set your story in New York, write about New York! If your character has fallen in love with this city, make us fall in love with it too!
Rather than telling a cohesive story, it felt like the characters went from side quest to side quest which made this (500+ pages!!) book loose its tension. Relevant information was also only brought up as soon as it was relevant for the plot which took away all the fun of trying to guess where the story would go next.
Negatives. In spite of the intriguing worldbuilding, New York feels empty. If you're going to set your story in New York, write about New York! If your character has fallen in love with this city, make us fall in love with it too!
Rather than telling a cohesive story, it felt like the characters went from side quest to side quest which made this (500+ pages!!) book loose its tension. Relevant information was also only brought up as soon as it was relevant for the plot which took away all the fun of trying to guess where the story would go next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Misogyny, Blood, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexism
Moderate: Chronic illness and Rape
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death
tealattes's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
TLDR;
Not the most amazing/mind-expanding novel but it is an enjoyable YA read that helped pass the time with its quick moving plot and respectable amount of action. I liked the overall idea for the book and its execution, along with the variety of settings and morally grey characters.
Summary:
Essentially Lore is dragged back into the Agon which comes with severe consequences to her life and her loved ones. As she fights to survive, she battles the compelling force she feels to seek revenge while trying to preserve her humanity and discover the truth about herself and her destiny.
Comprehensibility: The novel does not contain any difficult vocabulary and with the urban setting and style it is easy to understand. There were time jumps back and forth from 7 years in the past to the present and these time skips were placed with careful consideration - The significance of the events 7 years ago line up with present-book information for small moments of aha revelation. There are also references to months in the past before the Agon starts so there is quite a nicely developed timeline of events. There’s a reference guide to the characters at the back of the book as well as a list of the bloodlines of the Agon in the front which came in handy. I wish I knew about the character guide at the back before I finished the book already but oh well. However I became confused about some of info a couple of times. I am not sure what specifically made it difficult for me personally, but perhaps it is the fact that during these retellings of past “historical” events in this world, the characters are not explicitly specified ex. there are two male characters but their names aren’t used enough so I get mixed up when I see the word “he”. The context is there to deduce the subject, but sometimes my understanding is lacking and I can’t immediately identify it.
Pacing:
The book spans over a 1 week period. Therefore many pages are spent describing the events that occur in only a span of a day. Despite this, the book was engaging and moved quickly for me because there was constant action.
Plot: This is a plot heavy book so there is always something in motion and I was never disinterested. I’m not going to spoil specific details. Lots of fighting scenes and planning for fighting scenes. The plot is honestly extremely chaotic in that the characters would plan for something, and then during the plan, an unexpected event would occur and it would follow that plot point until I didn’t know where it was going. Each of these unexpected events helped to reveal important information so there was a reason for it at least. But often I would think these derailed events were conveniently written on the author’s side and not always reasonable…it would have flowed better otherwise. Did I predict some stuff? Yes. Did it ruin it for me? No.
Characters: With it being plot-centric, we don’t get to see too much of a transformation of characters but Lore does kind of change? It’s very complicated. Throughout the book she discovers elements of her past that reshape her reality & in the end she controls her temper and sacrifices what she wants for the greater good. She’s the narrator for the book (1st person) and I appreciate her consistent personality and the author’s ability to write a character across time periods. Castor is a lovely character, just purely kind and caring. Evander and Miles along with Lore and Castor kind of formed the dream team resistance force against Wrath, and their personalities were unique and balanced each other out. With all the action there wasn’t much time for character building dialogue, but the dialogue that was there met the banter quota and it was refreshing.
Not the most amazing/mind-expanding novel but it is an enjoyable YA read that helped pass the time with its quick moving plot and respectable amount of action. I liked the overall idea for the book and its execution, along with the variety of settings and morally grey characters.
Summary:
Essentially Lore is dragged back into the Agon which comes with severe consequences to her life and her loved ones. As she fights to survive, she battles the compelling force she feels to seek revenge while trying to preserve her humanity and discover the truth about herself and her destiny.
Comprehensibility: The novel does not contain any difficult vocabulary and with the urban setting and style it is easy to understand. There were time jumps back and forth from 7 years in the past to the present and these time skips were placed with careful consideration - The significance of the events 7 years ago line up with present-book information for small moments of aha revelation. There are also references to months in the past before the Agon starts so there is quite a nicely developed timeline of events. There’s a reference guide to the characters at the back of the book as well as a list of the bloodlines of the Agon in the front which came in handy. I wish I knew about the character guide at the back before I finished the book already but oh well. However I became confused about some of info a couple of times. I am not sure what specifically made it difficult for me personally, but perhaps it is the fact that during these retellings of past “historical” events in this world, the characters are not explicitly specified ex. there are two male characters but their names aren’t used enough so I get mixed up when I see the word “he”. The context is there to deduce the subject, but sometimes my understanding is lacking and I can’t immediately identify it.
Pacing:
The book spans over a 1 week period. Therefore many pages are spent describing the events that occur in only a span of a day. Despite this, the book was engaging and moved quickly for me because there was constant action.
Plot: This is a plot heavy book so there is always something in motion and I was never disinterested. I’m not going to spoil specific details. Lots of fighting scenes and planning for fighting scenes. The plot is honestly extremely chaotic in that the characters would plan for something, and then during the plan, an unexpected event would occur and it would follow that plot point until I didn’t know where it was going. Each of these unexpected events helped to reveal important information so there was a reason for it at least. But often I would think these derailed events were conveniently written on the author’s side and not always reasonable…it would have flowed better otherwise. Did I predict some stuff? Yes. Did it ruin it for me? No.
Characters: With it being plot-centric, we don’t get to see too much of a transformation of characters but Lore does kind of change? It’s very complicated. Throughout the book she discovers elements of her past that reshape her reality & in the end she controls her temper and sacrifices what she wants for the greater good. She’s the narrator for the book (1st person) and I appreciate her consistent personality and the author’s ability to write a character across time periods. Castor is a lovely character, just purely kind and caring. Evander and Miles along with Lore and Castor kind of formed the dream team resistance force against Wrath, and their personalities were unique and balanced each other out. With all the action there wasn’t much time for character building dialogue, but the dialogue that was there met the banter quota and it was refreshing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, and Violence
spiderdragon15's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Compelling read that twist and turns with ever page. Beautiful relationship development.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Gore, Violence, Misogyny, Death, and Child death
rinniereads's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Grief, Cancer, Cursing, Blood, and Death
crystalsparkles's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Gore, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual assault, and Violence
redheadorganist's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Child death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Moderate: Sexual assault
dealfea's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Torture, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence
aviery's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, and Violence
Moderate: War, Sexual assault, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail
lurille's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I loved almost everything about this book. It was such an easy read and the adventure was only a week long. The pace was to my utmost taste as well. Some holes were answered just as quick as I question if there will ever be an answer for them, while some were not i.e., I still am quite unsure why and how the Agon really started for it feels like the book greatly lacked an explanation for it—I wanted to know more, I wanted a more in-depth knowledge about the root cause of the Agon, as well as information about the gods and goddesses present in the story.
There were so much opportunities to create a deeper world on each characters—particularly Castor. I loved him ever since I first met his character, therefore, my expectations were high on the explanation of how he became agod when he was once a sick boy who's on the verge of dying and then all things happened, he suddenly became the false Apollo . I waited for a long time to know the explanation behind what really happened, yet I was only given a fraction of what I had expected.
Nevertheless, I loved how diverse the characters were, especially having an LGBTQIA+ couple. I also had few gasps as I read the plot twist and honestly, nothing could have made me ready from it.
Overall, it was good primarily because it's my cup of tea—gods and goddesses, female heroine, gays and all. I'm in for these tags haha.
There were so much opportunities to create a deeper world on each characters—particularly Castor. I loved him ever since I first met his character, therefore, my expectations were high on the explanation of how he became a
Nevertheless, I loved how diverse the characters were, especially having an LGBTQIA+ couple. I also had few gasps as I read the plot twist and honestly, nothing could have made me ready from it.
Overall, it was good primarily because it's my cup of tea—gods and goddesses, female heroine, gays and all. I'm in for these tags haha.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Blood, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Gaslighting, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse