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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
this was a great take on the mythology story...knowing that there are 2 more books ready but not out is killing me!
Ok so I could probably get past the fact that Henry (Hades) is emo and depressing and sounds like he wants to burst into tears. Then Calliope (Hera) implies that he's a virgin and she's in love with him I started laughing. After this Walter (Zeus) claims that they don't abide lust hahahahaha. OMG seriously have you read about Zeus? He's like the sluttiest god ever lol. I'm also confused as to why her tests are the 7 deadly sins when it's supposed to be a Greek mythology thing. Maybe someone can explain that to me because I just sat there staring at the book like ummm what? But seriously Zeus doesn't abide lust.... hahahahaha OMG I'm dying of laughter over here.
I have a huge passion for Greek mythology, so was excited to read this book, though I put it off for a long time. Now having read it, I'm torn.
Kate and her fatally ill mother move to Eden where Kate meets Henry, a mysterious, dark stranger - and who says that he is Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. She makes a deal with him, to live with him and try to pass some mysterious tests, and he will keep her mother alive.
I loved the mythological aspect of this book. Carter does a great job combining the traditional myths with a modern story - she plays with it in a fun way. This was, by far, my favorite part of the story.
The story of Kate and her tests left me wanting. I liked Kate well enough and felt for her, but her time on Henry's estate felt flat. She spent a lot of time whining about her cloths and I couldn't understand how the future queen of the underworld didn't have any say in what she wore.
Then there were the tests - Kate was told at one point that she had passed one, but wasn't even curious what it was. Then the other tests all kind of occurred in an obscure way. I actually felt cheated because there was a loss of conflict. The anticipation was set up, but not fulfilled.
I did like Henry. He is sad and brooding, dark and mysterious, but also powerful and kind.
All in all, it was a book I was able to tear through quickly and I am curious enough to wonder what will happen next, so will definitely look up the next in the series.
Kate and her fatally ill mother move to Eden where Kate meets Henry, a mysterious, dark stranger - and who says that he is Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. She makes a deal with him, to live with him and try to pass some mysterious tests, and he will keep her mother alive.
I loved the mythological aspect of this book. Carter does a great job combining the traditional myths with a modern story - she plays with it in a fun way. This was, by far, my favorite part of the story.
The story of Kate and her tests left me wanting. I liked Kate well enough and felt for her, but her time on Henry's estate felt flat. She spent a lot of time whining about her cloths and I couldn't understand how the future queen of the underworld didn't have any say in what she wore.
Then there were the tests - Kate was told at one point that she had passed one, but wasn't even curious what it was. Then the other tests all kind of occurred in an obscure way. I actually felt cheated because there was a loss of conflict. The anticipation was set up, but not fulfilled.
I did like Henry. He is sad and brooding, dark and mysterious, but also powerful and kind.
All in all, it was a book I was able to tear through quickly and I am curious enough to wonder what will happen next, so will definitely look up the next in the series.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I feel like I have to start this review out by explaining my rating on this one. Many times I have awarded this rating to books that didn't quite make the cut for me as I read them. This is not the case with this book. I do recommend this book, and I did enjoy reading it a lot. I plan on continuing on in the series. I liked the characters. I liked the story. I liked the romance. I liked it. Three stars. But this book did not quite have what it takes to rise above that for me as a reader. It is a bit hard to explain why I felt this way as I read a book that I enjoyed most of the time. I think that the best way to describe my reading experience with this book is this: I felt as if I was looking at a gigantic, beautiful puzzle. I could see the picture being formed, but the pieces hadn't quite fit together yet. In this book I could see all of the elements to create a rich and beautiful story, but the pieces didn't quite fall together perfectly. However, having said that, I can see that there is a wonderful story to be told, and I want to see it to its conclusion. With a bit of refinement I can see this being a series that I can grow to love. So I will continue reading this series as I expect it to be a good one.
Now for the specifics:
Many people who complain about this story have issues with the liberty Aimee Carter took with some of the stories from Greek mythology. For that reason I purposely stayed away from refreshing my memory about some of these stories. Then I tried to keep my mind in the present story and not focus on any ties to stories of mythology I already knew. This helped me a lot. I never had any issue with any changes to basic mythology that Aimee made. I do admit that at the end when I saw how all of the main gods of the Greek mythology fit together into this story I didn't quite see the connection in some of the characters. But overall that did not ruin the story for me.
Just a short comment here: I loved Henry. I have always enjoyed modern day Greek mythology stories that focus on Hades. He is so fascinating. This portrayal in particular was very interesting. He is a man/god with seemingly unlimited powers, but he is vulnerable in so many ways. His unquenchable love for Persephone. His fear of becoming attached to Kate. His growing fear that she would end up resenting him. I really wanted to know a lot more about him, and I hope I get a better chance to do this in future books.
I did like the romance in this story. It wasn't a swoon-worthy romance full of tension and passion that I like to see in these types of stories. There was a lot of emotional distance between Henry and Kate for much of this story. Henry always seemed to be holding back. Even at the end of this book he didn't display a lot of passion toward Kate outwardly. Still, I found Henry's feelings to be intriguing in so many ways. He was so used to being alone, so used to being the one who loved without any reciprocal feelings that he didn't open up to Kate for a long, long time. I wanted him to find success in love. My main problem with the growth of feelings between Kate and Henry was that so much of it seemed to happen off the page. They spent countless hours together playing cards and talking, and Kate began to fall in love with Henry, but because I didn't get the chance to see much of this interaction, I didn't get the chance to fall in love with Henry right along with Kate. This kept me more emotionally distant from their romance than I like in a story. But still, I did like this couple, and I want to know more about them.
That was my biggest problem overall with this story. Everything was nice, but I needed a bit more to pull me into the story. I wanted to feel more connected to the characters and what was happening. I wanted a deeper understanding of exactly what was going on. Even after everything gets revealed at the end of the book I still felt a bit confused as to what exactly happened. It was as if I had been thirsty, drank a glass of water, felt better, but still felt thirst. I wanted more. I have felt this way before while reading book series, and I often find that this complaint goes away by the time I get into the second books in the series. I expect this to happen with this series because I am interested in the story and in these characters. There is a good story here. It just needs some time to get refined and developed. So I liked this story. I recommend it.
Now for the specifics:
Many people who complain about this story have issues with the liberty Aimee Carter took with some of the stories from Greek mythology. For that reason I purposely stayed away from refreshing my memory about some of these stories. Then I tried to keep my mind in the present story and not focus on any ties to stories of mythology I already knew. This helped me a lot. I never had any issue with any changes to basic mythology that Aimee made. I do admit that at the end when I saw how all of the main gods of the Greek mythology fit together into this story I didn't quite see the connection in some of the characters. But overall that did not ruin the story for me.
Just a short comment here: I loved Henry. I have always enjoyed modern day Greek mythology stories that focus on Hades. He is so fascinating. This portrayal in particular was very interesting. He is a man/god with seemingly unlimited powers, but he is vulnerable in so many ways. His unquenchable love for Persephone. His fear of becoming attached to Kate. His growing fear that she would end up resenting him. I really wanted to know a lot more about him, and I hope I get a better chance to do this in future books.
I did like the romance in this story. It wasn't a swoon-worthy romance full of tension and passion that I like to see in these types of stories. There was a lot of emotional distance between Henry and Kate for much of this story. Henry always seemed to be holding back. Even at the end of this book he didn't display a lot of passion toward Kate outwardly. Still, I found Henry's feelings to be intriguing in so many ways. He was so used to being alone, so used to being the one who loved without any reciprocal feelings that he didn't open up to Kate for a long, long time. I wanted him to find success in love. My main problem with the growth of feelings between Kate and Henry was that so much of it seemed to happen off the page. They spent countless hours together playing cards and talking, and Kate began to fall in love with Henry, but because I didn't get the chance to see much of this interaction, I didn't get the chance to fall in love with Henry right along with Kate. This kept me more emotionally distant from their romance than I like in a story. But still, I did like this couple, and I want to know more about them.
That was my biggest problem overall with this story. Everything was nice, but I needed a bit more to pull me into the story. I wanted to feel more connected to the characters and what was happening. I wanted a deeper understanding of exactly what was going on. Even after everything gets revealed at the end of the book I still felt a bit confused as to what exactly happened. It was as if I had been thirsty, drank a glass of water, felt better, but still felt thirst. I wanted more. I have felt this way before while reading book series, and I often find that this complaint goes away by the time I get into the second books in the series. I expect this to happen with this series because I am interested in the story and in these characters. There is a good story here. It just needs some time to get refined and developed. So I liked this story. I recommend it.
The start is painfully contrived and whoever edited this book should probably be fired. There are no surprises in Harlequin but the story is... Vaguely entertaining.
I had really high hopes for this novel, but unfortunately I was so disappointed.
I will not pretend that I am more knowledgeable about Greek Mythology than I actually am, I know a few basics thanks to having read the Percy Jackson series (which I am aware isn’t an accurate portrayal). However, I know enough to know that these portrayals of the Gods are wildly inaccurate, and more than stereotypical when they bother trying. Whatever, I can mostly deal with this as it was just how the author was choosing to portray them.
But what I cannot deal with was the mixing of Greek Mythology with Christian sentiments and Ideals. WHY would Gods and Goddess who have free rein and power over their own domains choose to test someone over The Seven Deadly Sins when they are not morals or even an ideology that they recognize, much less care about. I know they make a vague reference that whatever a person chooses to believe is the afterlife that they receive but how does this apply to Literal Gods who would have no reason to adhere to the beliefs of another religion, especially one that denies their very existence? Characters used the term “Oh my god” in the story, does this mean Jesus exists within this story as well? Does he know about Zeus? Don’t even get me started on the Garden of Eden comment made by Henry in the beginning. Comparing Elysium and Annwn to the Garden of Eden is not a fair statement. Eden could be compared to the Garden of Eden, as it is paradise on Earth which is a fair Statement based on the story. But also adding Elysium and Annwn, is not as these are their own separate afterlife’s NOT located on Earth. Why would Zeus, who has f’cked his way through life more than a Bard in D&D, care about something as stupid as lust? Why would they care about sloth, greed, envy, or gluttony when these “sins” basically sum up their entire existences. It doesn’t make sense.
Despite these flaws, the story was mildly entertaining, if not super predictable at times. I knew James was gonna be one of the Gods, and that we would see Avas Ex again as one as well, I guessed Philip was Poseidon when the horses were mentioned and figured out Ella and Theo were Artemis and Apollo. I thought her mother would be Persephone so her being Demeter was only mildly a twist as I was already in that realm of thought. Ava being Aphrodite was a surprise but not really the more I thought about it. Unfortunately the portrayal was so biased against her, painting her to be obsessed with sex, and her looks and conveniently forgetting that she’s also the Goddess of War, along with Goddess of the Sea.
The plot was a typical YA one, focusing more on the boring and predictable love story surrounding this Mary Sue and her brooding boyfriend instead of the arsenal of interesting characters types that they can represent with the Gods
I will not pretend that I am more knowledgeable about Greek Mythology than I actually am, I know a few basics thanks to having read the Percy Jackson series (which I am aware isn’t an accurate portrayal). However, I know enough to know that these portrayals of the Gods are wildly inaccurate, and more than stereotypical when they bother trying. Whatever, I can mostly deal with this as it was just how the author was choosing to portray them.
But what I cannot deal with was the mixing of Greek Mythology with Christian sentiments and Ideals. WHY would Gods and Goddess who have free rein and power over their own domains choose to test someone over The Seven Deadly Sins when they are not morals or even an ideology that they recognize, much less care about. I know they make a vague reference that whatever a person chooses to believe is the afterlife that they receive but how does this apply to Literal Gods who would have no reason to adhere to the beliefs of another religion, especially one that denies their very existence? Characters used the term “Oh my god” in the story, does this mean Jesus exists within this story as well? Does he know about Zeus? Don’t even get me started on the Garden of Eden comment made by Henry in the beginning. Comparing Elysium and Annwn to the Garden of Eden is not a fair statement. Eden could be compared to the Garden of Eden, as it is paradise on Earth which is a fair Statement based on the story. But also adding Elysium and Annwn, is not as these are their own separate afterlife’s NOT located on Earth. Why would Zeus, who has f’cked his way through life more than a Bard in D&D, care about something as stupid as lust? Why would they care about sloth, greed, envy, or gluttony when these “sins” basically sum up their entire existences. It doesn’t make sense.
Despite these flaws, the story was mildly entertaining, if not super predictable at times. I knew James was gonna be one of the Gods, and that we would see Avas Ex again as one as well, I guessed Philip was Poseidon when the horses were mentioned and figured out Ella and Theo were Artemis and Apollo. I thought her mother would be Persephone so her being Demeter was only mildly a twist as I was already in that realm of thought. Ava being Aphrodite was a surprise but not really the more I thought about it. Unfortunately the portrayal was so biased against her, painting her to be obsessed with sex, and her looks and conveniently forgetting that she’s also the Goddess of War, along with Goddess of the Sea.
The plot was a typical YA one, focusing more on the boring and predictable love story surrounding this Mary Sue and her brooding boyfriend instead of the arsenal of interesting characters types that they can represent with the Gods
I loved this book. I liked the twist on the story of Hades. My heart went out to Kate with her mother being sick. She had a hard decision to make. I enjoyed the slow love story that blossomed between Kate and Henry. I can't wait to read the other books in the series.