Reviews

In a small, special town, the descendants of the Greek gods and mythological figures get to live forever in exchange for a once-a-year visit to Olympus to visit and thank the gods. When Dorothy's mother refuses to go, she dies in an accident soon after. Dorothy and her best friend Apple now have a lot of questions about what it means to be part human, part god, and all grieving. Before the next visit to Olympus, the gods declare that everyone has to decide if they want to return to Olympus to live there or if they want to live human lives. Dorothy never felt like she fit in well as the decedent of Pandora, and without her mother, it's hard to make sense of anything. Her best friend Apple is the decedent of Zeus and Hera and is terrified that maybe Dorothy might make the wrong choice when the time comes.

A major theme of this book is grief. Most of the story involves Dorothy and Apple dealing with grief and change, but as a result, not a lot happens for most of the book. It felt like a strange contrast to the interesting premise about being descendants of gods and mythic heroes. For most of the book, there aren't real goals or actions. When they do happen, the book is almost over, so the action of the book takes place almost all in the last third of the book. I understand that things need to be set up, but it's an odd choice to spend so much time establishing character and grief without action in a middle grade book.

The book does spend a lot of time with character arcs, which are interesting and well developed. Unfortunately, one of the main characters is so much in grief that she doesn't have a lot of agency or spirit. That's understandable for a character who lost a parent, but it doesn't make for a very interesting read in this case. The end gives a nice message about what both girls and the reader are supposed to learn, and the message is very sweet, but it takes forever to get to that sweetness. It's hard to appreciate it with how slow and not very sweet the first half of the book is.

I think the premise of the book is fascinating, but the execution and focus on grief makes it a difficult book to recommend to most middle grade readers. It's not anything like Percy Jackson except for the similar Greek mythological figures, and its slow build with a lot of grief will be hard for a lot of kids to get into. The writing can be really beautiful, and the concepts are interesting.

Overall, I think this is a book that will speak to some people in a special way and for others will fall flat. For me, it fell somewhat flat.

Content Warnings

rebekahodell927's review

Go to review page

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

nearly_empty_nesting's review

Go to review page

5.0

This is labeled as Middle Grade, and this book didn't feel like it should belong to only the kids. It's suitable for Middle graders on up.

The friendship of 2 twelve-year-old descendants of Gods explores the very human attributes of death and mourning. This dueling perspective tells the story from both sides as the friendship starts to go separate ways. There is no wrong side/right side. It is emotionally messy and a refreshing take on how we consume Greek mythology.

The more I think about what I read, the more I understand what the author was trying to convey. This stood out for me and made it to my list of favorites.