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sammirosewater's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
__meganmercado's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
youshouldread_'s review against another edition
3.0
This book was okay. Not my favorite in the series to be honest. I don't know if it was the characters that bothered me or what but I didn't love it as much as the first two in the series.
It did give me Hunger Games vibes but with a lot of smut (you'll understand when you read it).
It did give me Hunger Games vibes but with a lot of smut (you'll understand when you read it).
exquisite_tragedy's review against another edition
3.0
** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC in exchange for an honest review **
This is third installment to the Dark Olympus series and this story follows Helen, Achilles, and Patroclus. Helen is the daughter of the late Zeus (whose death was featured in book 1), and sister to Aphrodite and the newly titled Zeus. She’s been treated like a pawn, her whole life, and she’s gotten used to being undermined and underestimated by her family and ex-boyfriend Paris. At the start of the book it’s announced that a competition is going to be held to determine the next Ares title holder (as the previous Ares recently passed away). Helen decides to enter the competition as a way of getting out of her family’s control and earning her own place amongst the Thirteen. However, Zeus ends up announcing that not only will the winner of the competition earn the title of Ares but will also win Helen as their wife. This throws a wrench in Helen’s plans, but nonetheless she decides to enter the competition more determined than ever. Achilles and Patroclus, childhood friends turned lovers, also enter the competition. Achilles is entering with the intention of sweeping a title he thinks he very much deserves, and Patroclus is entering solely to support Achilles and help him make it to the top. With some fun rivals to lovers/forced proximity vibes, the three of them quickly become entangled while fighting for the title (and their lives).
I’m not going to try and explain the world building here because I still honestly don’t really understand it myself, but that by no means takes anything away from my enjoyment of the book. It seems to make sense to me while I’m reading and that’s all that matters! I’m going to be honest though…the first 50% of this REALLY didn’t work for me. Straight up, Achilles was just a disrespectful ass. Achilles and Patroclus initially have an open relationship with each other (mostly due to their own insecurities and difficulties communicating rather than an actual desire for an open relationship), however… Achilles pulls a stunt at the beginning that I would definitely classify as cheating. After seeing some initial chemistry between Patroclus and Helen (who were childhood friends once upon a time), Achilles strictly forbids Patroclus from sleeping with Helen or basically even being in the same room together. And then less than 24 hours later, Achilles sleeps with Helen and displays little to no remorse. Had I known something like that was going to happen, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up. Cheating, or anything even close to it, is a trope I steer far away from. I just hated Achilles as a character. It just felt like Achilles was pretty much allowed to do and say whatever he wanted without any repercussions or consequences. Despite my heavy criticism of the first half the book, I ended up enjoying the second half a lot more. I liked seeing the action that went along with the competition and the political intrigue amongst the Thirteen. I liked how badass Helen was and how she wouldn’t let anything stand in the way of her achieving her goals. She grew so much throughout the course of the book and become so much more comfortable and confident in her own skin. I also loved Patroclus as a character, he was such a cinnamon roll and deserved only the best. I was honestly hoping the story would take an impossible turn and become a Patroclus x Helen romance but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
Even though this particular book didn’t work for me (and series as a whole has been a little hit or miss), Katee Robert is still an absolute QUEEN and I will read literally anything she writes. I'll also say that the audiobooks are the far superior way to consume this series, Alex Moorcock and Zara Hampton-Brown were PERFECTION.
This is third installment to the Dark Olympus series and this story follows Helen, Achilles, and Patroclus. Helen is the daughter of the late Zeus (whose death was featured in book 1), and sister to Aphrodite and the newly titled Zeus. She’s been treated like a pawn, her whole life, and she’s gotten used to being undermined and underestimated by her family and ex-boyfriend Paris. At the start of the book it’s announced that a competition is going to be held to determine the next Ares title holder (as the previous Ares recently passed away). Helen decides to enter the competition as a way of getting out of her family’s control and earning her own place amongst the Thirteen. However, Zeus ends up announcing that not only will the winner of the competition earn the title of Ares but will also win Helen as their wife. This throws a wrench in Helen’s plans, but nonetheless she decides to enter the competition more determined than ever. Achilles and Patroclus, childhood friends turned lovers, also enter the competition. Achilles is entering with the intention of sweeping a title he thinks he very much deserves, and Patroclus is entering solely to support Achilles and help him make it to the top. With some fun rivals to lovers/forced proximity vibes, the three of them quickly become entangled while fighting for the title (and their lives).
I’m not going to try and explain the world building here because I still honestly don’t really understand it myself, but that by no means takes anything away from my enjoyment of the book. It seems to make sense to me while I’m reading and that’s all that matters! I’m going to be honest though…the first 50% of this REALLY didn’t work for me. Straight up, Achilles was just a disrespectful ass. Achilles and Patroclus initially have an open relationship with each other (mostly due to their own insecurities and difficulties communicating rather than an actual desire for an open relationship), however… Achilles pulls a stunt at the beginning that I would definitely classify as cheating. After seeing some initial chemistry between Patroclus and Helen (who were childhood friends once upon a time), Achilles strictly forbids Patroclus from sleeping with Helen or basically even being in the same room together. And then less than 24 hours later, Achilles sleeps with Helen and displays little to no remorse. Had I known something like that was going to happen, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up. Cheating, or anything even close to it, is a trope I steer far away from. I just hated Achilles as a character. It just felt like Achilles was pretty much allowed to do and say whatever he wanted without any repercussions or consequences. Despite my heavy criticism of the first half the book, I ended up enjoying the second half a lot more. I liked seeing the action that went along with the competition and the political intrigue amongst the Thirteen. I liked how badass Helen was and how she wouldn’t let anything stand in the way of her achieving her goals. She grew so much throughout the course of the book and become so much more comfortable and confident in her own skin. I also loved Patroclus as a character, he was such a cinnamon roll and deserved only the best. I was honestly hoping the story would take an impossible turn and become a Patroclus x Helen romance but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
Even though this particular book didn’t work for me (and series as a whole has been a little hit or miss), Katee Robert is still an absolute QUEEN and I will read literally anything she writes. I'll also say that the audiobooks are the far superior way to consume this series, Alex Moorcock and Zara Hampton-Brown were PERFECTION.
readingrenbo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
mooshroomx's review against another edition
It’s not a bad book, I’ve read others in this series and loved it! But right now I’m just not in the mood for this. Maybe in the future I will give this another go
absterline's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
3.75
burlesquemouse's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0