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allonsythornraxx's review
challenging
dark
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? Yes
3.25
06/08/2021
3.25 ⭐
I don't know how to describe this other than Budget ACOMAF (ft. greek mythology). I really enjoyed the first half of this but the flaws were just too distracting. I found the poor world-building distracting and difficult to understand. Zeus is the king of the gods, but he gives off more mafia boss vibe than a God vibe and then there's no real magic except for the river and possibly Hermes and it's all very confusing. It's a fun, fast romance that gets bogged down in a poorly executed retelling. I really think this could've been a new all-time favourite if the world-building and characters had been fleshed out a bit more.
But, when it comes down to it, I'll probably continue the series because I'm a sucker for a guy falls first romance and I really enjoyed the Hades/Persephone scenes and their dynamic was really fun!
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3.25 ⭐
I don't know how to describe this other than Budget ACOMAF (ft. greek mythology). I really enjoyed the first half of this but the flaws were just too distracting. I found the poor world-building distracting and difficult to understand. Zeus is the king of the gods, but he gives off more mafia boss vibe than a God vibe and then there's no real magic except for the river and possibly Hermes and it's all very confusing. It's a fun, fast romance that gets bogged down in a poorly executed retelling. I really think this could've been a new all-time favourite if the world-building and characters had been fleshed out a bit more.
But, when it comes down to it, I'll probably continue the series because I'm a sucker for a guy falls first romance and I really enjoyed the Hades/Persephone scenes and their dynamic was really fun!
Blog | Letterboxd | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
sidhewitch's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Audiobook Review.
TL;DR: An enjoyable read that is a lot lighter on the smut than BookTok would have you believe, but not something that will likely stick with you. A good popcorn book.
As a Hades and Persephone retelling, I thought this was interesting. The way the book essentially makes mob bosses out of the Greek gods was a unique take, though it sort of falls apart if you think too deeply about it (they have old myths about the God Hades but not about the very famous things Hades did in those myths? etc). The disappointing part, for me, was honestly the smut. Don't go in expecting erotica, or even particularly good BDSM or much exhibitionism. It's really more a romance with some explicit scenes. Which is fine! Just not what I expected, so don't make my mistake.
This wouldn't have been such a disappointment to me if the romance itself had been a little better fleshed out. I like both the characters, but the relationship between Hades and Persephone develops seemingly because she sees how nice he is to other people and what a good ruler he is, while he gets surprised by how sassy and headstrong she is. It's cute, but it's not that deep.
All that said, there are some truly delicious bits (the dresser scene, holy crap) and I really did like not only Hades and Persephone, but several of the side characters were also really interesting. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series - especially after the excerpt from it at the end of this one - and learning more about them.
As a final note, I did appreciate the author did her best to confront the issue of consent. She made it as explicit as possible that not only was Persephone a happily willing participant, but Hades was actually concerned about that. You can argue how capable Persephone really was of saying No given her circumstances, but this is far from dubcon. So if that's not your thing, or just not what you're looking for here, no worries.
Audiobook Narration: It was fine. Not my favorite, but definitely not of the sort that drives me to DNF. I continue to wish the narration space was such that, if you already have two narrators, each could record all the dialogue lines for their character no matter who the POV is. Moorcock's Hades was good and his Persephone was absolutely cringeworthy, and Hampton-Brown was excellent as Persephone and made some very strange choices for Hades. Their posh British accents also made the use of slang or profanity by the characters at times sound really strange (like the constant jarring "Yeah" instead of "Yes"). I know Hampton-Brown's narration got a little memeified on TikTok for the naughty bits, but honestly that's just more proof to me what delicate flowers BookTok consists of, or maybe what a jaded hussy I am, because I found nothing scandalous about it.
TL;DR: An enjoyable read that is a lot lighter on the smut than BookTok would have you believe, but not something that will likely stick with you. A good popcorn book.
As a Hades and Persephone retelling, I thought this was interesting. The way the book essentially makes mob bosses out of the Greek gods was a unique take, though it sort of falls apart if you think too deeply about it (they have old myths about the God Hades but not about the very famous things Hades did in those myths? etc). The disappointing part, for me, was honestly the smut. Don't go in expecting erotica, or even particularly good BDSM or much exhibitionism. It's really more a romance with some explicit scenes. Which is fine! Just not what I expected, so don't make my mistake.
This wouldn't have been such a disappointment to me if the romance itself had been a little better fleshed out. I like both the characters, but the relationship between Hades and Persephone develops seemingly because she sees how nice he is to other people and what a good ruler he is, while he gets surprised by how sassy and headstrong she is. It's cute, but it's not that deep.
All that said, there are some truly delicious bits (the dresser scene, holy crap) and I really did like not only Hades and Persephone, but several of the side characters were also really interesting. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series - especially after the excerpt from it at the end of this one - and learning more about them.
As a final note, I did appreciate the author did her best to confront the issue of consent. She made it as explicit as possible that not only was Persephone a happily willing participant, but Hades was actually concerned about that. You can argue how capable Persephone really was of saying No given her circumstances, but this is far from dubcon. So if that's not your thing, or just not what you're looking for here, no worries.
Audiobook Narration: It was fine. Not my favorite, but definitely not of the sort that drives me to DNF. I continue to wish the narration space was such that, if you already have two narrators, each could record all the dialogue lines for their character no matter who the POV is. Moorcock's Hades was good and his Persephone was absolutely cringeworthy, and Hampton-Brown was excellent as Persephone and made some very strange choices for Hades. Their posh British accents also made the use of slang or profanity by the characters at times sound really strange (like the constant jarring "Yeah" instead of "Yes"). I know Hampton-Brown's narration got a little memeified on TikTok for the naughty bits, but honestly that's just more proof to me what delicate flowers BookTok consists of, or maybe what a jaded hussy I am, because I found nothing scandalous about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Murder
Sexual Content: Literally what you are here for.Violence: Standard brawling and non-explicit on-page non-sexual violence against women by villains.
Murder, Suicide, Self-Harm, Sexual Violence: Non-explicit mentions of past events. Added Sexual Violence context:
Gun Violence: Very brief non-explicit depiction.
Emotional Abuse: Brief but on-page, parent to child. Added context:
emfass's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Two weeks after finishing it, and this keeps hovering between a 3 and a 3.5 for me...but I don't think I can round up, even after sitting with it.
I liked the relationship between Hades and Persephone, how gone they were for each other from the beginning. However, at times the characterization felt unfounded. We're told Hades is this Big Dark Baddie but there was literally never any evidence for it. On page, he's a big softie who cares about the people he leads and shows it. He is a wonderful Stern Brunch Daddy, and is absolutely gone for Persephone from the jump (like a good romance MC). I find, sadly, that a lot of Katee Robert's characters across her books lack specificity - they always come across as general outlines to me, but I don't feel like I have a solid grasp of them as people. They instead feel like really solid archetypes/outlines which serve to delve into the fantasy.
Relatedly, fairy tale/mythology retellings are my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE, and I was so excited for this, and...it fell so flat. The world-building was barely there, and I just didn't have a good grasp of what the rules of this place were. I kept waiting for the story to ground (i.e. to really get a sense of the setting), but it never did. I almost wish Katee had put this in a completely original setting rather than try to invoke Greek mythology without any real teeth behind the interpretation or something truly refreshing to say about the myth of Hades & Persephone. (Edited 10/20/21 to add: Jess in our Bad Bitch Book Club meeting today for this book gave me the word I'd be looking for: this particular invocation of these characters as part of Greek mythology feels lazy.)
One thing I do love about the Katee Robert books I've read so far is that in each book I've read where she's portraying a D/s dynamic, she explores a slightly different aspect of that dynamic. In this one, though Hades is generally more dominant, Persephone does a lot of topping from the bottom (and a little bit of bratting). And like so many of Katee's books, I didn't know how into it I'd be until she showed me. Delicious. Also loved Persephone holding her own amidst the shitty circumstances she kept finding herself in, and Hades watching her soften as she was finally somewhere she felt safe and cared for.
I liked the relationship between Hades and Persephone, how gone they were for each other from the beginning. However, at times the characterization felt unfounded. We're told Hades is this Big Dark Baddie but there was literally never any evidence for it. On page, he's a big softie who cares about the people he leads and shows it. He is a wonderful Stern Brunch Daddy, and is absolutely gone for Persephone from the jump (like a good romance MC). I find, sadly, that a lot of Katee Robert's characters across her books lack specificity - they always come across as general outlines to me, but I don't feel like I have a solid grasp of them as people. They instead feel like really solid archetypes/outlines which serve to delve into the fantasy.
Relatedly, fairy tale/mythology retellings are my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE, and I was so excited for this, and...it fell so flat. The world-building was barely there, and I just didn't have a good grasp of what the rules of this place were. I kept waiting for the story to ground (i.e. to really get a sense of the setting), but it never did. I almost wish Katee had put this in a completely original setting rather than try to invoke Greek mythology without any real teeth behind the interpretation or something truly refreshing to say about the myth of Hades & Persephone. (Edited 10/20/21 to add: Jess in our Bad Bitch Book Club meeting today for this book gave me the word I'd be looking for: this particular invocation of these characters as part of Greek mythology feels lazy.)
One thing I do love about the Katee Robert books I've read so far is that in each book I've read where she's portraying a D/s dynamic, she explores a slightly different aspect of that dynamic. In this one, though Hades is generally more dominant, Persephone does a lot of topping from the bottom (and a little bit of bratting). And like so many of Katee's books, I didn't know how into it I'd be until she showed me. Delicious. Also loved Persephone holding her own amidst the shitty circumstances she kept finding herself in, and Hades watching her soften as she was finally somewhere she felt safe and cared for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Sexual content
Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
chelseasbookshelf2's review
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book so much! I have always loved Greek mythology, so when I heard this book was a retelling of Hades and Persephone I knew I had to read this! One thing is that if you are not into extremely steamy scenes then this is not the book for you!!
What I liked:
- dual narration because I always like to know what each character thinks
- the interaction with the other Gods
- the storyline of Hades and Persephone getting to know each other, especially seeing them at the shops and meeting the residents of the lower city
- all the steamy scenes, especially the epilogue! I was worried we wouldn't get a conclusion regarding that aspect of their relationship!
What I didn't like:
- nothing because I loved everything about this book!
Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for my early copy in exchange for a honest review! I cannot wait for the next book!
What I liked:
- dual narration because I always like to know what each character thinks
- the interaction with the other Gods
- the storyline of Hades and Persephone getting to know each other, especially seeing them at the shops and meeting the residents of the lower city
- all the steamy scenes, especially the epilogue! I was worried we wouldn't get a conclusion regarding that aspect of their relationship!
What I didn't like:
- nothing because I loved everything about this book!
Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for my early copy in exchange for a honest review! I cannot wait for the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content