Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Lore

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

93 reviews

camiclarkbooks's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.5

I’ve had Alexandra Bracken’s “Lore” on my TBR for years before I finally sat down to read it. I should have just kept it on the shelf…

The plot of “Lore” was amazing, with Greek gods being forced to walk the earth as mortals every seven years, as punishment for their past rebellion. During this time, descendants from Ancient Greek bloodlines hunt the gods in hopes of killing them and seizing their divine power and immortality.

Lore Perseous escaped that life several years following her family’s brutal murder by a rival bloodline. As the new Agon begins, Lore finds herself pulled back into that world by the reappearance of an old friend believed to be dead and Athena, one of the last original Olympians. Lore agrees to an alliance with the goddess in exchange for revenge, but will it be enough to temper the rise of a new god with enough power to crush humanity?

As a former Percy Jackson kid, I thought that “Lore” was going to be my new favorite book. It has been my most disappointing read of 2023 (as of April). The pacing of the book was off and none of the characters were particularly interesting once we began to scratch the surface.

Our narrator, the titular Lore, had many secrets—typical of a YA fantasy heroine—but it was not until the last few chapters that the reader learns what she’s been hiding all those years. Her secret was not shocking and was the blandest secret a main character can have in a fantasy novel but that didn’t stop Lore from constantly reminding the reader that she had a dark secret. It would have been more compelling if Lore had revealed to the reader earlier in the book and was only trying to keep it from the other characters.

“Lore” was particularly disappointing to me since I had just finished an ARC of Alexandra Bracken’s newest book, “Silver in the Bone,” and found the characters likable and the plot engaging—with a twist that I did NOT see coming. After finishing that, I wanted to check out more of Bracken’s work and assumed “Lore” would be a home run.

The good news is that Bracken has improved as a writer between “Lore” and “Silver in the Bone.” The bad news is that I spent way too long on “Lore,” convinced that it would turn around if I was patient enough.

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maregred's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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aannaascott's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

an overall fun reading experience with a rich world and an exciting plot. i did find the pacing semi inconsistent, which was part of the reason i struggled to really get into the book at first. another thing is certain world building aspects weren't explained until later on, when i feel as though the story would have been more engaging if the stakes were established earlier on, before my interest in their mystery started to wane. i also think that the characters could've been better fleshed out because there are big points of interest for a LOT of these people, especially castor, but the villains in particular fell very flat for me. this person is a villain? what made them a villain? considering that lore mentions multiple times how the end of the archon would "free everyone", it seems kind of hypocritical to fail to recognize that in some of these characters, but oh, it's okay, because they are made cartoonishly evil/sexist/predatory so there's no room for them to have any depth or subtlety, and it disconnected me from the story. even castor and lore themselves often made me feel separate from the book, not only because they were walking archetypes, but because they were boring and inconsistent. certain plot points, characters, and ideas are picked up and dropped at will and it just makes everything feel messy. this book needed to be either split in two and fleshed out or severely pared down. so so so missed potential :/

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aeori's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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r1vana's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny slow-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

3.5

“A feather fallen from a wing is not lost, but free.”

This story proves that we can’t trust man and people in power.

The story started off so good after 35%. Even tough it is a stand-alone I felt that it keeps getting dragged. One thing is that when it comes to Greek Mythology, I get confuse(that is a me problem, not the authors…) and since I was really interested in that topic, I had hoped we got more infos/fiction from the author.
But around 75%, the plot started to pick up. And there was one time, I audibly gasped because of several “unexpectedly expecting”plot twists.
—

I love the FL, she was shown as a strong lead with a dark past. We get to see how flawed she can be and how naive and vulnerable she becomes when she is betrayed and being forced to suppress herself…

RTC

“You may deny the Fates, but they will not deny you. Fighting them will not save you from what is ahead. It will merely quicken the course of things."

TW: Murder; war; power hunger; men; grooming; suggestion of adult/minor marriage; death/massacre of family members

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sunflower_tea's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

It’s written in a personal she narrator.

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ankelsocks's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Oof I really disliked this one. The writing is disjointed and clunky, the characterisation is random, the plot is uninteresting which is interesting giving how fast-paced the novel is. It just couldn't make me care at all. I like the premise, really, hunger games meets greek mythology should be my thang, but the Hunger Games aspect was needlessly brutal (so many incredibly gory deaths, almost all of them completely unable to serve the plot, BIG difference with HG) and the Greek mythology feels forced. I wanted to love this book and instead it annoyed the living daylights out of me. Doesn't help that the main character is a cardboard figure with a lot of rage (or sadness? Or confusion? God I don't know) and a really gruesomely murdered family (stop killing babies guys it's just ... No). I'm glad it's over. Meh.

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