Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by morewitchy
The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter
2.0
The premise of this book is fabulous, but there were some pretty big issues that kept it from quite living up to its promise.
If you're going to rewrite/renovate a mythology, make sure that it's out of love of that mythology rather than because you need to force myth to suit your needs. Otherwise, it comes across as forced and careless. The most pertinent example of this is the not-so-subtle villainizing of Persephone-- she goes from being a child kidnapped by Hades to a woman who agreed to an arranged marriage with him, only to become discontent some years later. This rewrite wouldn't be nearly as problematic if not for the fact that Kate is constantly internally pitting herself against Persephone. That sense of shallow rivalry, of "she doesn't deserve him as much as I do"-- it walked right out of a Taylor Swift song, it's incredibly cliche in the young adult circuit, and it's so much worse because it drags a very old, very established mythological character down into the tweeny bullshit.
Additionally, shoehorning the entire Pantheon into a group of characters that we barely see throughout the entire book is a bad idea. These are Greek gods-- almost universally rowdy, conceited, and unwilling to stand on the sidelines while something interesting is happening. Each god thinks he or she is the protagonist of the story, any story, and they should be written that way, but with the exception of Henry, Ava, and eventually, Calliope, most of them barely spoke. There was no soul or depth to them. I mean, Dionysus at least would be raising hell all winter, sacred tests or not.
Ah, yes, speaking of tests. I thought the novel suffered from the secrecy of the tests, though given their format, the secrecy makes sense-- even if said format does not. Blending Greek mythology with Catholic doctrine with no explanation does nothing but make the narrative look like it doesn't know what it's doing and jerk the audience right out of suspension of disbelief. Sticking with one belief system would probably have been a wise decision.
There are other problems, but I've been shaking my fist and growling long enough. Bottom line, I did finish the book. It was fairly interesting, and although Kate could sometimes be frustratingly obtuse, I didn't find her nearly as insipid as many YA heroines. I think Carter has a lot of potential, especially if she works on her characterization, and I'll probably check out her next book to see how she's developing as a writer.
If you're going to rewrite/renovate a mythology, make sure that it's out of love of that mythology rather than because you need to force myth to suit your needs. Otherwise, it comes across as forced and careless. The most pertinent example of this is the not-so-subtle villainizing of Persephone-- she goes from being a child kidnapped by Hades to a woman who agreed to an arranged marriage with him, only to become discontent some years later. This rewrite wouldn't be nearly as problematic if not for the fact that Kate is constantly internally pitting herself against Persephone. That sense of shallow rivalry, of "she doesn't deserve him as much as I do"-- it walked right out of a Taylor Swift song, it's incredibly cliche in the young adult circuit, and it's so much worse because it drags a very old, very established mythological character down into the tweeny bullshit.
Additionally, shoehorning the entire Pantheon into a group of characters that we barely see throughout the entire book is a bad idea. These are Greek gods-- almost universally rowdy, conceited, and unwilling to stand on the sidelines while something interesting is happening. Each god thinks he or she is the protagonist of the story, any story, and they should be written that way, but with the exception of Henry, Ava, and eventually, Calliope, most of them barely spoke. There was no soul or depth to them. I mean, Dionysus at least would be raising hell all winter, sacred tests or not.
Ah, yes, speaking of tests. I thought the novel suffered from the secrecy of the tests, though given their format, the secrecy makes sense-- even if said format does not. Blending Greek mythology with Catholic doctrine with no explanation does nothing but make the narrative look like it doesn't know what it's doing and jerk the audience right out of suspension of disbelief. Sticking with one belief system would probably have been a wise decision.
There are other problems, but I've been shaking my fist and growling long enough. Bottom line, I did finish the book. It was fairly interesting, and although Kate could sometimes be frustratingly obtuse, I didn't find her nearly as insipid as many YA heroines. I think Carter has a lot of potential, especially if she works on her characterization, and I'll probably check out her next book to see how she's developing as a writer.