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A review by emilyhays
Lore by Alexandra Bracken
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I went into this book only knowing that it had greek mythology elements and I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the "game" aspect of the plot. It's super violent, but I really don't mind that in books, and the main character has a really angry and violent outlook on life, which 15 year-old me related to hard. Overall, I would recommend it and will recommend it to people at work, and teenage Emily definitely saw no flaw in it, so in that aspect I think it's great!
24 year-old, Emily, however, saw some issue in the development of the characters, and the lack of female friendships and diversity. I also had some issue with the pacing, it's an extremely fast-paced book for how long it is, and things are constantly happening one right after the other. There are a few mysteries going on in the background and I found that because of the quickness of the book, twists kept getting thrown at me and left me a little bit confused as to what was going on.
I think this book would've benefitted to have the Agon be like, a month instead of 8 days, that way all the plot could have happened still, but there would have been breathing room to better contextualize the modern fantasy elements. (idk if that makes sense, I'm rambling.)
I was disappointed in the lack of diversity of the characters as well, even though all of them are Greek, it takes place in modern-day New York City, one of the most diverse cities ever (plus, who says Greek people have to be white, anyways).
As for the lack of female friendships, it really bothered me that all the female characters, including Lore, the main character, [minor spoilers] all eventually had ulterior motives going on that never really allowed those female alliances to happen, when there is literally a whole conversation in the middle of the book talking about the blatant misogyny that goes on within this world.
24 year-old, Emily, however, saw some issue in the development of the characters, and the lack of female friendships and diversity. I also had some issue with the pacing, it's an extremely fast-paced book for how long it is, and things are constantly happening one right after the other. There are a few mysteries going on in the background and I found that because of the quickness of the book, twists kept getting thrown at me and left me a little bit confused as to what was going on.
I think this book would've benefitted to have the Agon be like, a month instead of 8 days, that way all the plot could have happened still, but there would have been breathing room to better contextualize the modern fantasy elements. (idk if that makes sense, I'm rambling.)
I was disappointed in the lack of diversity of the characters as well, even though all of them are Greek, it takes place in modern-day New York City, one of the most diverse cities ever (plus, who says Greek people have to be white, anyways).
As for the lack of female friendships, it really bothered me that all the female characters, including Lore, the main character, [minor spoilers] all eventually had ulterior motives going on that never really allowed those female alliances to happen, when there is literally a whole conversation in the middle of the book talking about the blatant misogyny that goes on within this world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Grief, Gore, Child death, and Blood
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual assault and Rape