A review by not_another_ana
Neon Gods by Katee Robert

dark emotional fast-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

0.5

I can tell myself that I have no choice, but it's not the truth. I want this with every shadowy part of my soul that I work so hard to keep locked down.

When Persephone Dimitriou flees Olympus after being forcibly engaged to Zeus, her only option is to cross the bridge over the River Styx and into the arms of Hades, a mysterious man shrouded in myth who also had reasons to hate Zeus. It's her wish to be free of this engagement and any retaliation, so she concocts a plan that will humiliate Zeus and make her an unsuitable bride, all she needs is Hades' help. A Hades and Persephone retelling with no substance and nothing new to say, closer to one of those mafia romance books that booktok loves.

This has to pick a struggle: porn or plot. It decided to go for both thus creating a horrible pastiche of tropes that committed the ultimate sin of being boring. Dull, tedious, monotonous, I have read instruction manuals with more substance. The less objectionable part of this book was the sex, I didn't care for it more due to personal preference than anything, but at least that bit made sense so I'll give Katee Robert that. The worst part was very clearly the worldbuilding, though I feel like that's an insult to the term since no building actually happened.
Were they gods? Mobsters? Had powers? Didn't have powers? What the HELL was going on?? So to recap the whole thing they lived in Olympus, which is part of America yet separated by magic of some kind, so people can't really leave that easily. Yet they have everything modern Americans have, like phones and paparazzi, but they're separated for some reason. They're ruled by these people emulating the Greek gods, however we never understand how they get these positions or what even is it they do. Everything works the same, but every once in a while something absolutely insane will happen and nobody will blink an eye about it. For example, Hermes can get in everywhere without being caught and also imitates perfectly people's voices, yet she must travel by car. There was no need for any of this if you wanted to write erotica, just make them mobsters and call it a day, there's a huge market for that. OH AND ONE MORE THING, fuck you Demeter for basically selling your daughter to be abused, raped and/or murdered and then being offended when you got called out on it, that one did piss me off.


I didn't care for any of the characters, they were so 2D and flat. This was dual POV, but the kind where they just keep rehashing scenes over and over again. Nothing new to tell, zero insight of any kind. Hades and Persephone had no chemistry, it was all instalove.
As I said it's down to personal preference, but I found the sex scenes between them so boring. I was told there would be exhibitionism and it was the most vanilla sanitized version of that kink. The sex scenes were much too short for an erotica book, instead we had to read paragraphs of shitty non world building. Oh, and don't even get me started on the very obvious set up scenes and characters for the sequels.


Don't waste your time, just open AO3 instead.
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