gods behaving badly
I just got done reading this book by marie phillips
And it… was a mess.
To start, I liked the premise, a lot. I liked the setting enough, most of the characters were likable enough.
But there was too many issues. I could not stand how some of the characters were written. Probably because I’m so used to reading the Percy Jackson series among some other novels such as Lovely War and Lore that this just felt… Wrong?
More so, the portrayals of Athena and Apollo. Like, throughout the book Athena is telling everyone what they have to do to get their powers back but her fault is that,,, she can’t speak plainly. It’s not that amusing, it makes it feel like Athena needed an excuse to be out of the plot so she wouldn’t help anyone else.
I am not going to get into Apollo regarding this book. There was a lot I didn’t like, particularly one conversation regarding him and Alice, the main mortal girl of the story.
Basically, this book is a retelling of Apollo and Daphne along with Orpheus and Eurydice. There is a lot of NSFW content within the book, so if this feels like something you want to read, then fine, go ahead! I won’t lie and say the book wasn’t entertaining. I did finish it after all. That, and I really liked some of the characters such as Artemis and,,,, yeah I guess I just liked Artemis! She’s one of the four POV’s followed throughout the book.
I still don’t think it’s a good book though, but I guess I can see why people would enjoy it.
Anyway, if you’re looking for more books like Percy Jackson, check out these:
• Lovely War - Julie Berry (a retelling of I think the First World War? I can’t remember I read the book a year ago, but Aphrodite is the one telling the story to Hephaestus. Ares, Apollo, and Hades do also show up)
•Lore - Alexandra Bracken (basically a sort of hunger games type book told in New York City where Greek gods are hunted down once every seven years and must survive or be replaced by a mortal. Athena is one of the main characters here)
•Blood of Hercules (I am going to be honest. I did not like this book. However, it still feels that kinda niche so I’ll recommend it!)
• Circe and The Song of Achilles (these two are fantastic. Written by the same author but both feel very different from one another so if you don’t like one, try the other!)
If you prefer watching shows, then watch Class of the Titans! It’s free on YouTube! It’s about seven mortals who have to train to fight Kronos. I will add that it ends on a cliffhanger :(