rosetyper9's review
5.0
I have been waiting and waiting for this book to come out since the moment I heard about it from Ms. Cast's lips at her 'Tempted' signing here in Baltimore. I almost died because 1. I love P.C. Cast 2. I love the Goddess Summoning Series and 3. I LOVE KING ARTHUR! So this book was being held to pretty high standards from the very beginning. I am happy to report that I was not disappointed. This whole series is one of my absolute favorites and it is number two in the list of my comfort reads. I pimp this series like no other and have yet to hear a complaint, so if you haven't read it yet, please do, start with Goddess of the Sea and you will be entranced and awed.
Now I will get off my soap box and tell you why I adore this book. Ms. Cast has a way of writing strong female characters and tossing them into not-so-ideal situations. Luckily because the women are strong willed they come out the situations stronger, and usually happier (at least at the end of the story). In this book Isabel is a pretty strong character and she has to be to live up to the idolized character that is King Arthur. Speaking of King Arthur, he is incredibly written, and exactly as I would want him to be in this situation. I adored the love and relationship that grows between him and Isabel and I adore the fact that he is just as perfect as I, myself, could imagine him.
I also love the fact that Isabel sweeps into the sixth century, not knowing, or able to do anything ever remotely sixth century like and is able to whip the entirety of Camelot into a frenzy. She is magnificent, the kind of women people would want to follow, and the perfect counterpart to the King himself. She is, in essence, the female version of King Arthur, and I love it!
The plot was a bit spotty here and there, it slowed a tiny bit about half way in and there were a couple of times I wanted to throw a shoe at Gwen's head but other than that, this book is absolutely perfect. I wish the ending would have had a bit more oomph, because I know P.C. Cast can end a book with oomph, but it did not, and it was not an unsatisfying ending at all. I can not wait to read more books in this series, and I hope Ms. Cast continues to write many many more.
Now I will get off my soap box and tell you why I adore this book. Ms. Cast has a way of writing strong female characters and tossing them into not-so-ideal situations. Luckily because the women are strong willed they come out the situations stronger, and usually happier (at least at the end of the story). In this book Isabel is a pretty strong character and she has to be to live up to the idolized character that is King Arthur. Speaking of King Arthur, he is incredibly written, and exactly as I would want him to be in this situation. I adored the love and relationship that grows between him and Isabel and I adore the fact that he is just as perfect as I, myself, could imagine him.
I also love the fact that Isabel sweeps into the sixth century, not knowing, or able to do anything ever remotely sixth century like and is able to whip the entirety of Camelot into a frenzy. She is magnificent, the kind of women people would want to follow, and the perfect counterpart to the King himself. She is, in essence, the female version of King Arthur, and I love it!
The plot was a bit spotty here and there, it slowed a tiny bit about half way in and there were a couple of times I wanted to throw a shoe at Gwen's head but other than that, this book is absolutely perfect. I wish the ending would have had a bit more oomph, because I know P.C. Cast can end a book with oomph, but it did not, and it was not an unsatisfying ending at all. I can not wait to read more books in this series, and I hope Ms. Cast continues to write many many more.
nicky_chronicles's review
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this love story, I thought it was refreshing that the characters were older than typical, it gave the relationship a maturity and weight compared to other stories. I enjoyed the King Arthur setting and the implementation of new concepts and modern advances in the medieval times.
I found the main character a force to be reckoned, which could sometimes seem a bit much but always worked out for the best in the end.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, including the silliness and culture clashing.
I do feel, however, that the ending was a bit abrupt, I thought it could have continued for another 100 pages so we could get to know the new characters better.
I found the main character a force to be reckoned, which could sometimes seem a bit much but always worked out for the best in the end.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, including the silliness and culture clashing.
I do feel, however, that the ending was a bit abrupt, I thought it could have continued for another 100 pages so we could get to know the new characters better.
disconightwing's review
3.0
This book was okay. There were parts of it that I really enjoyed, and parts of it that I didn't appreciate so much.
I liked that it was a fast, fun, and easy read. It was a fresh take on Arthurian legend, I guess, and what kept me turning pages was the fact that I really didn't know how it was going to end.
But it was, at times, a little too crass for my taste (mentioning the, um, male parts of various animal species was a little much for me) and that kind of ruined the 'romance' aspect of the book. There is something magical about describing sexual tension between characters without being vulgar.
Also, I really disliked the way Isabel just kind of marched into Camelot, starts complaining about how the women don't have any say, the men are jerks, and the king and queen should put themselves on the same level as their servants. It's not that equality and feminism aren't important, but I can't see everyone just accepting her without even getting suspicious. It was very Mary Sue. And it does take away from how much I enjoyed this book.
I liked that it was a fast, fun, and easy read. It was a fresh take on Arthurian legend, I guess, and what kept me turning pages was the fact that I really didn't know how it was going to end.
But it was, at times, a little too crass for my taste (mentioning the, um, male parts of various animal species was a little much for me) and that kind of ruined the 'romance' aspect of the book. There is something magical about describing sexual tension between characters without being vulgar.
Also, I really disliked the way Isabel just kind of marched into Camelot, starts complaining about how the women don't have any say, the men are jerks, and the king and queen should put themselves on the same level as their servants. It's not that equality and feminism aren't important, but I can't see everyone just accepting her without even getting suspicious. It was very Mary Sue. And it does take away from how much I enjoyed this book.
moviemavengal's review
2.0
Disappointing. Not much happens, to be honest. And mutual adultery is not very appealing either.
sailor_moon239's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-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? No
4.0
nikkitaylor19's review
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
goodxgirl9238's review
2.0
The Goddess Summoning series revolves around the premise of Goddesses, heavily from Greco-Roman mythology but branching out to Celtic-Arthurian mythos in this volume granting a mortal wish in exchange for the mortal assisting them in someway. For example in Goddess of Light the twins Artemis and Apollo help a interior designer deal with a difficult client when they are stuck on Earth and Apollo quickly falls for the human woman, or in Goddess of Spring where Demeter switches her daughter and a woman who called on her to fix her bakery’s financial difficulties to deal with Hades, Lord of the Underworld in a retelling of the Hades/Persephone myth.
Goddess of Legend focuses on Viviane, the Lady of the Lake summoning a mortal woman to restore Arthur’s happiness and in doing so, save Merlin from his own despair. At first she assumes this will be by seducing Lancelot away from Guinevere thus leading to the King and Queen’s marriage re-stabilizing but it goes a different route when Isabel quickly falls for the once and future king and resolves to smooth out the relationship between all parties, including an enraged and bitter Mordred who blames Arthur for his mother’s death.
One of my biggest problems with getting through this book was how awkwardly the dialogue could be. While in other books the heroine when interacting with other characters in a time period not her own managed to keep a timeless feature to the script, even when cultural differences were a key part of the interaction… How our female protagonist spoke and acted made it clear that she was independent and intelligent, it was never so much that it couldn’t be explained away. In Goddess of Legend the amulet Viviane gives to Isabel to prevent people from thinking too hard about her presence there is overused with Isabel actively using speech too modern for the time period and ideas just as modern that wouldn’t be accepted even in the ‘good kingdom’ that Camelot is supposed to be. It stretches the boundaries of what she could get away with too far and that takes you out of the setting.
The romance between Arthur and Isabel is sweet however and it can be satisfying to hear her taking Mordred to task and taking charge of what is going on around her. Despite the flaws of how she talks and some of what she does as a part of the subplot she is an interesting character and one I think could have been another one of Cast’s great heroines. If the storyline, particularly the subplot (I had a hard time pinning down a major plot-line to tell you the truth) had been more carefully written it would have been a much better story and could have explored her character much better.
For example, in the beginning of the story we’re told that she’s a great photographer, that she was in Afghanistan and was traumatized by the death of a young soldier she had gotten to know. She’s somebody who knows how to appreciate the beauty in life and understand its horror. That is something that seriously should have been explored, something that she and Arthur could have bonded over, starting the romance more slowly instead of having her nearly immediately attracted to him and dismiss the idea of seducing Lancelot the minute she realized how young he was.
Isabel could have spent the first few chapters attempting to get to know Lancelot better and through that gain an understanding of how much Gwen and Lancelot cared for each other, all the while becoming sympathetic to Arthur, getting to know him and coming to the conclusion that breaking up Lancelot and Gwen wouldn’t work but maybe her feelings for Arthur will be the solution. Having this come to a head as Mordred arrives, threatening to interrupt the marriage of two of the servants that Isabel has come to befriend and her love for Arthur is solidified through this conflict? Yeah, that might have been a more interesting and an easier read. The final sacrifice.. it was cliché and a bit hokey but the lead in to Arthur the fireman rescuing Isabel from the lake only to find that all of her friends from Camelot are there in real life and that said shared time in Camelot has been haunting Arthur the fireman’s dreams? Bit of a great way to write in a happy ending that doesn’t totally conflict with Arthurian mythos.
Overall, Goddess of Legend could have been better written but I will pass an excuse along that Cast has been pretty wrapped up recently with her much better known House of Night series and perhaps it took a sub par book to get her into the right groove. With some fine-tuning it could have been a much better novel and who knows, maybe then I would have read it faster. It suffers from too many subplots and the lack of timelessness to the dialogue.One of Cast’s strong points in her other works was that even with the occasional semi-historic setting the dialogue was always easy to read and understand without ever seeming ‘too modern’ or dated.
I will give Goddess of Legend 2.5 hearts of of 5.
Goddess of Legend focuses on Viviane, the Lady of the Lake summoning a mortal woman to restore Arthur’s happiness and in doing so, save Merlin from his own despair. At first she assumes this will be by seducing Lancelot away from Guinevere thus leading to the King and Queen’s marriage re-stabilizing but it goes a different route when Isabel quickly falls for the once and future king and resolves to smooth out the relationship between all parties, including an enraged and bitter Mordred who blames Arthur for his mother’s death.
One of my biggest problems with getting through this book was how awkwardly the dialogue could be. While in other books the heroine when interacting with other characters in a time period not her own managed to keep a timeless feature to the script, even when cultural differences were a key part of the interaction… How our female protagonist spoke and acted made it clear that she was independent and intelligent, it was never so much that it couldn’t be explained away. In Goddess of Legend the amulet Viviane gives to Isabel to prevent people from thinking too hard about her presence there is overused with Isabel actively using speech too modern for the time period and ideas just as modern that wouldn’t be accepted even in the ‘good kingdom’ that Camelot is supposed to be. It stretches the boundaries of what she could get away with too far and that takes you out of the setting.
The romance between Arthur and Isabel is sweet however and it can be satisfying to hear her taking Mordred to task and taking charge of what is going on around her. Despite the flaws of how she talks and some of what she does as a part of the subplot she is an interesting character and one I think could have been another one of Cast’s great heroines. If the storyline, particularly the subplot (I had a hard time pinning down a major plot-line to tell you the truth) had been more carefully written it would have been a much better story and could have explored her character much better.
For example, in the beginning of the story we’re told that she’s a great photographer, that she was in Afghanistan and was traumatized by the death of a young soldier she had gotten to know. She’s somebody who knows how to appreciate the beauty in life and understand its horror. That is something that seriously should have been explored, something that she and Arthur could have bonded over, starting the romance more slowly instead of having her nearly immediately attracted to him and dismiss the idea of seducing Lancelot the minute she realized how young he was.
Isabel could have spent the first few chapters attempting to get to know Lancelot better and through that gain an understanding of how much Gwen and Lancelot cared for each other, all the while becoming sympathetic to Arthur, getting to know him and coming to the conclusion that breaking up Lancelot and Gwen wouldn’t work but maybe her feelings for Arthur will be the solution. Having this come to a head as Mordred arrives, threatening to interrupt the marriage of two of the servants that Isabel has come to befriend and her love for Arthur is solidified through this conflict? Yeah, that might have been a more interesting and an easier read. The final sacrifice.. it was cliché and a bit hokey but the lead in to Arthur the fireman rescuing Isabel from the lake only to find that all of her friends from Camelot are there in real life and that said shared time in Camelot has been haunting Arthur the fireman’s dreams? Bit of a great way to write in a happy ending that doesn’t totally conflict with Arthurian mythos.
Overall, Goddess of Legend could have been better written but I will pass an excuse along that Cast has been pretty wrapped up recently with her much better known House of Night series and perhaps it took a sub par book to get her into the right groove. With some fine-tuning it could have been a much better novel and who knows, maybe then I would have read it faster. It suffers from too many subplots and the lack of timelessness to the dialogue.One of Cast’s strong points in her other works was that even with the occasional semi-historic setting the dialogue was always easy to read and understand without ever seeming ‘too modern’ or dated.
I will give Goddess of Legend 2.5 hearts of of 5.
pixiefairy15's review against another edition
2.0
*WARNING SPOILERS*
It was alright, I guess.
That's probably the worst thing anyone can say about a book. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, it was meh.
Now, this came as a bit of a disappointment to me. The first book in the series was weird, but I was prepared, thanks to your lovely selves. I really enjoyed the rest of the series, and then came this one.
It was really confusing at the beginning, and I often had to read the page twice before I understood it. The writing was stilted and muddled, and don't get me wrong, I love PC, but she can't write in old languages. The language is supposed to flow easily, and it didn't in this series. I felt like there were too many chunks of dialogue and no description of what the characters are doing. Like, at one point, Arthur's in bed and talking to Isabel, and then suddenly he's standing up and walking out the door, and I'm like: wait, what? *rereads page, but no mention of him getting out of bed*. Also, Isabel's and Arthur's characters aren't built up enough. I know, I know, the whole bloody book is about them, but the only characters I thought were actually built up was Gwen. And even then, she had a random mood swing and was like, 'No Izzy, all the things you suggested to me yesterday were actually MY ideas, so stuff that up your pretty little but.' And then, five minutes later, she's like 'oh, hey, all your ideas are pretty cool, we should do them.' And I'm left going 'WTF?'
Also, NOTHING HAPPENS. Like, actual nothing. Sure, there's a lot of lusting after people, but THAT'S IT. And they prevent a war happening by baking poisonous pasties. WTH? And Mordred. Grrrrrrrr Mordred. He presents the PERFECT plot device for a little betrayal, as the angry 'imma take your throne' bastard son. And helloooooo, Arthur doesn't even need to acknowledge him. Bastard, remember? So then, after a little kick in the balls, he's like, 'Oh, Father! I'm so sorry! Love you really!' And I waited, I waited for the moment when Mordred throws it back in Arthur's face, and goes 'I'M BETRAYING YOU ALL! GOODNIGHT!'
It never happened.
And the ending was crap, too.
Rant over :)
It was alright, I guess.
That's probably the worst thing anyone can say about a book. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, it was meh.
Now, this came as a bit of a disappointment to me. The first book in the series was weird, but I was prepared, thanks to your lovely selves. I really enjoyed the rest of the series, and then came this one.
It was really confusing at the beginning, and I often had to read the page twice before I understood it. The writing was stilted and muddled, and don't get me wrong, I love PC, but she can't write in old languages. The language is supposed to flow easily, and it didn't in this series. I felt like there were too many chunks of dialogue and no description of what the characters are doing. Like, at one point, Arthur's in bed and talking to Isabel, and then suddenly he's standing up and walking out the door, and I'm like: wait, what? *rereads page, but no mention of him getting out of bed*. Also, Isabel's and Arthur's characters aren't built up enough. I know, I know, the whole bloody book is about them, but the only characters I thought were actually built up was Gwen. And even then, she had a random mood swing and was like, 'No Izzy, all the things you suggested to me yesterday were actually MY ideas, so stuff that up your pretty little but.' And then, five minutes later, she's like 'oh, hey, all your ideas are pretty cool, we should do them.' And I'm left going 'WTF?'
Also, NOTHING HAPPENS. Like, actual nothing. Sure, there's a lot of lusting after people, but THAT'S IT. And they prevent a war happening by baking poisonous pasties. WTH? And Mordred. Grrrrrrrr Mordred. He presents the PERFECT plot device for a little betrayal, as the angry 'imma take your throne' bastard son. And helloooooo, Arthur doesn't even need to acknowledge him. Bastard, remember? So then, after a little kick in the balls, he's like, 'Oh, Father! I'm so sorry! Love you really!' And I waited, I waited for the moment when Mordred throws it back in Arthur's face, and goes 'I'M BETRAYING YOU ALL! GOODNIGHT!'
It never happened.
And the ending was crap, too.
Rant over :)
bookishgecko's review against another edition
5.0
Be still my beating heart! Can PC Cast write anything other than wonderful books? 😍😍 this was no exception, it was delightful from start to finish.