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A review by shadowcas
Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake
3.0
Obviously, if you have not read the first novel, Antigoddess, then I must warn you that there will be spoilers from the first book in this review. Possibly. I don’t know.
I’ll preface this review by stating that I liked Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake. To me, the most characters were fleshed out and seemed real enough to form a connection with for some. That being said, Athena is not a love sick teenager; I couldn’t take her at all in this. I don’t require keeping a story (or mythology) as true to the original as possible. Retellings and reimaginings were meant to be tweaked and changed. But Athena was the virgin goddess of wisdom, courage, law and justice, war, mathematics, etc. She was slow to anger and never fought without a cause. So imagine a goddess who is jealous and petty and gaga over Odysseus. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Ody is worth it but really?
And then you have Cassandra, Princess of Troy, Prophetess, reborn in modern day America, who has absolutely no control over her emotions or her god-killing powers. She’s consistently telling herself she hates Athena, but she doesn’t want to hurt Athena. Of course, then she turns around and hurts Athena and wants to kill Athena.
I loved Antigoddess. But this just came off as such a personality shift from most of the main characters that it’s making my head spin.
I’ll definitely read the final book in the trilogy, if only to find out the ultimate ending, but Mortal Gods only hit 3 stars for me this go around.
There is more action in this one than there was in the first novel. I guess I should add that one.
I’ll preface this review by stating that I liked Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake. To me, the most characters were fleshed out and seemed real enough to form a connection with for some. That being said, Athena is not a love sick teenager; I couldn’t take her at all in this. I don’t require keeping a story (or mythology) as true to the original as possible. Retellings and reimaginings were meant to be tweaked and changed. But Athena was the virgin goddess of wisdom, courage, law and justice, war, mathematics, etc. She was slow to anger and never fought without a cause. So imagine a goddess who is jealous and petty and gaga over Odysseus. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Ody is worth it but really?
And then you have Cassandra, Princess of Troy, Prophetess, reborn in modern day America, who has absolutely no control over her emotions or her god-killing powers. She’s consistently telling herself she hates Athena, but she doesn’t want to hurt Athena. Of course, then she turns around and hurts Athena and wants to kill Athena.
I loved Antigoddess. But this just came off as such a personality shift from most of the main characters that it’s making my head spin.
I’ll definitely read the final book in the trilogy, if only to find out the ultimate ending, but Mortal Gods only hit 3 stars for me this go around.
There is more action in this one than there was in the first novel. I guess I should add that one.