LORE By Alexandra Bracken: My Review
LORE By Alexandra Bracken: My Review
About The Book
LORE
By Alexandra Bracken
SYNOPSIS
Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality.
Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family's sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt's promises of eternal glory. For years she's pushed away any thought of revenge against the man--now a god--responsible for their deaths.
Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods.
The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore's decision to bind her fate to Athena's and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost--and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.
My Review:
RATING: 4.5 STARS
As a lover of all things Greek Myth you can bet your bottom dollar that when I first saw this cover and read the blurb, I was psyched. Then, I finally got to go into Waterstones after six long months, and lo and behold, found this little beauty on the buy one get one half price paperback stand. It was the very first book of the haul that I chose to dive into, precisely because the premise of this novel had me seriously intrigued. As someone who writes the Greek gods and goddesses in modern settings, I was super interested to see how Bracken delivered on the many promises made to the reader in the synopsis.
Now, to start with I’ll admit I wasn’t as sucked in as I thought I’d be. The protagonist kind of annoyed me with her punch first think later attitude, and honestly, I felt like I was in the middle of a classics seminar with a hundred different infamous and mythic character names being tossed from left to right. I got around a hundred and twenty pages in and honestly, had no clue what was happening with Castor, as when he first appeared it seemed confusing to me that he could be both Apollo and not Apollo when the new Ares was so obviously a reincarnation of the original. I mean, Lore didn’t even notice which I found strange, to say the least.
This being said, I’m damn glad I persevered. After I hit around the 200-page mark this story took off, and I was glad of all the prior time taken to explain the way the Agon works and the involvement of different houses. Despite the fact it was a little long-winded, it also felt abrupt to me, as though I’d been thrown in the deep end, but then sort of left to float instead of being swept along by a riptide…
Athena’s character was a particular favourite for me, not only because she is undeniably human and likened to the protagonist Melora in so many ways, but also because she explained her reasoning behind her actions regarding Medusa, which I thought was super interesting, whereby Medusa’s beauty as a mortal was seen by Athena as weakness, rather than strength. I loved the tying together of different relics, and I loved the setting as well as the character of Miles who was just about the best darn friend I think Lore could have asked for. The twists which occurred in the latter part of this book also took me off guard, which is nice for any author, especially one who is rarely surprised by the direction a story takes.
The character development in this storyline was immense and well-executed by the author, and I’m still thinking about the ending a week on from when I turned the last page. I also really enjoyed how the theme of fate was woven into the novel, and I think this is definitely perfect for fans of Greek mythology.
All in all a four and a half star read for me, and it would have been a five if the world-building and initial introduction to the Agon had been a little smoother and not quite so abrupt. Definite recommend!
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