Rating this book has been really hard as it really annoys me how much review bombing this book received and queer books always get worse reviews on goRating this book has been really hard as it really annoys me how much review bombing this book received and queer books always get worse reviews on goodreads. For me it was a 3 or 3.5 star read, but I don't think it deserves to have such a low overall goodreads score.
The story is set several hundred years after the Odyssey and Poseidon, angered by what Odysseus did to his son Polyphemus, uses the hangings of the twelve maids at the end of the Odyssey as an excuse to curse Ithaca - every year twelve more girls must be hanged or else the sea will come up and claim the island. The story follows our bisexual MC Leto, who is hanged to death as one of the yearly sacrifices, but then is brought back to life with the purpose of killing a prince of Ithaca - once every few decades a girl is brought back to life to kill a prince as the only way to lift the curse is to kill twelve princes of Ithaca in retribution for the twelve maids wrongfully murdered.
There are two other POV characters - Mathias, the current prince of Ithaca who is struggling with the guilt of the hangings and searching for a way to undo the curse; and Melanatho, who has been cursed to help each of the resurrected maids to kill their princes. Of our three protagonists, I liked Melantho the best as she had backbone and was sharp and intelligent, but Mathias was a bit annoying and Leto could sometimes be painfully dim. However, I did attend a talk with the author and she said that she wrote Mathias to be 'whiney and pathetic' and Leto to be 'impulsive' (her words not mine) so this made me feel a bit better about the book knowing that I was meant to feel this way about the characters.
I would have liked more depth in the “villains” of the story for a 500 page book and I wanted a bit more world building in terms of the Greek mythology and events that were happening outside of Ithaca. Other than that, this was well-paced, flowed well, and was easy to read. I feel like in her future books Sarah Underwood is going to be praised for her prose as we got bits of beautiful prose in this story, but as she develops as an author I imagine we will see more of it. The ending was really good - it felt true the story and was very emotional. I’d have liked some plot twists and bit more action through out the story, but this is very much a gentle vibey YA read.
If you like the greek mythology vibe and a well written, gently paced book, then this is for you....more
In a land where gods are hunted and killed, an unlikely group of four must set out on their own quests to the last city of the gods to save themselvesIn a land where gods are hunted and killed, an unlikely group of four must set out on their own quests to the last city of the gods to save themselves and their country -
Our four POV characters: - Kissen, the grouchy godkiller - Inara, a young noble girl who is bound to a god - Skedi, the god of white lies who is bound to Inara - Elogast, a former knight set a secret mission to help his king
Kissen has finally met a god she cannot kill - Skedi is bound to Inara, although neither of them know how or why, and when they go to Kissen hoping she knows how to separate them, Kissen realises she cannot kill one without killing the other. But when Inara's family is murdered, Kissen swears to protect Inara and help undo the bond between her and Skedi. To do this they must go to the old city of the gods in the hope that there are answers there for them. On their journey, the trio meet Elogast, who is on his own mission for his beloved king.
With a lovable and distinct cast of characters, great character development, and plenty of fast paced action, I thought this was a really good adult fantasy book. I think Inara and Skedi's relationship was one of my favourites in the book as I loved seeing them grow and change together and I can't wait to see how that is going to change going forward in the trilogy! There was great representation too - queer positive world, bisexual MC, MC with a limb difference, POC MC.
The world building was one of the highlights of the book - a unique world filled with gods and medieval fantasy with deep history and mythology and all in LESS THAN 300 PAGES!?!?! It is hard to believe that this is a debut and I can't wait to read the next two books in what is sure to be a bestselling trilogy from Kaner....more
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