Cover Image: Olympian Challenger

Olympian Challenger

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When I started reading this book it drew me in straight away. The main character is a take no crap from anyone kind of person and I love her selflessness. The only thing I found a little repetitive was the way she would question herself. But when certain challenges came up she was all in and became a leader.

I found this book super easy to read and I am beyond excited to see where the next one goes.

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I was given an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hope Diaz's life has been anything but happy. Her mother was diagnosed with dementia (early stages?) and it is slowly robbing her of her memories. Hope has given up her entire life to take care of her mom and she hopes to one day to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a doctor (her mother was a midwife). One day Hope receives a mysterious invitation. In fact, the entire senior class has received one. Only Hope's invitation has more and she ends up on Mt. Olympus after trying to save a young man from drowning. Here she finds herself trapped and will have to play in a tournament for the Gods. But Hope has only one thing on her mind - getting back to her mother and she will do anything she can to leave Olympus.

Unfortunately for Hope, the exits are sealed and the only way for Hope to leave Olympus is play in the tournament. As the games begin, Hope finds herself in a battle to not only keep herself alive but to win the tournament with the hopes of returning to her Mom.

Okay I admit that this book kept me glued from beginning to end. I liked the premises of Greek Mythology but then again any story with it will pretty much sucker me in.

I liked Hope. I felt she had potential. She is desperate to be apart of her Mom's life while her Mom is being robbed from her by the stages of dementia and I have to sympathize with her on that. My own Mom is in the early stages of dementia and much like Hope, I don't like leave her alone because I worry of coming home one day and her memory of me is erased. So I can see how hard it is for Hope especially when she is trapped on Olympus and forced to play in a tournament she really wants to part of. As each person is eliminated, Hope finds her goal within her sight.

The only thing I have grown tired of when it comes to ya is the fact that everything seems to incorporate the Hunger Games in their storylines. Next to insta-love (this one, I have to admit, is a bit different when it comes to romance. It is a slow burn), most of the ya storylines seem to think they need to add to some element of the Hunger Games into their storyline. While this story has set itself a bit apart from the dystopian storyline and used mythology instead, it still felt like I was reading something along the lines of a fanfiction.

There were also some sentence structures within that felt a bit awkward. Some of them caused me to have to re-read the paragraph twice to understand what the author was trying to convey.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It kept me rivted from the beginning of the book to the end. Again I am a sucker when it comes to anything written with mythology weaved into their storyline. I enjoy those types of books more than anything. If this is to be a trilogy, I cannot wait to see how the series ends. Hope has a ton of potential and I am looking forward to seeing how she does in the next book.

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I am in love with Greek mythology and this first book confirmed my love for these divinities. Hope is the main character, she's desperate to give her mother to dementia but she doesn't know what to do to help her. She then receives this mysterious invitation and after jumping into the water to save a boy, she finds herself at Mount Olympus, embarked in spite of herself in a fierce competition at a dark stake!

Hope is really a character we love over the pages. She is first devoted to her mother, then to her friends and finally to her love. She doesn't have a single evil thought for her competitors and is able to help them even if they are mean to her. That is what she has in her and she cannot fight against her nature. The Greek gods are frankly not nice in this novel, everything is decadence at their home and the life of humans does not matter to them as long as they serve their interests. The tests imposed on humans in order to obtain a wish is very much interwoven with mythology and requires ingenuity on the part of all the participants, but more particularly on the part of Hope. The end is rather predictable in itself, but the second volume is likely to be interesting. I hadn't seen the romance coming either, which is still light for the moment! The whole is very well pinned with the author's writing. I will not miss the second volume!

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To be completely honest I didn't really enjoy this book. I read it all the way through but it was a real struggle for me to do so. I couldn't connect with the characters or the story line..not sure if it was because it was more Young Adult than I like anymore or if I really just wasn't in the right 'head space' to read it when I did. I really wish that I had enjoyed it more because it has real potential. The idea of the Gods needing a champion and having this competition is intriguing. But like I said...to me it just could have been better.

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Olympian Challenger by Astrid Arditi is a pleasant surprise, I hardly read YA Greek mythology but the few I've read have been amazing including this one.
Hope Diaz is a teenage girl that has had to be the caretaker of her mother who has dementia. Hope had to mature quickly and take charge of her life.
It all changes for her when she and some other kids her age and magically transported to Mount Olympus and told they're very distant descendants of the Greek Gods.
Not only that, they have to enter a competition that can have only one champion who will be the champion of the Gods and be granted one wish.
Hope at first rebels and tries to find her way back home to get to her ailing mother, but when she finds out about the time dilation and the fact that she can save her mother, she decides to stay and try her best.
From the large pool of competitors, 24 are chosen for sponsorship by the major gods who will compete at the final 10 trials. Hope makes friends, enemies, finds out things about the gods that reveal their sinister core.
Part of what makes this book amazing is the pace and the action, the words flow so easily and it's nice to devour. The mesmerizing details of the action, trials, magic and squabbles between the gods themselves entertain to no end.
Hope makes for an amazing heroine as she's selfless, loving, brave and quite magical.
Sometime in the book, powers originating from the divine ancestors are bestowed on the competitors and I certainly loved how that plays into the story.
It's a story of friendship and love as much as it is bravery and strength.
Hope grows closer to a lower god Keiron a son of Hades despite his father's consternation and disapproval. Theirs is a connection fraught with misunderstandings and doubts but the draw and pull is undeniable and it's great to watch them find their way to each other and realise they're stronger together than apart.
Hope's two best friends Amy and Gabriel are also great characters with interesting storylines.
The moments before the ending are thrilling and exhilarating as they ended what has been a phenomenal story in a way that's both satisfying and will still leave readers wanting for more.
Astrid Arditi is a talented author with lush and rich writing that has forged a book that is not to be missed, lovers of YA have to read this book.
I wholeheartedly recommend it, you will not regret it.

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I gave this book 4 stars. I had a blast reading this book. I was having a bit of a hard time reading some of the ARCs I had, but reading this one gave me the push I needed.

The thing about books like this is that I really love them for the whole competition theme. My only issue is that by the end when everyone else has been eliminated, it just feels so lonely. There is a reason I loved the Hunger Games and my favorite show when I was younger was Total Drama Island, but with all of these the same issue arose: It just isn’t fun anymore when there is a single person left.

The characters were a home run. They were well rounded, dynamic personalities and I wanted them all to be happy. I want only good things for them and hopefully, we will see that in the next book.

I’m a sucker for anything with mythology in it and I am happy to say that I was pretty satisfied with the knowledge the author had of Greek Mythology. There have been a few books I’ve read in the past which were pretty much 95% fabrication of the mythology. I mean it definitely wasn’t the most accurate, but it did have a healthy incorporation of fact.

Overall, I’m excited to get to the next book. This was an amazing start to the series and I want to see some happy things and some exciting things happening in the next book. Fingers crossed.

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I was skeptical at first but in the end this book blew all of my expectations away. The world building, character, and story are so well written you can see yourself there. You develop connections to characters and root for them. Hope is flawed and relatable but grows so much. Her story and those of the others are relatable and heartbreaking.
The cover is gorgeous but what's inside really is the art. I cannot praise this enough.

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This is a book about the ord Greek gods and the mountain Olympus. Can one girl win and be the Olympian winner, and save her mother before it’s to late.

Overall it wa a good book, it kept you interested to know more. It ends with a cliffhanger so more books will come.

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LOVED this book, LOVE the cover! The first thing that caught my attention, I know they say don't judge a book by it's cover but I definitely do. SORRY! I have read so many books that were written with Greek mythology and this one takes the cake! I was pulled in from the moment I started it. The only thing I would say negative is it reminded me of another story the way the invitation was handled but other than that it was a powerful story, magical and I loved the characters. Beyond ready for book number two!

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I really enjoyed this book. It felt like a cross between The Hunger Games and Twilight. Well developed plot and characters, held my interest all the way through. The only thing I didn't like was the ending but that's because I was left wanting to know what happens next. Can't wait for the next book.

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I love mythology and love it even more the ability to easily look up a god/goddess if I forget what their story or what they are god/goddess of. Yes, it was similar to a Hunger Games type arena. The contests were centered around a being and were mini-puzzles not just brute strength ones. I really liked Hope and her devotion to her sick mother. Her loyalty to her new friends was also a plus for me.
The romance was slight and has me interested as to how it will go in the next book. Ending was complete for this story but opened up for the next. I will definitely be picking up the next and I need Gabriel's story too. I received NetGalley ARC at no charge for which I voluntarily provided an honest review.

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I started off pretty optimistic with this book, since the first couple of chapters or so were pretty good. But after that, my feelings just became more and more convoluted, and by the end I just really didn't know what to think. I found myself becoming more and more disappointed, which was really frustrating because I started off really liking it.

Hope is a hard-working student and dutiful daughter, taking care of her mother with dementia while still maintaining great grades and competing on the swim team. When she receives a mysterious invitation that only a few others can read, her first thought is that she is going insane. But when she is sucked away to Mount Olympus in order to train and fight against the other competitors in order to obtain a spot as the champion of the gods, and be granted one wish, Hope realizes that her world is bigger than she could have ever imagined. It will take everything she has to win this competition--but is the price worth the reward?

I really liked the premise of this book, because I love Greek mythology, I love competitions, and I love magical elements. I especially love it when all three of those are combined. And there were some times where I really did feel myself getting pulled into the story, and that I didn't want to put it down. Unfortunately, that wasn't how it was for me the majority of the time.

One of my huge issues was that the characters seemed a little underdeveloped. Everyone had one major characteristic, and everything revolved around that. (ex. Hope was perfect and selfless, Amy was stand-offish and hoarded shiny things...) The only character I really liked was Gabriel, as he seemed to be the only character with more human emotions. I would say that my biggest issue with the book is Hope herself, because she seemed to perfect, selfless, and talented to be an actual human.

The story was also a bit choppy, at some points I was pretty confused because it felt like a step or a scene had been skipped in-between events. The story was probably the most interesting part, but the characters made it difficult to connect and get invested and as a result I found myself less eager to read. The love-story element also detracted from it, as it felt like the typical girl-likes-boy who pushes her away story.

I feel like with different characters that this book could have been extremely interesting, but with the current cast I just couldn't find much to get excited about. The first couple chapters had quite a bit of potential (the ones on Earth), but once we got to Olympus I could feel my interest waning. I was pretty interested in this book because of the premise, so I'm sad that it didn't work out.

2/5 Stars

Disclaimer: I received an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way altered my review of, opinions on, or feelings towards the book.

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I received a copy of Olympian Challenger by Astrid Arditi from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the summary and really wanted to like this novel, but it was a chore at times to keep reading. The storyline could have been pulled together better and the characters (especially the main character) developed better. There were flashes of real goodness, but then the story would get bogged down or off track a little.

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Hope's life is tumbling down every day she sees her mother succumb to her dementia. one morning she discovers an invitation to participate in a challenge. She thinks is a joke and proceeds to worry about her mothers illness. That night she sees a guy jump into a river and with the frozen temperatures she know he will not survive long so she jumps in to try to save him. Because is this deed she is transported to mount Olympus where she is now part of a selected group of teens fighting for the chance of obtaining one gift from the gods. Hope is determine to win the competition and win the gift so she can ask the gods to cure her mother. Through out the competition, she founds love, frienship and a hate for the gods who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

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I just want to state the obvious... THIS COVER OMG. Love!

I really loved the story, it was a unique take on the classic Greek Mythology retellings. I felt like there was something slightly off about the pacing of the story. I wish we got to see more of Hope before the Olympus journey started. The first chapter she receives the invitation card, but I wish that that was either the second part of the first chapter or the second chapter. Even the ending happened really quickly. Also, it was never explained how the challengers knew what to do to get into the competition. They all seemed like the chose to be there, besides Hope, so how did they all know that "doing something brave" would lead them to Olympus?

As for the characters, I wish they were developed more, especially the supporting characters. The other challengers felt so basic that I didn't really keep track of who was who, except for Heath. Gabriel was not a likable character, even though I think he was supposed to be. He was so concerned with appearances that it was almost annoying. Same with Amy, she was obsessed with "things" but that aspect of her kept coming up. I guess I wish the characters were more multifaceted. There is also a Hate to Love trope in the book, but I didn't necessarily hate it. I actually really liked Kieron as a character.

This book is definitely set up for a sequel and I will be reading it when it comes out.

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When I started this book I was skeptical. I am a huge mythology enthusiast (okay, fine – NERD) and I’ve been let down too many times when it comes to YA and Greek mythology to have too high hopes, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

There were some obvious clichés, like The Love Interest and the gay best friend, but I also think they were a little refreshing in their execution. My largest problems with the book were the somewhat rushed plot, the faulty facts about the myths/gods and the language. I did like the main character, Hope, who I thought was relatable.

The language didn’t flow, and often it felt as if the author tried to make up for the lack of genuine descriptions by adding unnecessarily complicated words. It felt unnatural and didn’t add anything to the story, but I think it got better as the story progressed (or I got used to it, not really sure).

What got me the most, like it practically always does with books about mythology, was the errors in the depiction of the gods and their cannon. For example, Hades was included in the twelve Olympians, and put on one of the twelve thrones. I constantly wondered who was forced to give up their seat to him. Perhaps it was Demeter, who was absent for most of the book, but I think that it was only overlooked that there were thirteen major gods to seat. I do understand that Arditi made her own interpretations of the myths and characters. I have absolutely no problem with some artistic variations, but when it’s plain wrong I turn into a little Fury.

The plot was also very fast paced, especially at the end. I am not even 100% certain that I’ve read all of the book, because the ending was very sudden. It might have been an attempt at a cliffhanger, or I’m missing the last few pages in my e-copy.

I can’t say that Olympian Challenger is in the same league as Percy Jackson, or the Hunger Games that some people compare it to, but it was far from the worst YA/mythology book that I’ve read. Arditi deals with some important subjects, like mental and physical illness, and I respect her for that, but at times it fell flat. The characters never fully fleshed out, and The Love Interest, which in theory would be perfectly swoon-worthy for me, didn’t really capture my interest. That said I would probably have jumped right into the next book if I’d had it in front of me, because I was still hooked.

It was an entertaining read, and I don’t regret reading it. Its style and character reminded me a lot of Oh. My. Gods and Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs. This is not a book to read if you want another Percy Jackson, but seriously – what are the chances of finding one of those?

I recommend this book to younger readers of YA, and to those who are looking for a quick, entertaining read with a backdrop of Greek mythology!

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i loved the olympian challenger, the relationships between the main character and her friends calls to me. i cant wait to buy a cop of this book.

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As a Classicist, I have a fondness for stories that incorporate elements of Greek mythology and am interested in finding books for teenage readers who enjoy ancient history and mythology. On the whole, I enjoyed Olympian Challenger, though I found the last third of the book much more engaging than the beginning, which felt a little rushed in terms of story pacing. I admit to finding the portrayals of particular characters (Gabriel) a bit too stereotypical and some features of the narrative cliché, but these elements seemed to improve towards the end of the novel. The twists and interpretations of the different stories of the gods were, to me, the most interesting parts of the story, as well as the use of the pythia as a proper character instead of the usual references to oracles that stories employing mythology often have. I look forward to the next book!

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A girly remake of percy jackson, but not my favorite read.

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This story is imaginative and creepy with just a dash of Hope. Perfect for fans of Percy Jackson or Greek mythology. I loved that this book didn't just cover the main 12 Olympians, but talked about some additional gods and goddesses I'd never heard of. Hope, the main character, is swept off to Mount Olympus to compete for the privilege of being the gods hero, but she never asked to come. Hope is pitted against the other contestants and still finds a way to make friends. I loved that her sense of right and wrong was so strong, this is a atmosphere that would make it very easy for her to get confused about whether or not to protect her friends. I also love a bookish heroine and Hope's love of reading about the myths (and subsequently telling the reader) made for a feeling of participation while the challengers made it through the trials.

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