Cover Image: Olympian Challenger

Olympian Challenger

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Member Reviews

3.5/5

I got an ARC copy from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for honest review. Thank you for providing me this ARC.

I like the cover so much. When I read the description I was like, yass another Greek mythology. Then, I requested this ARC.

This book is like the Hunger Games meets Greek mythology. It took me back to the good old times reading Percy Jackson. I could get into the book because I know some basics of Greek myth.

Every New York teenagers got a mysterious invitation but only some who could make it. Hope Diaz, the main character was one of those "lucky" teenagers who made it. They were transported to Mount Olympus to compete, yet there was only one who could win. The one who had heroic heart and the winner could wish only one thing that would be granted.

I liked the idea of this book. The more I read, the more I understood the gods and the world.

The plot was good and I liked how it moved forward. It wasn't that fast-paced nor slow-paced. That didn't make me bored.

The characterization were good. And how Astrid pictured the characters was good. Even I annoyed by some characters and liked some.

The English used here was easy to understand for a non-native English speaker like me.

The quests, the friendship, and the world fascinated me, yet I didn't get the romance sorry. I liked this book but it didn't make me wowed. But, this book is GREAT!

Thank you for writing this book, Astrid!

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That gosh darn cover! I freaking love it! I love Greek Mythology, Zesus still sucks, Hades is truly a bad man, and the rest....Well you read it let me know! LOL Hope Diaz is a teenager trying to take care of her mother, who has dementia. Hope is able to take care of her mother with the help of her mom's bestfriend. Hope receives an invitation in the mail about a challenge but so does every student in her school. Hope goes for a walk to clear her mind, and see's someone jump into the water. She instantly jumps in to save them and is transported to Olympus after being saved by a God. We see Hope coming to terms with the idea that she will actually have to compete in the challenge. Hope makes friends and unfortunately enemies too! The challenges went by pretty quick, and every challenger wanted to be there except Hope. I would have loved more back story on Hope, and the other challengers. I kept confusing everyone, and had to go back and read about them again lol. The END..what?? After all that, I cannot wait for the next book because I was a little upset at the ending, I mean come on. HUGE cliffhanger, like HUG!

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Greek mythology at it’s finest!

SPOILER FREE

P L O T

I love how the intro didn’t drag too long and it got straight to the point by bringing the teens to Olympus and starting with the competition. This book really focuses on the challenges that the demigods will face, the competition, all set in Arditi’s version of Olympus.

It may seem kind of slow sometimes but every scene was necessary because they play a part in later events. The only other Greek Mythology YA Fantasy books I’ve read are by Rick Riordan and Astrid Arditi’s Olympian Challenger is a breath of fresh air. It’s light, we have a female lead, just enough action because too much isn’t really my thing.

C H A R A C T E R S

Hope

She’s the perfect candidate, she didn’t want to take part in the competition but she has no choice now. She’s always putting the happiness of others first and it sometimes annoys me but maybe that’s just my selfish self talking.

I don’t entirely feel the romance, I think it was kind of forced but I’m a sucker for love so I’m going along with it. The curious boy and the humble girl, what an unusual match. But I do love the feminism in this book where the girl advances on the guy even though he constantly avoids her every chance he gets. The future is female!

W R I T I N G

I love how the author chose minor gods and goddesses who aren’t very known by the people. I myself just know the basics - the twelve major gods and some minor ones. It is kind of confusing in the world of the gods where they have children and sleep with each other. Who’s who, and who’s child is who?

I must say, I like the author’s version of Olympus. It makes sense, the level godliness is obvious, and that little tidbit about minor gods not being entirely immortal was great too.

O V E R A L L

It was beautiful, exciting, and heart-breaking!

This books is obviously not a stand alone, and I’m super excited for the next installment. I have no idea what to expect next but I hope it’ll be a thrilling ride!

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I was so excited to read this book when I first requested it. It sounded like a YA version of Percy Jackson and I love anything and everything to do with Greek Mythology. But I was so disappointed . I hate giving negative reviews, but I can't really get away from the terrible aspects of this book.
First of all the writing is really obvious, and too vague at the same time. The Fate's prophecy at the start of the book gives away the ending. But at the same time, the writer withholds so much information from us, it makes it hard to read. But I carried on reading anyway.
It read a little like a children's book. The plot was too simple, and too obvious. But even some children's books have more interesting characters. Hope, the protagonist of the story, was so annoying that I could barely stand being inside her head. And Gabriel was the most stereotyped LGBT 'Gay-Best-Friend' you could get. That angered me the most, there isn't enough LGBTQ+ representation in books as there should be, and it doesn't help when books like this stereotype homosexuality. As a supporter of LGBTQ+ I found that a little hard to get over. But for some reason, I still didn't DNF the book and kept reading. Amy was the book's saving grace. She was the only character I liked, but even then, she lacked depth. The author gave us one piece of information about each character, and that was it, the rest of their personality centred around this. Amy and her thieving, Gabriel being gay, Heath being spiteful, Hope being 'selfless', etc. And we knew even less about the other supporting characters except 'one has muscles', 'one has glasses', 'one's mean', and this made it very hard to enjoy the story.
I kept reading though because despite the bad writing and characters. I did actually enjoy the general concept of this book. And the fact that it's based on Greek Mythology would keep me reading any book, even if I hated most things about it.
Hope is meant to be the brave, heroic protagonist of the story, but to be honest I found her weak, moany and all round a bit of a wimp. She gives up, she doesn't try very hard, and to be honest, although I understand that the author was trying to put an arc of growth into the story, I wasn't ever really routing for her through the competition. and you are meant to route for the protagonist, to want them to succeed. but with hope, I didn't. I didn't actually like her enough. With Hope, things happen to her, she isn't a very active character, and she doesn't really actually do much. I think that's what frustrated me the most about her. I just wanted to shake her and tell her to actually do something to fight against and change her situation. But she doesn't, she just lets the others do things for her. It took until chapter 27 for her to finally do something good. And that's really not right for a supposed hero protagonist.
I kind of wish Amy was the protagonist really at least she was less of a damsel in distress. I saw Hope as being a bit of a 'Mary Sue'/'Special Snowflake' character who was a little too much to be realistic. I didn't really believe in her, she was a character, and didn't really seem much like a real person.
Hope's dislike of Heath from the start really annoyed me too. I couldn't see why she was resenting him for what happened, when it wasn't really his fault. She was the one who caused her fate, but she constantly projects it on Heath. Which is really weird, and really frustrating. She also gets really angry over the stupidest things. When she meets Delphi in the woods, she listens to the prophecy (which is actually really obvious and not cryptic at all like she makes out) and then she storms off in a temper that literally makes no sense, or has no real reason. And then later when she does have a chance to get more of her questions answered. She doesn't bother to ask them, wasting the questions on stupid, pointless stuff instead. A classic case of the author withholding information again.
But the thing that annoyed me the most about Hope, was her constant insistence that she wants to go home. If you read this book, or have read it. You will know what I mean. It's stupid!
This book is so outrageous, that I think that's why I kept reading it. Because it was amusingly over the top. I actually found myself rolling my eyes at parts of it... actually rolling my eyes.
I also just have to put this out there. KIERON. She named a minor Greek God (who is so obviously Erebus) KIERON.... I'll just leave you all to think about that one... Kieron...
I did like the idea of the fountain to reveal their Greek ancestry though. But of course Hope would be the only one to have two ancestors, and of course the author would keep withholding, and withholding and withholding who the other ancestor is like it's some big surprise. Instead it's just frustrating, especially as WE ACTUALLY EVEN FIND OUT IN THIS BOOK. Don't tease something right towards the start of the book if you are not even going to write it in this book. That's just cruel.
The challenges are the best part of the book, and they are the thing that stopped me from DNFing the book altogether. They were interesting, and things actually happened in them. And I love the idea of the Demi-God illness that affects a lot of the character's parents. But the romance was terrible Instalove that I really couldn't get over. It was, again, laughable really.
I’ve seen some people compare this to Percy Jackson. But no. Just no. It’s so pale in comparison, with pale characters and weak plots. Its an insult to Riordan to compare this to Percy Jackson just because it shares the theme of Greek mythology. Reading the description, I even thought it would be a little like a YA Percy Jackson. But it doesn't even come close. I was so excited about this book. But now I’m so disappointed. I probably won’t read the sequel.

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This book is a gem for readers who were captivated by the Rick Riordan Olympus series. Similar in some ways but darker. This was a book difficult to put down. I have found a new author for our young adults and look forward to the other books in this series

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Book Review of Olympian Challenger by Astrid Arditi
Rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟
🔹
I’m personally a big sucker for Greek Mythology books. So I’m always down to read retellings or reimaginings.
🔹
Hope is a teenage girl just trying to get by and take care of her mother who is sick. Until one night where her life is swiftly changed and she’s taken to Mount Olympus to compete to become the next Hero.
I honestly love the gods and lower gods all being involved and the challenges they have to face are epic as are the quests they need to finish to move on in the competition.
Hope makes some unlikely friends whom I adore. Especially the shadow god that likes whispering from shadows and being the perfect broody god you would expect.
I’m so sad I have to wait until 2019 to get the next book in this trilogy.
🔹
Astrid Arditi did a fabulous job with the scenery she paints for you and the intricate quests she has the challengers go on. Definitely would recommend this book. It has Greek mythology tied with new humans into the mix, courageous acts from friends, and a romance that’ll make you swoon.

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This book has easily paved it's way into my heart. Spellbinding is the right word for Astrid Arditi’s writing. She has serenely woven a new world of Greek Mythology, and made it a hundred times better. Must pick for dystopia lovers. Throughly enjoyed. Waiting for the second part. Find my blog review with the link:

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I am still not really sure how I feel about this book? I loved it enough that I read it in two days and stayed up to finish it, but it was also riddled with overused tropes and left me with lots of questions.

The story begins when Hope receives a letter in the mail inviting her to some mysterious event. She learns that basically every high school senior in New York has received the same message and they think it’s an invitation to a big party that is happening soon. However, the card turns out to be an invitation to a competition to become an Olympian Hero and all the challengers get transported to Mount Olympus including Hope.

Half of the book is basically the challengers getting accumulated to Mount Olympus and the other half of the book are the challenges that are each based on the stories of different Greek heroes. I love Greek mythology which I feel drew me in the most; I liked how the gods were portrayed as imperfect beings who are fueled by their own greed. However, I didn’t really feel anything for any of the gods except for Hades , because there wasn’t much information about the rest. They kind of blended together.

The challengers were also confusing to keep track of sans Gabriel, Amy, Heath, and obviously Hope. There were just so many names, but not many defining qualities. I was also left with questions, because some parts confused me so much? I also love Gabriel so so much, but I felt that Hope thinking about how much he's grown was stated way too much.

I do feel that Hope realistically portrayed how a teenager would react to the situations she was put in and I liked her character development throughout the book, but it also felt kind of rushed. I am also not the biggest fan of the chosen one and insta-love tropes, which are very apparent in this book. Hope has someone telling her every other chapter that she has to win the competition and become a hero. Also, I can understand instant attraction, but I cannot stand instant love.

Overall, I still have mixed feelings, but I did enjoy it for the most part. I felt like it was paced pretty well and there weren’t any parts where I felt that it dragged on too long. It was a cute mythology retelling and I think I’ll be continuing with the series when the next book comes out.

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I'd give the book 3.5 stars, overall.

Let's start with the cover, because I would be lying if I said it wasn't a major factor in looking for further information. It's gorgeous. The blurb reels you right in. I'm a big fan of (Greek) mythology, so this is right up my alley.

The book is told from the POV of Hope Diaz, who finds herself in a tournament with 29 other teenagers, to become Olympus' next hero.

The plot is awesome and there's really never a dull moment, though I feel like it could've flowed a little better. A huge part of the story is the old heroes training the contenders, which I really loved. They were nice, helpful and supportive, which I thought was a cool element.

Hope is a really nice and actually good person, who just wants to help others, which was refreshing. Sometimes she had a little bit of a 'holier-than-you' attitude, but it still worked out okay.

There are some flaws as well. The 'instalove' between Hope and Kieron, for example. Their connection is evident, but it all happened so fast. They barely know each other for 3 weeks and have had maybe 5 substantial conversations, and suddenly they are so in love with each other. It just happened very fast.

Also, some of the characterization felt off. The other contestants were often very one-dimensional and there was a lot of girls hating on girls. I understand that they are opponents, yet the focus on it was too much for me.

The ending is very abrupt, but it does make you want to read the sequel immediately. I'll be looking forward, because the plot does have a lot of potential.

TLDR: There are some flaws and growing pains, but if you enjoy Greek Mythology and a book with a nice plot and quite fast pacing, this is for you.

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Olympian Challenger was such a refreshing Greek Mythology Book! It really had an interesting spin on the Gods and for once included lesser Gods rather than only the Olympians! Seriously obsessed with Keiron btw!
The story begins when every 17 year old in New York receives a letter telling them ‘they’re cordially invited to...’
Only descendants of the Greek Gods could read the rest of the letter and our MC, Hope Diaz, just happens to be able to read it(;
Hope is completely confused by this letter, as any sane person would be when threatened through a mysterious letter that only she can read, and doesn’t know whether she’s going crazy (totally possible) or if something else is happening.
At this point she finds herself jumping into a river to save a boy who seemingly is trying to commit suicide and BOOM she’s in Olympus.
The rest I want to keep under wraps to avoid spoilers! I will say though that this was a seriously fun read, I literally could not put it down
This seems like it’s going to be a series, so I can’t wait for book two!

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I love mythology and it has been a very long time since I have enjoyed a good mythology fantasy book.

I love this cover because I have always loved fashion (pretty dresses are my weakness). The mystical cover with the moon, mist and peculiar lightning was a great visual choice. That along with the intrigue of the title was enough to get me to request the ARC. When I saw that this was a mythology based fantasy book I was more than happy to read it as quickly as I could. It took me about a week to read the first chapter because I kept on getting distracted, but once I sat down and actually read the book, it went by really fast. I went into the typical book trance and enjoying every moment I could spend in Arditi’s world. Each character has some quirky and endearing trait. This created a great depth that made the characters realistic and relatable.

The gods were similar to how I imagine them. They have a snobbish sense of power when in the presence of mere mortals. I know a fair amount of Greek mythology and it was fun and interesting to see Arditi’s portrayal of Olympus and all its inhabitants.

The smallest issue I had was that Hope was a little bit too angsty teenager for me. I have read A LOT of young adult fiction and thus I can say that the teenagers don’t actually tend to be as full of angst and hurt as Hope. Of course, this shows how Hope has a layer to her that is not often seen. She has a side to her character that is normally seen as a negative trait, yet Hope somehow makes it work.

The Olympus that Astrid Arditi has created for us is a rich and enticing world. It is not the utopia it seems to be. Arditi gives the Olympian world that bad taste of over-opulence and beauty that is hiding the ugly underneath. It looks like the flower but is actually the serpent under it. (A little bit of Shakespeare paraphrasing for all those Shakespearean lovers out there).

This book will be great for people who love mythology and adventure. It might not appeal to all audiences but in general I recommend it if these types of genres interest you.

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Ok, I chose this book cause I love Greek Mythology so any book that has that will get a second look from me. I was happy I gave this book a read. Let me get you straight on this. This book is a young adult (I mean young, almost pre-teen in my opinion) book. Not that I am complaining one bit about it. The story line was very interesting and the characters were very well developed. The characters were easily either liked or disliked quite quickly and that kept the story moving along. The casting of how the Gods & Goddesses were left me a little sour in the mouth but that is to be expected. Hades was cast as a bit more "evil" then I feel that he actually is in most of the legends. My main issue is that for most of the heroes in the story you had to go outside the book to find their back stories. I felt that the story would have been better if you knew the legends about the heroes that are listed in the book. Why they behave and act the way they do.

The main character, Hope, is very well developed and you quickly like her and cheer & cry along with her as she unwillingly competes in the challenge with her rivals. You feel the deep love she has for her mother and for me the ending was quite a shock. The decision she made, in my opinion, will either break her or make her stronger down the line.

I can not wait for the next two books to come out to see where this story line and plot go. If nothing else to read more about the budding romance between Hope & her shadow god. Even if you are an adult and want a nice easy read that will keep you engaged then you will like this book.

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Olympian Challenger follows the journey of Hope Diaz. She receives a mysterious invitation which brings her to Mount Olympos, against her own will. When there, she's made to be one of the competitor's to become the next hero or heroine to complete a quest for the Gods. But that is not an easy task, quite the opposite. Will she succeed or is she doomed to oblivion?

What made me want to request and read this book, was the mythology. And obviously that this book has a lot. But it was so cruel and not anything like I expected it to be. Possibly I hoped it to be like Percy Jackson books a little too much. Olympian Challenger was just too full of death, angst and everything negative that it wasn't a book for me. I really enjoyed the start of this book but as the quests started, I started to lose my interest.

As for the characters, I didn't connect with anyone and the only one I liked was Gabriel. Hope didn't seem to be able to make up her mind with anything. At one minute she was hating it all and wanting to go home but in the next she was all in.
Gabriel on the other hand was the one who brought diversity to this book and also grew up as the story went on. He came in as a whimpy kid and grew to be a man.

The romance in this book was not really a romance. Or it was but I didn't feel even a little bit of it being true. You know when the romance is good when you start rooting for the couple to be happy and have them butterflies in your stomach, this was nothing like that. It didn't develop at all, it just seemed like it was forced to happen. Well, you could see that happening from the start but I just hope it would have been real. I guess I could compare it to brother-sister relationship more than an actual romance. There just wasn't any chemistry between the characters at all!
But the LGBT romance was there! Oh how I hope they will have a happy ending. I'd love to hear more about that couple than the actual mc and her 'romance'.

All in all Olympian Challenger was a nice book to read but it would have been even better without all the death and stuff. If I'll ever read the next book in this series, I hope the romance would actually feel like a romance and there's a lot less people dying almost for nothing.

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Olympian Challenger by Astrid Arditi is a more grown-up version of Percy Jackson, bringing the Gods into the present.
After receiving a mysterious invitation, Hope Diaz finds herself on Mount Olympus competing to become the God's new hero and get the wish promised to the winner.
Hope's goodness shines through the darkest moments. (Hades is involved, so there's going to be some darkness.) You can't help but like her. Hope struggles to stay true to herself and not get caught up in the game. She bonds with Amy and Gabriel. Their interactions were both endearing and hilarious. Amy and Hope are so different, but they help balance each other. Gabriel's temperament is closer to Hopes, but he has issues of his own. My favorite conversations involved Hope and Kieron, the dark mysterious God she's drawn to. There was an instant attraction, but their relationship evolved with the story instead of jumping straight to being in "love." The relationships are all well written.
The author's description of Mount Olympus was amazing. There was just the right amount of detail that makes you feel like you've gone to Olympus and drank ambrosia with the Gods. Olympian Challenger was so sweet and action packed I can't wait to read the next book!

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This was Quite a pleasant Read!

I honestly was not expecting to enjoy the book as a much as i did. i've always loved greek mythology however find it really difficult to find a book in this subject that isnt too cheesy.


The story follows a group of teens who all of sudden find themselves on Mount Olympus competing against each other in the presence of the ancient greek gods. Specifically our main Character is Hope, and she comes with everything you expect of a lead female in a book, she witty, intelligent and independent. Hope is sent a mysterious invitation to compete in the Olympic challenger that promises her a wish is she wins.

The book as a bit of a ' Hunger Games' feel in the sense that Hope if transported and trained by the pantheon of greek gods ready to take on the other contenders shes up against - although she doesn't want to be there and is searching for a way out despite the winner being granted their ultimate hearts desire. Hope has great sense of compassion and this shows throughout the trials

Arditi has great character building and every individual really does stick out in their own way, the take on greek mythology is honestly great and really geats some great world building into the storyline.

We also have an interesting little love story when Hope Meeting Kieron - the shadow god. hes captivating and mysterious and brings and element to Hope's Character that really draws you in throughout the storyline although he does have ulterior motives like all the gods watching the games.

Overall i really have loved this book. it kept me gripped throughout and i LOVED the greek mythology theme - the characters are great and well written

and Hope is a true heroine that has everything to offer in a good read as well as plenty of flaws and i'm genuinely looking forward to the next book in the series.

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I love Greek mythology so, naturally, I had to read this. The synopsis was intriguing and it sounded pretty magical.
It's basically a unique take on a classic myth, a retelling with nuances of The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson woven into it. But it may as well have been an awfully written fanfiction.

I loved the plot and the premise. I thought it was strong and the pacing of the story was like breathing; natural and easy-going. The challenges Hope faced were interesting and entertaining. But the writing was hard to digest. It failed to live up to my expectations - dramatic moments fell flat because there was just no intense hype. Many felt anti-climatic and I almost lost interest because everything seemed easy for Hope, despite the many challenges. And then the characters - Kieron felt underdeveloped - okay, I liked him at first, but then he became so different to how he initially was that I was put off - and I couldn't connect to Hope as they were both quite immature. The insta-love was juvenile and it didn't keep me interested very long.
But overall, the plot was amazing. I loved the idea of it, the concept of /the/ Olympian challenger. I thought that was pretty cool. The writing just fell short and flat and I didn't want to read on.

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This book is a fresh take on greek mythology. The plot revolves around a competition in which several demigods participated and who so ever completes all the tasks will be the olympian winner. I found this book to be an okay read. I received an ARC of this book for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

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I finished this book a while ago and I honestly didn’t know if I enjoyed it or not. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of great elements about this book that I enjoyed but I felt as though there was so much more potential there that could have been unlocked.
I am a sucked for Mythology so reading the blurb about this book was enough for me to jump up and down and request it; after all Greek gods are everything! After reading this book though I felt there could have been more unlocked with the gods and provide a little more back story to set them up.
Hope spends her time looking after her sick mother who is slowly slipping away with dementia, so when the opportunity to win a wish comes along, why wouldn’t you take it? Hope gets transported to Mount Olympus to compete in a tournament where she meets the Greek Gods and their offspring.

Though the story was captivating I found that the only character I related to was Keirnan who was one of the competitors and the son of Hades. But who wouldn’t fall for a bad boy? They are squishy cinnamon rolls after all.
I decided to settle on 3.5 stars for this book as I want to see where the adventure continues and see how this creative world can expand.

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I am not a fan of mythology but this book may have just changed that. The main character Hope, who this book is centered on finds herself in Mt Olympus after trying to save a "drowning" boy. The only way to leave is to compete against other boys and girls who had also found themselves there in order to become a hero or heroine.

The winner of the challenge gets to win a wish from the gods who all make an appearance in this book. From Zeus, Hades, Aphrodite to Ares. What follows is a deadly competition where challengers are cut after every challenge.

Some things that I liked about this book.
1. The cover. This is one of the prettiest covers I've seen this year.
2. The pacing. I wouldn't describe it as fast paced but maybe the right pace? There was no lull in the middle or anywhere for that matter like in most books.
3. I liked Hope although she was such a goody-goody. Surely there is no one this nice.
4. The mythology

I removed one star because honestly that was the worst ending I have ever read. I can't wait for the next book, I want to find out more about Kieron. Please, please no random facts about him in book two.

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(I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.)



I feel like the odd one out in these reviews. I liked the book, but I did not go crazy for it. It was a light and easy read. It seemed to be a less-comedic take on the Percy Jackson series. I found the main character a bit annoying. I also found the love story really lacking. It was good for an easy and quick read, but it did not really stand out as a great new YA book. However, if you like Greek mythology it might be a fun read (especially if you like Percy Jackson or the Hunger Games).

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