I am a big fan of books that find a beautiful way of weaving in mythology. However, even though the book description is beautiful, the writing for the few chapters here didn't grab my interest.

This is SUCH an interesting revamp of some of my fave aspects of Greek mythology. It takes PJATO's half-blood world-building one step further: What if humans could become gods?

Well, in this world, they can.

Thousands of years ago, nine gods—Athena, Artemis, Poseidon, Dionysus, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Ares—staged a failed revolution against Zeus. As punishment, they are doomed to face the Agon every seven years: they will walk the earth as mortals, and if they're killed by a Hunter, they forfeit their immortality.

It's essentially the bloodiest game of family-run Assassins you'll ever read.

Of the old gods, only Athena, Artemis, Apollo, and Hermes remain. The rest have been slain by members of the nine Hunter houses (whose bloodlines trace all the way back to famous ancient Greek heroes—Perseus, Kadmos, Achilles, Herakles...). Lore is the last mortal member of the House of Perseus. She has no intention of returning to the ruthless world she left behind all those years ago, but when her supposedly dead best friend turns up, and the goddess Athena promises to help her kill the man-god who brutally murdered her family—Lore's drawn right back in.

In terms of rep, so far we have several BIPOC characters—one of whom is gay and of South Korean descent!! Miles is Lore's best friend and such a funny foil to her intensity.

I've always found Alexandra Bracken's writing a little more verbose than your typical YA (this one's 480 pages y’all). In The Darkest Minds I found it made the story drag. In Lore, though, the descriptions of New York, mythological tidbits, and action scenes (Lore brawling in the ring, Athena bleeding out on her front stoop) keep the pace moving, and it really works.

I am SO excited to see where this heads!

Oh man, I was pretty interested in reading Lore, but now that I've read this sampler, I can't wait. I've always loved Greek mythology, so I'm very interested in exploring the world Alexandra Bracken has created. I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for the full book on Netgalley once it is added.

I enjoyed this! Hard to say with a chapter sampler, though 63 pages was a decent enough time to get a nice introduction. Can't wait to see where this goes, feels like it will be a long wait all the way to 2021!

WOW this sampler was just not enough!! Lore seems like a reimagined, modern version of Greek Gods, where the power of the gods are reborn when they are killed. Lore is the last living descendent of a branch, but has been in hiding for 3 years. That all changes when she finds Athena outside her house, almost dead, in human form. Athena needs Lore's help, and Athena has something Lore wants, so they strike a deal and a blood oath to keep each other alive.

The action begins immediately in the first few chapters and the world is already fascinating. Set in New York City, but also hailing to ancient times, it's a wonderful combination of modern day and high fantasy. I've excited to be able to read the full version!

Wow! I need the full ARC! The mixture of mythology, modernity, and a Hunger Games-esque tournament are brilliant, and so is the world-building. In these first few chapters, Bracken had me hook, line, and sinker, and I cannot wait to read the entire story.

I didn't realize this was a sampler when I requested it, and while I'm grateful to get the sneak peek, I don't like reading them because it just makes me want the rest of the story, haha. Can't wait for the full book tho!!

After reading the sample, I would certainly be interested in reading the complete book. The characters are engaging and the world easy to imagine. I enjoyed the intensity and always tend to love reading mythology based stories.

I wish I had the entire book right now. From the moment the sampler started I was hooked and that never stopped. I love the characters, the world, everything about it. I wasn’t sure what I’d think but WOW. I can’t wait for an ARC or the release date to finish this masterpiece. The characters are well-done and developed, this is definitely a new take, and overall it’s just so good so far.

I received a sampler of LORE thanks to the publisher through NetGalley.

The story is truly fascinating. Gods and goddesses are sent to Earth mortal for 1 week every 7 years to be hunted. If they are killed, their killer gains their godhood. Only a few originals are still alive but with a new Agon starting that might not be the case, especially if Lore is able to avenge her family’s murders.

I am really looking forward to when I can read this book completely! It has the atmosphere of City of Bones (gotta love New York) with the mythology of Circe (Greek gods!).

So while I have not yet read the whole thing, the first six chapters have me hooked.

Didn't realize this was just a sampler! The little bit I got to read really captivated me though and makes me excited to read the rest of it.

It hurts a little bit that this is only a preview but DAMN was it a good one! Honestly, I flew through this as quickly as I could and now I am full of regret because I will have to wait to finish the whole story. Still, from the small sampler, I can tell just how much I am going to love this book and Lore herself. I absolutely love Greek mythology and knew from the moment I first saw a summary of this book that I needed it in my life.

The intro was intense, violent, and insanely brutal. How could a week long "hunt and murder" game be anything but? I want to re-read the sampler already.

Fingers crossed that eventually a full ARC is available to request.

Thanks to Disney Hyperion and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this chapter sampler of Alexandra Bracken's upcoming novel, Lore!

First off, Lore already shows all the promises of what Bracken's fans have to come to recognize from her novels: tight-knit worldbuilding, stunning writing, and a fantastic cast of characters. Lore's voice is so clear and distinct, and I can't wait to follow her through the rest of the novel.

The premise of the book is thrilling, and the first few chapters certainly deliver. The mix of Greek mythology, a modern hunt, and the NYC setting has me counting down until the book's release. I will admit that I'm a bit shocked that so many of the original gods have been taken out during the course of the Agon, but I'm excited to see what Bracken will do what it.

To sum it all up, this is a brilliant sampler of what sounds like an amazing story, and I can't wait to read it in its entirety.

I really enjoyed reading this chapter sampler for Lore! Within the first couple of chapters, I was completely immersed into this world that simultaneously felt familiar and brand new. Greek mythology has always been so fascinating to me, and I love seeing that mythology interwoven into the modern world. I think the setting of NYC is perfect for this story and was described very well. I can’t wait to read the rest of this story!

Based on the sampler I received, it has come down to a 50/50 of whether or not I’ll be purchasing the final published piece.

The “epilogue” (of sorts) is a little too convoluted and confusing; I could not get my bearings in the story. The “lore”/world building needs to be made clearer before being thrown right in with seemingly staccato info-dumps.

As for the MC, I can see myself getting behind her. The story was just picking you when the sampler ended, and I am admittedly a smidge intrigued. I’ll give this time to settle, for there are many months still yet to go before the complete novel is available.

OMG y'all I freaking LOVE Greek mythology and I freaking love Alexandra Bracken so when she started teasing Lore forever ago, I was hooked right away. When Disney/Hyperion put Lore on NetGalley, I jumped on that request button so fast, I didn't even realize that it was just a chapter sampler (although I don't think they had actually marketed it as a chapter sampler anywhere, so I'm sure I'm not the only one who was confused). Anyway, I was approved for the chapter sampler and in my approval email, they said that they're going to put the full ARC on there in August/September sometime, so your girl is 100% going to put in a request for the full ARC then (I probably won't be approved for it, but a girl can hope!)- so thank you so much to Disney/Hyperion and NetGalley for giving me a chance to review this sampler early! 

I figured that since I have this sampler, I might as well read it and tell y'all all about it (especially since it's one of my most anticipated books for 2021, so I need to make sure it's really high on your lists too)! So let's get started-

First off, here's the summary of the book from Goodreads in case you know nothing about it- 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.

Since you've seen my featured image, you've seen the majesty that is the cover of this book- holy crap. I love it so much! I love the snakes and the marble and Medusa/the Gorgons have always been so cool to me (I really loved the one in Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty series). I don't know if the font in this sampler is going to be the font in the final book, but I'm not the biggest fan of it- it makes the lines kind of wavy which makes it a little hard to read.

I forgot how amazing Alex Bracken is at creating images out of words- I can picture absolutely everything that she's writing and I love it! Her writing is so lyrical and beautiful, but it doesn't take away from the plot, which is something that often happens when people get too caught up in imagery. Man, she's my favorite.

I just finished chapter 1 and I already love Lore and I love the hunters and this story is amazing so far. I can already tell that this is going to become one of my all time favorite books. The underground fight club in the basement of a Chinese restaurant is so out of the norm for things that I'm used to, but somehow I can totally picture New York having those, and why wouldn't the descendants of Greek heroes be there? I mean that only makes sense. Oooo I just met Castor and I love him! I think it's really shitty that he left Lore for 7 years without a word, but I'm sure there was a good reason (but like let's be real, if any of my best friends abandoned me for 7 years and then showed back up... we would 100% have words).

Oooooooo ok so I just finished the sampler (which is the first 63 pages of the book) and it's AMAZING and I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of it! It's got the adventure you want, it's got drama, it's got Greek myths- we even met Athena in this sampler!- like what else could you need??? I already have so many thoughts about where things could go from here and who is really evil and who really killed Lore's family and man, I need the rest of this book PRONTO!!!

I was excited about this book before, but after reading the sampler this has jumped to one of my most anticipated reads of next year! I mean, GREEK GODS + MODERNITY + WEEK LONG MURDER BATTLE + BADASS FEMALE LEAD?! Sign me allllll the way up.

The premise for this is so fascinating and the first few chapters set up the world really nicely. I was a hit thrown by the fact that most of the OG gods don’t seem to be present, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how the story progresses. Lore is such an interesting character with a lot of backstory to delve into, Miles is hilarious, Athena is...Athena, and Castor is mysterious! I CANNOT wait to get my hands on the rest of this!

A great start to the story - I can't wait to read the rest of the book! The imagery and beautiful detail is very promising. I love stories where gods interact with humans. I hope more of Athena will be in the book!

I was given a chapter sampler of Lore by Alexandra Bracken for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my word. You guys aren't ready. You aren't ready for how amazing this is.

The chapter sampler included the prologue of sorts as well as the first six chapters, and I devoured it as soon as it came into my possession. It's a wild ride straight out of the gate. Those that are predicting that it feels like a cross between The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson are right on. I'm picking up a taste of Wonder Woman: Warbringer, and something else I can't put my finger on.

It's awesome. You slip into it easy and it goes by quick. I can't wait until the full book comes out in 2021. What a way to start the year, for sure! The characters feel real. The setting is perfect. And although the story line is a little complex, it's completely and totally satisfying.

This just shot to the top of my most anticipated books of the new year. It's that good.

I requested this because I love 1) Alexandra Bracken and 2) Greek mythology. Unfortunately, this wasn't for me. I felt that the language was too dense and definitely didn't fit in with the modern NY setting. I kind of struggled to read this and it just felt too heavy and confusing. Maybe fans of hers and fantasy can overlook this, and perhaps I'll try again when the novel comes out, as sometimes books do get better after a few chapters, but for now, I did not enjoy this.