I am so excited for this book to come out next week, I have already pre-ordered it! Reading this preview exert was such a great teaser and made me even more excited! I was so sad when it ended ... even though I know its coming out in a week I feel like a week is too long to wait!!!

Q: How the heck do you rate a chapter sampler?
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I’m intrigued and I’m mad that I can’t finish the story! Hopefully I can get a copy from my library soon.
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Thank you NetGally for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. Releases Jan 5th, 2021!!

Lore is a descendant of the house of Perseus and spends her time anticipating the Agon, a hunt of the Greek Gods that occurs every 7 years. In the meantime, she spends time with her friend Miles and makes some extra cash in the underground boxing ring in NYC. Lore is not interested in the Agon, however, whether she wants to participate or not has been left in the hands of Athena and someone she thought was long gone.

Somehow the world-building worked for me, which is surprising because most often I find this part of fantasy novels to be quite boring. However, Bracken made it work and she kept the storyline moving quickly and the addition of Athena's character helped a lot with that. Lore however is your typical YA heroine - broken childhood, unyielding strength, out for revenge etc. This makes her feel one-dimensional and I wish there was a bit more depth to her character.

Overall I believe a lot of readers will enjoy this novel, for me however I needed a bit more from Lore in order to keep me interested and connected. This sample will probably be my last stop as I don't think I will pick it up to continue.

I was lucky enough to receive the chapter sampler of Lore from Netgalley for an honest review. I have been waiting for Lore to come out for awhile, I have loved Alexandra Bracken's books in the past and was very excited when I received this sampler. It did not disappoint! As soon as the book begins your are thrown into action and asking more and more questions as the book goes on. Lore and Miles so far are relatable characters and the world building has been fun to read about. It makes me want to look up more background information on the Greek Gods. After reading just 6 chapters, I can not wait to finally get the full book and be able to read more!

Thank you so much for that excerpt !! I'm really happy that I won't have to wait much more for the rest of it because so far I loved it ! I'll post a full review on Goodreads then.

It was too cruel to just read the sampler. Thankfully I was able to receive the full version shortly after completing the six chapters. The book was that good! The six chapters set up the story of Melora and her quest to take back her family name, while also ending the Agon, which ruled for centuries. 

I already started liking the characters that were introduced. Castor in his born again new form and Athena in her godly like stature, even though she's dying. Miles and his ignorant innocence and of course Melora and her hot-blooded personality. It's a good chorus of characters that I believe will set the story at a good flowing pace. 

It's typical, but I love that it takes place in New York. If godly things were going to be happening somewhere, why not New York? The author could have set the location in Greece (being that it is greek mythology inspired book), but I think New York is better. It makes you wonder if NY has all of the hidden in plain sight locations, that are easily looked over.

So far I loved the book and I think readers will enjoy it too.

This sampler pack was very enjoyable, and greatly increased my excitement to read the full novel! Can't wait for it's release!

I love anything Alexandra Bracken writes, so I had high hopes for this chapter sampler, and I wasn't disappointed! Greek gods roam the earth as mortals as punishment for a past rebellion, trying to avoid being killed by the hunters who want to seize their power and immortality. I loved the setting of NYC and the Hunger Games vibe! It took a while to get through the first chapters and figure out how the Agon works, but once I got past that, I was all in! Loved the sampler - can't wait to read the rest of Lore!

I absolutely love the premise of this book! I cannot wait to read the full book! The characters and the background are well developed.

I really liked this story and can't wait to read more! Unfortunately I did not read the part where this was just a preview of the book and not the whole book. 
 The book started off a little gory for me, but I quickly got sucked into the story and can't wait to finish it! I am a sucker for anything Greek mythology related and am interested to see where this goes.

I let myself go into this book mostly blind and I’m so glad I did! It’s a great different take on Greek Mythology in modern times. 

The story starts off quick and we learn more about Lore, her past, and being the last of the blood line originating from Perseus and the rivalries and relationships between the other houses. 

While intense at times, there’s also some humorous moments. One of my favorite characters is her roommate Miles. It’s also not surprising to me that the people of New York don’t really pay much attention to random people wearing masks around the city. So what a perfect place for strange goings on to happen. 

Alexandra created a beautiful story and I loved the mix of Greek within which helped me to get lost in the story even more.

I honestly couldn't be more excited for the book's release date. I will definitely will be buying it to continue the story of Lore. The system is so complex and interesting that I can't wait to know how it develops, both the world building and the characters. AMAZING

Made me extremely excited to read the full book! Alexandra Bracken's writing style seems very promising for this one. I can't wait to find out more about the story.

This teaser got me! This was only an excerpt of the book, but it’s not hard to fall into this story and want to read the full book!

If you must know anything about me it is that one of my absolute favorite fantasy sub-genres is “based on mythology” fantasy. It would be hard to find a mythology-based fantasy book that I didn’t enjoy. So with that being said, I absolutely loved Lore!! (Which I pronounced Lor-ay, I don’t know if that’s the way the author intended it to be pronounced but I figured it would be close enough to the Greek pronunciation to be correct.)

In it we follow Lore, who (after the brutal murder of her family) is the last living in the ancient line of the Perseides and is determined to stay out of the Agon, a week-long fight every seven years to kill and gain the powers of nine ancient Greek gods. Unfortunately, she finds a wounded Athena on her doorstep and is very quickly brought back into the game she tried to stay away from. Not only that, but her childhood best friend is now a god and a new Ares wants something from her. 

I completely flew through this book! I loved the modern take on the Greek gods, and it was refreshing (though gruesome) to see the brutality of the ancient gods in a modern setting. I feel like the natures of ancient gods get watered down in modern retellings and it added just a bit more bite to see their more dangerous personalities. The ones where they don’t care about humans because they themselves don’t actually have any humanity. The Agon was an interesting setting and since I’ve read quite a few books set in New York City it added a little bit of *spice* and a new lens to view the city. The themes of friendship and family were really heartwarming, especially because this book is much more grisly than you may think. There are also some really sweet background romances going on which I absolutely loved! (I may have squealed a couple times.) 

If you were, or still are, a fan of Percy Jackson or The Hunger Games but want something a little more grown-up I would definitely check this book out. Fans of Madeline Miller would find this a fun read as well.

While it's hard to tell too much from a short sample, I can definitely tell that I'm going to love this novel! I can't wait to read how Alexandra Bracken weaves in Greek mythology in this action-packed book. These first few chapters were amazing, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest!

This novel was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it to those who like to read new iterations or retellings of myths.  Meloria, nicknamed Lore is a young, strong female character who has struggled with a traumatic past. She is part of a cult of ancient families who are attendant to the gods, but who can also ascend to be gods.  This creates a hyper competitive hierarchical society that Lore must learn to navigate at a young age in order to survive.  Her family's honor depends upon it. This society exists in the modern world but adheres to the traditions handed down to them. Lore's name is inflected with this definition of the term lore.  Lore strives to succeed and be accepted while feeling great ambivalence over the society she inhabits.  After losing her family she must find her way on her own, but is inevitably drawn back into the intrigues of her past.

[6 Chapter NetGalley Review of Lore by Alexander Bracken]

Wow, where to begin? Alexandra Bracken’s Lore is exactly what the title lends itself to be. Her twist on the world of Greek Mythology is something even I could not conjure up in my head. The main character, who is aptly named Lore, is someone I find so captivating that I’m itching to read more about. The Agon, which is held every seven years as punishment for rebellion, has chosen it’s location in the place where Lore calls home-New York City, during which nine Greek gods become mortal and are hunted by descendants of ancient bloodlines in hopes of obtaining their power. As Lore’s friend Miles’ puts it, it’s “the Olympics, only with more murders.” The descriptive writing alone is enough to have you keep turning the page to see what happens next. If this six chapter excerpt is any indication of how the rest of the book will proceed, then we’re all in for an unforgettable story with a protagonist that is not only relatable, but strong willed and charming. I can’t wait for the January 5th release!

So I got to read the first 6 chapters of "Lore" and I must say I want more, and luckily I will get the book in January. 

I love the Greek mythology with a twist of hunger games, it gives it some spice to it. But I allso Luke Lore so far cause she seems to be a strong female character. 

I'll give it 4 star simply because I actually want to know what happens now. The rating can change when I read the full book, but for now I'm very entertained and captured.

OVERALL RATING: 3/5 stars. I absolutely love the concept of this book, and I think it has a lot of potential, but the execution fell short. The pacing was off, the presentation of information was not done well, there was unnecessary graphic content, and there were some problems with diverse rep.
PACING: there was a lot of action in this sampler, but the pacing somehow felt very very slow. It was confusing and honestly despite the action some parts were quite boring.
INFORMATION: At the very beginning of the story, the reader is given almost no information. It feels like I was thrown into a pool without knowing how to swim and left on my own. Then in chapter five, the backstory is given all at once, way too quickly.
GRAPHIC CONTENT: In the first six chapters there is already some violence and gore that is graphic. Based on reviews I’ve read, it only gets worse - there is explicit talk of the s*xual abuse of children that is never addressed.
REP: Miles, Lore’s best friend, is Korean, but he is described as having “skin [...] white as a bone.” This plays into an unfortunately common and very harmful misconception that Asian people are white. Asian people are NOT white. That includes East Asian people. Light skin does not equal white. Miles is also gay. He feels very much like a token gay character of color; in these six chapters the only individual trait of his we see is that he has tattoos; he’s used as a plot device to reveal the background information in one large infodump.