Thank you so much Netgalley for the chapter sampler. I was extremely intrigued and I already purchased a physical copy for my library.

I did not want to review this until I read the whole book (which is what I thought this was until I saw it was a sampler). Lore is fabulous and definitely worth the read. I could be completely wrong about there being a lack of mythology books circulating the YA world, but I'd say the fact that I have yet to come across it shows how little it is still being done. This book was all kinds of exciting. My friend described it as a bloodthirsty Percy Jackson and I think that is exactly right. Lore wastes no time in throwing you right into the start of the action, but that doesn't nearly come close to what lies ahead. I really did not know what to expect at ALL when I started this, but I think that's what makes reading all the better. I hate trying to guess the ending before I'm even close. Not knowing where this was going, but enjoying the entire adventure to get there...? How do you not enjoy this? I LOVE SURPRISES.

This sample was a great introduction to the story. It gave me just enough to want to read more. I can not wait to get my hands on this book and read more.

I recognize that Lore is not a book everyone will enjoy, but as someone that loves Greek mythology and grew up at the height of dystopian fiction, I enjoyed this so much! It feels like this premise was written specifically for me.

The best part, this ambitious mythology premise is backed up by strong writing and even stronger world-building. The characters operate in a morally grey area that keeps you on your toes at all times. There are SO many twists in this book and while you might be able to predict one or two, not a single one of these gasp-worthy moments will disappoint. I'm still not over some of them!

I would describe Lore as Percy Jackson meets Shadowhunters meets Hunger Games. The author’s use of New York’s landscape as a gritty playground is one of my favourite aspects of this story, and the choice to include these fascinating city historical sites in the hunt that are actually real locations made the experience so much more authentic for me.

The lore of this world is established really well and I had no problem following along with the rules of the game, or the mainstream mythology Percy Jackson cultivated so early on for young readers. But there's also a lot of social commentary and equality discussions that allow Lore to start an important dialogue about women and the cultural traditions that look to oppress them. Lore’s rage is all too familiar in this context.

Lore and Castor’s relationship was easily my favourite part of the story. Not only did I root for them to find their way back to each other, but the drama keeping them apart was rather juicy. That being said, Castor constantly blaming Lore for crossing the line was not as easy to love. There’s nothing more annoying than a love interest that constantly reminds the protagonist of how awful she’s acting. That coupled with slower pacing near the back half of the book hindered the story from reaching its full potential.

All in all, Lore exemplifies everything I could want from a more mature mythology premise while proving that there’s still new territory to tread in the dystopian genre. I’m glad this book wrapped up the story in a satisfying way, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want more — so much more!

I received this sample in exchange for an honest review.

From what I understand, we have Lore, a girl of the House of Perseus, whose entire family was murdered by a rival house, who has not participated in the Agos, a bloody competition where hunters of special houses kill the old Olympian gods to gain power, for some time. When she runs into Athena one rainy day in New York, her normal life gets flipped back into the world she thought she had left behind.

While I'm sad this only had the first six chapters, I found the story intriguing and I would like to know more once I purchase a physical copy. I love Greek mythology amd Lore serves it in a new way with a bloody, fast paced Olympics. I like the characters beginnings, the acing is a little too quick and the info dumping takes a lot to digest and get right to understand how everything connects to Lore and her purpose, who she is and what her goal soon becomes. The character of Athena is my favorite, that of a cool headed goddess stuck in the body of a mortal. Miles is ok, the usual side character that gets caught up in the mess at the last second and becomes the secondary side kick.

All in all, an enjoyable experience and I look forward to seeing how the journey develops.

Lore is being pitched as Percy Jackson meets The Hunger Games, which is a pretty solid comp. It is the story of our main character, Lore, an orphan living in NYC, who we meet as a competition called the Agon begins. The Agon happens every 7 years and is a punishment for 9 of the Greek gods who defied Zeus back in the day. The descendants of different old school Greek heroes must hunt down these gods (Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Hermes, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Posiden, and Dionysus) who are made mortal for the 7 days, and if successfully killed the person who did it takes that gods immortality and aspects of their power. Lore's family was murdered in the previous Agon, and she has completely cut ties from her previous life and is trying to stay out of the Agon entirely. She is unsuccessful when a wounded Athena shows up on her doorstep and demands Lore help her. The story absolutely sprints from this point.

Lore is Alexandra Bracken's first standalone novel since her debut (which I should read soon). I knew going into this book, I was probably going to love it, I loved her previous YA books, and I really enjoy her fast-paced writing, character-focused emotional journeys, and I love a long book (long is obviously genre/age group subjective here, she writes long YA). This book is fast-paced and is very focused on Lore's emotional journey; a lot of character exploration is fit into 7 days. It also has Alexandra Brackens signature deep backstory dives in a way I really enjoyed this go around. I will say that her Greek gods certainly bring the flavor of the original Greek myths, this story is violent, and I completely would not recommend it to a young audience, which makes some of the PJO comp potentially confusing.

Lore is very focused on Lore's emotional journey. Most of the narrative rests on her character journey, which does make one of the reveals at the end kind of lackluster because it is related to someone else's memories, and Lore does not actively participate in that plot reveal. Avoiding spoilers, but that one instance would have maybe been served by a dual POV (though that would probably be disruptive to the novel) or a different manner of discovery, it just wasn't that emotionally impactful for me because it was so outside Lore. But the rest of the narrative really worked for me as Lore's story! She is an incredibly interesting character. Her narrative very much engages with anger, and the ways in which women have power taken from them while also having an element of a revenge tale.

I loved the other characters in the novel as well! Especially her roommate and friend Miles. I adore Miles; he is an excellent take on the 'normal person in a magical situation' character type, a very excellent audience surrogate who also has a fun character journey for himself. A lot of the relationship-building is done with flashback chapters in a way that I found very effective. I really loved watching the relationships change over both the years and the seven days. And, because this is a murder filled competition, watching the way the friendships shift as alliances change is always a good and betrayal filled time.

The plot is incredibly fast-paced! So much happens in this book. So it is kind of weird that I wanted it to be a little bit longer? The end of the book was a touch fast though I assume this won't be a common opinion; there might not be that many people who read a 460-page book and want more. On the whole, this book is full of twists and builds information reveals really excellently. I wanted to keep reading so much that I literally took the hardcover on a mile-long walk with my dog. Luckily my sidewalks are very well paved because I was absolutely not looking at my feet. I thought I had quite a few things figured out, and even when I was close to right, I was wrong about how or why. I love a good twist.

This is a very feminist engagement with Greek mythology. I don' want to spoil anything, but if you are familiar with feminist discourse about Athena, you probably know there are lots of folks who want to interpret her as a subversively feminist figure in a way that isn't super supported by historical context around ancient Greek society, or by the actual written myths. I think Bracken engages with this myth in a really amazing way. I was worried for a second, but I genuinely love the way she wrote Athena's character. You can really see the research and thought that went into Athena, as well as the critique of patriarchal power structures Bracken levels through this character and in the novel as a whole.

I will certainly be rereading this book. I knew I was going to be reading this book multiple times about 100 pages in; I love rereading stories that had reveals that surprised me, and I think my opinion on the end of the book might be mutable! This feeling is ultimately why I am rating this book 5 stars; if I have a clear and very strong impulse to reread, then I clearly enjoyed engaging with a story and want to dive deeper.

I would obviously recommend this book! Anyone who was a PJO middle schooler (or just enjoyed any part of the Riordan-verse at any point in life, I think I was fully a junior in high school when I read him for the first time), anyone who likes modern takes on myth, and people who want stories that deeply engage with feminist ideals in fiction, especially choice and anger.

I am reading the book in full, so my review for that will be different, but I also got approved for this sneak peek of a few chapters as well.

Mostly, I am intrigued by where the story is going but am also a tad confused by the info dump of the world building in the first few chapters. As the story goes on, it’s getting better, but for awhile I felt like I needed to take notes on what was going on to keep everything straight.

Overall, eager to keep reading and hope it lives up to the hype!

This was just a teaser! I am on hold waiting to read the rest of the story! I can't wait......

Such a different twist on mythology, I am amazed at the stories authors create.

I can't wait to see how Lore's story ends.

The excerpt that I read didn't include much backstory, so I'm assuming that this is the type of book that reveals things as it progresses. I only understood most of it because of the synopsis. I don't necessarily like our main character, but I'm really hoping to connect with her more once reading the whole book. I am lost on how she is connected to the gods, which is also why I plan on getting the book. The writing is so different, which I love about Braken. I can definitely see growth since she wrote The Darkest Minds series. I don't have many thoughts as of now, but I am excited to read the full book.

Alexandra Bracken does it again.

And this time, she manages to write a stand alone fantasy that combines all of my favorite tropes: found family, rebellions, and of course, any and all things Greek mythology.

The pacing was a bit of a struggle for me in the beginning, but once I was in, I was in. Beautiful writing, poignant world building, relatable characters... all of it was a magical experience.

Highly recommend for fans of YA dark fantasy that holds no punches and holds it own in the cluttered market of mythological retellings.

Oh my goodness. Wow wow wow. Ever since reading Circe, I've been on the hunt for more Greek mythology retellings and am so glad that Lore was recommended to me. Where do I even start??

I am in awe of Alexandra Bracken's mind. This is a retelling unlike any other, subverting the power of the gods by having them be hunted (!!!!) by the descendants of Greek heroes. The concept of power, how we choose to wield it, and whether or not we choose to give it up is prominent throughout the book. It all comes down to whether we cling to the idea of being fated to do something, or if we break out of those patterns and make our own choices.

Bracken throws all gendered expectations placed on Greek gods out the window - of course there can be a male Aphrodite, and why shouldn't there be a female Poseidon? The yearning and tension between certain characters is also just.... *chef's kiss*

I didn't expect this to have as many twists as it did - or rather, Bracken succeeded in letting me think I knew exactly what was going to happen, only to turn my thoughts upside down and leave me flailing, trying to get a grasp on what just happened. The latter third of the book especially had me up until the ass crack of dawn, desperately trying to keep my eyes open because I could not leave at a particular place and (god forbid) go to sleep for a few hours. The rest of the Greek mythology retellings on my tbr are going to have a hell of a time living up to this one!

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A great intro with an fascinating premise. The writing is great and the characters fascinating.
As this was just a sampler, I can't review in the whole book sadly but I look forward to reading more when it comes out.

Being able to read this sample, has just made me want to read this entire story more!! This book will suck you in from the very beginning!! I can’t wait to finish this book!

I don't usually read urban fantasy but this book got my attention from the beginning, after all I studied old Greek for two years. But I was also afraid that the author had somehow romanticized the myths as, let's not forget, Greek mythology is full of rapes and violence against women. To my surprise, she didn't. In fact the book has many strong feminist themes.

The plot is fast and well constructed and honestly, I couldn't stop reading. For some people it may seem a little confusing at the beginning but I loved that there isn't infodump and you make sense of the world as you keep reading.

Lore is a strong character but you can tell she is hurt by the guilt of what happened to her family and she is constantly in conflict within herself: she wants to be free of the Agon but at the same time, she longs for revenge. The rest of the cast: Athena, Castor, Van and Miles were also great and I loved their dynamics and friendship. Finally, the romance is the cutest friends to lovers I have ever read. Castor was really sweet and I loved him for it.

An exciting sneak-peek for a unique and interesting premise— looking forward to reading the full volume!

Thank you NetGalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm a fan of Greek Mythology so I was super glad when I got the chance to purchase this book. It's a refreshing YA take of Greek Mythology in a modern setting. I loved the twist on how the gods can turn mortal and face mortality just like any humans. This was an action-packed book with so many twist and turns. Highly recommend!

Love the set up. Can't wait to read my fairyloot edition of this book

Thank you netgalley and publishers for allowing me to read

I'm in the minority with my opinion, but this YA urban fantasy did not do it for me. I wanted to like it more than I did, but I just don't connect to Ms Bracken's characters, as the same sort of separation happened when I read her book The Darkest Minds. Though I didn't feel invested in the characters, I did continue with it and the revealed twists were unexpected.

If you like books like this, urban fantasies and mythology, I recommend The Immortals series by Joanna Max Brodsky, which is an adult fantasy also set in contemporary New York.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.

I really enjoyed Lore!

I was provided an advanced digital copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes, all opinions are my own.

The first chapter preview for Lore made me remember how much I loved Greek mythology as a kid. The heroine, Lore, is a hardened, grief-stricken girl who is trying to stay far away from her past, but she can't when she comes home to find an ailing goddess bleeding out on her stoop and a boy she thought was dead shows up out of the blue. I can't wait to read the rest of this book!

UPDATE: After finishing the book I really enjoyed it! This is a dark and gritty New York story, with rival houses/family lines and an exciting take on Greek mythology. I loved our heroine, Lore, and really appreciated the growth and the journey she went on during the book. As with most standalones, there were a few plot details I wish could have been more developed and I didn’t loooove the ending but overall I did really like the book and would recommend it to those who like contemporary fantasy, loved the hunger games, love Greek mythology and like a book with a lot of thrilling fight scenes.