Lore by Alexandra Bracken
I was provided this ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Lore is a standalone by Bracken based off of Greek Gods roaming the streets of NYC. I was extremely excited by this premise and couldn’t wait to get this book in my hands. Lore, the title character was raised by a group of cutthroat descendants from Greek heroes in the hope to one day achieve honor by killing a God. Every 7 years for one week the Gods become mortal and one of these descendants can claim their Godhood. Now that you know the premise, let’s get into the review!

The Good:
• Cover: The cover is gorgeous! I couldn’t leave a review without mentioning it.
• Feminism: Throughout the book, there are many sayings and ideals in the culture of the hunters that are very sexist and harmful to the upbringing of the women in that culture. Lore is having absolutely none of it. Her rage at these sayings was one of my favorite parts about the book itself and her character.
• Character Development: Lore, Miles, Van, and Athena all went through some major development throughout the novel. Lore struggles with her temper, grief, and rage in a realistic way that had long earned my sympathy. But by the ending she is able to see her true purpose and not let it control her.
• Greek Gods: I’ve always been a sucker for Greek mythology, and I loved Bracken’s take on them in this book. Athena has long been by favorite and I appreciated that she was portrayed in a realistic way. The gods weren’t presented as these nice human beings, they are gods and do not act as we do.
• Plot Twists: Although I should have seen the twist near the end coming, I didn’t and I thought the last few chapters were the best part of the whole book by far.

The Bad:
• Choppy Plot and Flashbacks: I found the plot a little difficult to follow and had to put the book down often to digest what was actually happening. Lots of the book to me was just the team running around in different directions on “missions” that didn’t really result in anything but someone getting injured and Castor having to magically heal them. The flashbacks really bothered me because as much as we needed to understand Lore’s upbringing and her trauma, the present-day story made no sense without it. For almost the first third of the book the reader barely knows what’s going on because there’s all this mystery surrounding Lore. The flashbacks just really took away from the present-day story in my opinion.
• Castor: I just really hated Castor. He added almost nothing to the team besides his healing abilities, and he had no personality.
• Length: Similar to my critique about the choppy plot, I just think this could’ve been cut down to a much smaller book. There were periods in the middle that just seemed unnecessary.

Rating: 3.75/5 Stars

Overall, this was a good read. Lore’s story and world was interesting and worth learning about, however I don’t think I’ll ever feel the need to read it again.

While Lore just wasn't my cup of tea. I think it may play out better in a movie. It was well written with a good story line, but there were a few parts where it was confusing to me. This book will definitely appeal to a certain group of people and I have a feeling it will be a book you either like or don't like.

Lore is a great read from beginning to end. Bracken shows her skill at writing and telling a story, keeping you on the edge of your seat the entire time. It was difficult for me at the beginning to keep track of all of the families, but once past the early going, it was hard to put the book down.

4.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fun, mostly fast-paced, with relatable characters (even though I have never experienced a world like theirs). I particularly liked the idea of an Agon and the cycles of god hunting. Very creative.

There were a few parts that I thought dragged and the ending was... interesting. I'm not sure that I loved the end (or at least parts of the end), but overall really enjoyed the story.

I would recommend this book to people who love to read YA UF with strong mythology threads.

While I do not proclaim to be a self-professed expert on all things Greek Mythology, I certainly have read my fair share of tales and stories that would fall into that category. This story was captivating from the very start as I learned ball about the Agon, which is an event that happens every seven years when Greek gods (nine, in total) must walk the earth as mortals. This particular story takes place in New York City, one of the most captivating cities in all the world. This story, though familiar in the hints of various myths interwoven throughout, takes a fresh concept and it feels as though it is being made unique to Bracken's writing ingenuity. I enjoyed this tremendously and the plot twists and turns kept me engaged and entertained. I will highly recommend this to my students because I know they will find tremendous joy in it! Well done!

This book was such a great read! Every 7 years greek gods (both old and new) become mortal and are hunted for their powers. I am not familiar with much greek mythology and haven’t really read any books surrounding greek mythology so I enjoyed it immensely.

I loved the main character Lore! She’s smart, strong, brave and an all around good person. Her best friend Miles is hilarious and such a loyal person and I really enjoyed watching their friendship grow throughout the book.

Castor, her BFF from her old life returns. He is the sweetest character and I love him. Because I love him I knew something bad was going to open to him so I was trying to mentally prepare myself. Then he dies and I still wasn't prepared. Thankfully, he lives! Lore and Castor have the cutest friends to lovers romance.

I did have to chuckle a little at some of the names of the “new gods.” We also spend a lot of time with Athena, and I’m surprised to say I didn’t see the twist coming.

The cover of this book is gorgeous and I would have picked it up based on that alone. I’ve read four of Alexandra Bracken’s books and loved them so I knew my feelings on this one would be no different.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

As a lover of Greco-Roman mythology, the concept of this book was a major draw. While it didnt quite blow me away, it was still a great read that I would definitely recommend. I will say that I am glad I read this as an eBook, because I often found myself clicking names and words to get more info/definitions, thanks to the heavy dose of mythology involved. It was hard to follow some parts without a deeper knowledge of the actual history, so I was glad wiki was just a click away.

Lore was a great MC and I really did enjoy following her. Castor was perfectly swoonworthy, Miles was perfection, and the other side characters lent their own charm to the story. The plot was complex, with plenty of twists and turns, and a few surprises I didnt quite see coming.

All in all, a definite must-read for mythology lovers everywhere.

I love Greek Mythology. Ever since I was a kid I inhaled every book on Greek Myths that I could get my hands on. I still have hard time passing by any book on the subject without making a purchase. So, when I saw the cover for this book and read the summary I knew I needed to read it, Such a creative and new premise. It was a bit confusing at first getting all the Houses and new gods straight but well worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed almost everything about this book. The heroine, Lore is complex and flawed and a little crazy, but no less likeable. Her cast of supporting characters are great, especially Miles and Castor. There are definitely some dark and super violent parts that I was not quite expecting, but the story moved along and had enough twists and turns and surprises to keep it interesting. I actually went and double checked that this was intended as a YA novel because of the level of violence in it. The wanton violence was unexpected. I guess it was needed to show the ruthlessness of the characters, but it really did take me aback. Also could have done without the overall treatment of girls and young women by disgusting old men in power - another element that was unexpected in a YA book and not particularly welcome. I wish there had been a little more at the ending but I was satisfied overall.

A lot of YA seems to be focused on immortal figures and/or youth who are trained to kill one another to protect their families; Lore is certainly well within this genre. While some of these are ok stories--because the characters are multidimensional, Lore is not. It's boring. The characters aren't particularly compelling, and the language is often stilted and at odds with itself--one moment trying to be current and fresh, then ext portentous and speaking of "the ancient tongue" and other cringe-worthy constructions. The action drags, and the gods--or their mortal forms--come across like villains from low-budget 70s movies. And there are other issues. Lore's BFF is a "magical Negro." None of the women in the houses or bloodlines ever rose up against the misogyny and abuse? Why is anyone accepting the idea of "bastardy" in the 21st century? Why isn't Lore at least a little smarter? Why is the plot and info about it so repetitive? Why did I spend the time to finish this? I don't know, but I can tell you: don't bother.

Fierce Lore trained her whole childhood to participate in the septennial Hunt, when the descendants of Greek heroes stalk the temporarily mortal Olympic gods to murder them and take their powers. This tradition is just as bloody and treacherous as it sounds, which is why Lore is the last of her line and hoping desperately to avoid the whole thing. Then her best friend returns from the dead and a wounded Athena offers Lore a chance to avenge her slaughtered family. Scads of action, violence, and betrayal, but also well-wrought secondary characters, strong women, and a staunch found family.

Move aside Percy Jackson, it's Lore's turn. Alexandra Bracken fuses the ancient Greek Gods with modern New York City. The gods rebelled millennia ago and the result is the Agon- a seven day event certain gods are mortal and families of hunters can hunt them for their immortality and godhood. Lore, was born to one of these families but she got out. Thrust back into the world of Gods and Hunters by her childhood best friend and a mortal formed goddess, Lore has to survive the hunt. Bracken's take on the Greek Gods is witty while also being true to their mythology. For fans of the video game: God of War, of Greek Mythology, and of course both Percy Jackson and the Hunger Games.

The writing, the world, the take on such a well-known myth. It was all perfect. I wasn't sure how I would feel when I started reading, however the further I got into the book, the harder it was to put down. Definitely worth the binge read

3.5 stars.

I think my expectations were a bit too high for this one and I continue to go back and forth over whether to rate this 3 or 4 stars. I love love LOVE any and all things Greek myth, so this book quickly shot to the top of my anticipated books for next year, even after reading the short chapter sampler and realizing that this wouldn't be what I initially thought. Maybe I'm just too picky about my Greek myth stories now. But though I still managed to enjoy most of this book, it fell a little flat overall.

Most authors who write fictional stories involving Greek myths can please me by just GIVING ME MORE GODS. I WANT ALL THE OLYMPIAN CONTENT. When I read the chapter sampler, and *slight spoilers here* realized that most of the OG gods were already dead, I was disappointed, especially after Hermes (my FAVE god) is killed literally in the first five pages. And then most of the "new" gods weren't even heavily featured or fleshed out at all. I also felt that the background of the Agon and what Zeus and the other remaining gods do could've used more detailing. The gods that take center stage in this are Athena, Apollo and Artemis.

Which, lemme go on a slight tangent about: I am getting SO SICK of Athena and Apollo being the featured gods in every myth-inspired story I read. MY GOD AM I SICK OF THEM. They're two of my least favorites yet every author seems to loooove writing about them. Give me someone else, PLEASE. MORE HERMES! ARES! APHRODITE! ANYONEEEEE. Athena managed to be a bit more palatable to me in this one, surprisingly, but it didn't last.

OK, back on track. I did like Lore, though it was frustrating to see how many straight up DUMB decisions she makes. I also liked Castor a lot too, and their romance was one of the highlights of the book. Miles and Van were suuuch great side characters, too! Overall the premise of the Agon was really fun and exciting but the background info just made it a bit confusing, and there was too much information about all the different bloodlines. There were parts of the first half that felt a bit slow, but the second half really picks up and it's FULL of twists. *THAT* betrayal was a punch in the G U T, even for me. But the ending was also a bit flat and kind of random. I wish we got more closure about what happens afterwards, especially in terms of the gods.

This seems like a looot of nitpicking for a book I ended up rating 4 stars, but these are fairly small problems that seem bigger to me because of how much I love the subject matter. Overall, I did enjoy this despite my grievances and will probably look to try out another Bracken book in the future. Heads up that this book was a bit darker and more gory than I expected, and there's a lot of violent language and descriptions of murders/injuries!

TW: blood, death, murder, rape, terminal sickness, gore

Lore
by Alexandra Bracken
Disney Publishing Worldwide
You Like Them
Hyperion
Teens & YA
Pub Date 05 Jan 2021 | Archive Date 05 Jan 2021

This is a book I've really been looking forward to reading. Great Young Adult Book to recommend.
Looking forward to its release in January.

Thanks to Disney and NetGalley for the ARC.
4 star

Utterly brilliant! Will absolutely recommend this to my fellow readers! The way Bracken takes the mythology of Ancient Greece and makes it her own is superb.

absolutely love this premise and writing style! Nine gods live in mortal bodies, and every seven years it is possible to kill them and take their powers for one's own. Families named after ancient Greek heroes have become hunters of these gods, fighting one another to ensure the gods are reborn into one of their own people.

Lore is the last member of one such family, and she's walked away from that life...until Athena's current incarnation comes to her for help and offers to help her avenge her family's murders.

Fast-paced and beautifully written, this book is perfect for teen and adult fans of Percy Jackson.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review of this book. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

Let's get this out of the way: please stop calling this "Percy Jackson for YA" because Percy Jackson is ALREADY for YA audiences. Have none of you read the Heroes of Olympus or Trials of Apollo series? They get pretty dark and mature. I realize that this is used by publishers to get interest, especially from fans of Percy Jackson, but it's doing Jackson and his creator Rick Riordan a disservice by acting like those books don't have any YA themes or ideas.

With that rant out of the way, I'm going to tackle the negatives of this book. Which for me boil down to being a fan of Greek mythology. I'm going to confess right now that I'm putting this on the DNF pile so maybe this will become more clear later, but is there any reason for them to be the Greek gods other than being more easily recognizable to us thanks to the well-known stories and Riordan's modern take? I feel like in some cases the Roman versions would've made more sense for this book's premise. There are a few other things I'm not clear on, like does it matter which new gods are claimed by which houses? What happens to that god's power in terms of its influence on the world if it's not transferred to a new host? Does it have any influence outside of benefitting the house where the new god was born? And why would these fights take place in cities like Tokyo, where Greek gods have absolutely no business being?

I honestly hope that Lore's friend has some purpose outside of checking off the diversity boxes of being both POC and gay at the same time. Also, this is a nitpick, but why did the main character's name have to be Lore? You could've gone with the actual definition of the word for the title and have it make perfect sense in the context of this world. Another nitpick, but I almost quit the book when I read that those who had Dionysus's power would go on to fund mega churches or cults. Did this author do no research? Dionysus was the god of wine, theater, fertility, and madness. What the hell do any of those things have to do with churches? At least the thing of Apollo's power going into solar power made some kind of sense. I know, I know, I'm being very petty and picking on small things, but that's where my brain was going reading this.

The main character is pretty dumb, too. In the short time I gave to the book she already went into enemy territory without disguising herself in any way and only managed to not get called out because other people were just as stupid. Also, Lore has a conversation with Athena about what the big bad villain is after, only to wonder what the villain is after a few scenes later. I swear I almost screamed out loud at that point.

The book is also horrifically misogynistic-- something that at least Lore is against even if she was brought up believing it was correct. There was one comment about offering girls as baby-makers once they had their first period that hade me actually sick to my stomach. Look, I get that maybe that was the practice back in ancient Greece, but this is taking place in the twenty-first century. Are you seriously telling me that no woman fought for equal rights among their groups? The only purpose I can think of to include this kind of disgusting detail is to villainize the ones who practice it, which feels extremely unnecessary given that the whole premise is about hunting people down and killing them. The opening scene describes someone getting their head sawed off, for goodness sake!

I want to give this book some positive points. It is well-written, and the violence is described in great detail. That opening scene will stay with you for a while. The boxing scene was done well even if it came with a side of misogyny and sexual assault that is never corrected by anyone other than the main character. I do sort of want to know what's going to happen next but for the life of me can't figure out why I should be invested in Lore's story specifically and her goals. Again, that could be just me not reading far enough, but still, 20% into the book, I should care more about the main character, right?

I will admit that some of my vitriol is probably due to my love of Greek mythology and wanting to see it represented well in the context of this premise. But there's also the extreme misogyny in just the first 20% of the book, the main character's stupidity, and the author feeling the need to repeat things for dramatic effect or exposition things in a weird way. I know that there are others who loved this and I won't go as far as saying it's a bad book. It just didn't work for me.

I'll close by saying if you want "Percy Jackson for YA" just read Percy Jackson. Specifically Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo. Or go rogue and read Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. It's Norse mythology so you know it's going to be darker and more mature.

"I know my fate," she whispered to him.
And I will change yours.

I'll tell you what, Alexandra Bracken never ceases to amaze me with how well she writes. I may not always entire love the story, but writing wraps me up and has me feeling things throughout the entire span of the novel.

This one in particular was not exactly what I had expected....and that's to say that I guess I didn't even entirely know what to expect other than this was going to be pretty heavy on the Greek mythology. While I'm no expert by any means, I have always had an interest and appreciation for it and I am an AVID reader of Lore Olympus on Webtoon (sorry Castor, I have an unapologetic hate for Apollo from that, lol). So, that being said, even though I personally didn't remember what every god and goddess stood for, or what great deeds each hero had accomplished, I really enjoyed doing my own research as each character arrived on the page. Even if I wouldn't have, there is enough information and context clues that that wouldn't have really been necessary, anyway. I'm just a tru librarian to my core and always need to know more, more, more.

"It's a good thing, then," Iro said with a small smile, "that neither of us has ever been afraid of a fight."
She opened the door, only to turn back. "By the way, that sword has a name. Makhomai."
I make war.
Lore smiled.

The biggest part of this story that I didn't expect was just how fucking VIOLENT it was going to be. Now, I've talked about this a lot with my blogmate, Chelsea, and both of us has said that ever since we've had kids, we can't read the same thing as we used to. This, I think????, was a prime example of this. Since it's in the summary, I'm not spoiling anything by saying her family dies a brutal death. Now, this may sound bad but if It had just been her mom and dad, I think I could have been okay....but no. It was also her two LITTLE SISTERS. Not going to get into it because it makes me sick to my stomach even thinking about but I will just say that the sheer violence that continually crops up in this book is hard to read.

Bracken does not shy away from details and I could vividly picture each death, each cut, each blow. It just got to be a lot for me and that really took a little bit away from the story for me (honestly though I should have known better and prepared, Ancient Greek was savage and we all know it).

Alone. She was alone...
"Stay with me." Lore let out a choked cry, sobbing for breath and relief at the crush of it all. Don't leave me...
They didn't.
She felt her family around her--the soothing touch of them, brushing her cheeks, wrapping around her center. And beyond them, the presence of unseen eyes.

Other than that though the only thing that tripped me up was the fact that in my head this wasn't a standalone so I wasn't picturing everything wrapping up so neatly at the end, lol. Also my bad.

ANYWAY, let's get on to the good stuff. The characters. It shouldn't surprise you when I say she wrote an excellent leading lady (Lore), a best friend I wish I had (Miles), and ~the~ love interest (Castor). Also many other great supporting characters, AND villains (hooooo let me tell you that betrayal fucking STUNGGGG), but the mains are my favorite of course. I do wish we could have gotten a little more of Lore and Castor...I don't know...happy interacting in the present??? but I lived. Still many heart-pounding, butterfly inducing moments.

The story, as I said, wraps up neatly by the end and while I at first was like waittttt, this was too easy??? I've been thinking about it more and I'm like nooo, girl. Lore has seen SO MUCH death. She needed an ending like that. I also liked the ongoing mention of the Fates and the talk and dwelling on what people are fated to become and how fate can't be changed and how Lore at the end finally thinks to herself "There was nothing fated. Lore had not been chosen for this; she had chosen to come here herself. Every step she'd made, every mistake, had led her here." I just think that was such a HUGE moment for her to realize that her life DIDN'T have to be ruled by these crazy ass gods/goddesses or the Agon. She made her own decisions and could be the person that she chose to be. Ahhh gives me shivers just thinking about it.

So, overall. I did really enjoy this but sadly my tender heart can't take the violence anymore and I had to take a star off. Totally a personal preference (but it does also make me wonder if this is really being marketing for YA lolll).

"You may be a god," she told him, relishing the sight of his struggle. "But I'm the Persides."

If you love Hunger Games and Percy Jackson then you will devour this book. I love any media that has to do with Greek Mythology and this book is honestly the most unique take on this theme that I have seen. It is so unexpected and exciting. The main character, Lore, is gritty and loveable but has struggles that make her very relatable. I audibly gasped many times while reading this book and stayed up late saying "just one more chapter..." I feel like this is one of those books that I will probably think about long after finishing it.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

I have read quite a few retellings of the Greek myths, and this one was unlike any I had read before. My brain isn't functioning enough to give a proper synopsis, so I won't even try.

I liked the characters, but didn't love them. The story started off strong, but there were parts that seemed to drag. I am unsure how I felt about the ending. It took me longer than it should have to read this one, so perhaps I would have given it a higher rating if I was in a different reading mood.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion for the ARC!