A fast-paced, original story that kept me turning the page! The world-building alone was immaculate, and then that twist! It has a Hunger Games vibe that was felt sort of nostalgic to read; I enjoyed that aspect. As a longtime fan of Greek mythology, that element was definitely my favorite part of the book. All in all, a very fun read!

Greek mythology-inspired, Lore is Percy Jackson meets Hunger Games in The Purge. To even the odds sort of speak, every seven years the Gods walk among humans as humans in a fight for power. The Aegon hunt is when the Greek God’s descendants have the chance to fight for a chance to be among the Gods. They kill a God and in return, they get their place and power. It’s a brutal world of survival of the strongest.

Alexandra Bracken did a good job with the plot of this story. Lore, our main protagonist has left this brutal world and does not want any part of it. Unfortunately, she is put in a very difficult situation and she has no choice but to join back in. The chaos and drama in this hunt makes it a good read. However, few of the scenes were predictable and it was easy for me to lose interest. When I was interested, the scene fell short. There was good build up but the climax just didn’t do it for me. I will admit that the fight scenes were pretty good and I love Lore and what she stands for.

As a whole, Lore would be a good read for younger readers who enjoy fantasy and Greek mythology. A bit of warning, there’s quite a bit of violence in this book.

It is always a joy to have a new Alexandra Bracken book! Her latest is Lore, which is a standalone fantasy novel that focuses on Greek mythology and is set in New York City (two of my favorite things). It's centered around an event called the Agon, in which the nine Greek gods are forced to become mortals every seven years and are hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines who can then kill them and gain their powers. For years, Lore Perseous has turned her back on that world and hidden herself away after the brutal deaths of her family. But when the next hunt comes to her city, two participants find her: her childhood friend Castor, whom she believed to be dead, and the wounded goddess Athena. She can't ignore either of them and from that moment, it's go go go. Because it's a standalone, the action starts immediately and the entire book had a high stakes feeling from start to finish.


I loved the way Bracken interpreted Greek mythology, pulling in the gods and the rival families (you can guess where Lore is from, right?) and gave it a modern twist by setting it in the present and NYC. From the beginning, Lore was a heroine who intrigued me. I wanted to know her backstory and everything that led her to this moment of joining the fight after years of isolation. I admired her courage and unwillingness to follow the rules dictated by the society she was a part of. The build up of her story completely paid off and the secondary characters who join her only built upon that. Friends from her past and present quickly played a huge role and I'm always a fan of watching unique individuals come together to form an unlikely crew (Bracken is so good at this!). Overall Lore was a super fun, well-written book with lots of twists and turns that kept me on my toes.


Do I recommend? Absolutely! It's out as of yesterday so definitely pick it up.

Ah, Lore, how I wanted to love you. Especially, with that cover, that cover is just *chef's kiss* And I absolutely love a good mythology retelling or reimaging, so this book should have been right up my alley, but instead this ended up being a huge miss for me.

The premise sounds wonderful and intriguing, but unfortunately, I didn't feel attached to any of the characters, and I care far more about character development than I do about anything else. So the fact that these characters felt very stereotypical and didn't keep me engaged with the story at all meant that no amount of plot was going to save this book for me. And to be honest, I didn’t feel that plot was that strong either.

As I am in the minority on this though, it is entirely possible that you might end up loving this one. It just wasn’t for me.

I can't. I can't with this book, it's so good! I've been talking about it to everyone who will listen from the second I started reading it, and it shouldn't be surprising to anyone who knows me but I found this to be probably one of my faves this year so far. Everyone's been throwing around the "Hunger Games but Greek mythology" tagline since it was published, but I don't think it's 100% accurate. There's too much to the Agon to consider it a trial like that, and the underlying factors here give me a very different vibe.

Lore is probably one of my favourite protagonists in years, though, someone who doesn't give up the fight just because she's outnumbered or outmanned. And honestly, we need more of that lately, there's way too big of a trend of female protags getting upset when they can't do One Thing and backing down. I'm not sure if this is going to be a series, and I honestly hope it isn't, but I'd take more of this cast if there's the writing desire there. Castor is pretty cool, and Miles and Evander played a way bigger role than I thought they would, or that I was expecting.

I'm definitely gonna go reread this at some point, probably with at least one of the people I talked into reading it while I was doing so myself. I was so interested in the concept that I didn't even realise I had the ARC and ended up buying a copy, if that says how much I loved this one. If I could give this higher than a 5/5 I would, I definitely recommend it if you're looking for a cool female lead adventure.

A solid 2.5 star read for me, I was hoping for more action and neat Greek mythology to be brought due to the description of Hunger games meeting mythology: however, it was clearly a YA trope and I'd adore more and quite an in-depth dive into mythological inter-personal drama and ancient lifestyle adapted to modern days.
Kudos to the marketing team, the promotion was excellent, however, some triggering subjects were explored and presented, and frankly, I was under the impression that the work itself will go in quite a different direction.
Overall an ok read, I guess I have to personally work on expectations I put towards works of fiction. It is very acceptable character development, world-building was a bit off for me, and thanks for not overkilling the work with romance.

Alex Bracken has another winner with LORE. Though it sometimes suffers with the authors tendency to write long, LORE is an ambitious and successful standalone fantasy and love letter to New York. The research and care built into the plot and love for mythology come across well. The best part, as always, are the characters. Bracken has a way of weaving you directly into the story and I connected with Lore instantly. This book is much different from much of her previous work, so I would go into it with that in mind so as not to have false expectations, but overall very enjoyable!

A battle to the death in seven days, all taking place in New York City.

Lore has distanced herself from the Greek Gods and the trials of the Agon. But this time she is brought back into the battle despite everything she did to stay hidden. Now, allied with a former friend and one of the last original Greek Gods, Lore must end the Agon for good.

The story moves at a steady pace with a gradual introduction of a wide cast of characters. The plot has many twists that will keep the readers engaged with a few expected betrayals along the way. Lore is an independent character that readers will root for and experience much of her emotional turmoil. The plot becomes cluttered towards the end that can become overwhelming for readers.

I couldn't put this book down once I started it. The description of this being Greek mythology meets the Hunger Games is definitely apt. There are duel timelines that help to fill in the back story which is done extremely well.

The evolution of the characters is written in an enthralling way that gets you completely invested in the quest. However, I do think that a prologue or epilogue that better describes the history of the Agon and it's purpose would have answered many questions.

This is definitely an amazing story and I would highly recommend.

This was a fast paced, well written retelling of greek mythology. I knew that I would like it from the fist page and I was not dissapointed!

Modern-day Greek mythology set in New York. Strong female protagonist with great fighting skills (almost too cliché). It was fast read, but it felt so incredibly long and drawn out.

(actual rating: 2.5/5)

For a book with a cover and synopsis like this one, I was really expecting something more engaging.

'Lore' is set in the modern-day world where The Hunger Games meets Greek mythology. Every seven years, there is an event called the Agon, where nine gods and goddesses lose their immortality and are hunted for a week by the descendants of Greek heroes, as punishment for their betrayal to Zeus. The nine families hunt to kill, and by doing so, gain the power of the being they've cut down.

Last Agon, Lore, the main character, lost everything she held dear. Ever since, she's decided to distance herself from that world and live her life free from the obsessive, cutthroat ways of the hunters. But blood calls to blood, and darkness is rising - and no one should count her out.

From the very beginning of the story, I was invested. The synopsis had already appealed to me, and the beginning of the story reeled me in. Lore was a, seemingly, great main character - strong in her resolve and even stronger with her fists.

But as the book progressed, things started to drag. I realized around 60% that I was just forcing myself to finish, I've come to the conclusion that this book has more gore than actual action, because while we're told that Lore spent years training for the Agon, and as a result, is very strong and good in battle, we don't really see much of that. There's a lot of build-up to the action scenes but there usually isn't a lot of action.

That being said, the big reveal at about three-quarters into the book isn't much of a reveal. There was a lot of foreshadowing of what was going to happen, and I found that I had been able to predict all of it, especially the betrayal of a certain character. Things start getting very convenient for the sake of wrapping up loose plotlines at the very end as well, which wasn't fun.

The characters overall were a bit bland to me. Lore herself does go through a bit of character development and growth, but for the most part, I was pretty indifferent to her story and couldn't really bring myself to care (she also has a strange obsession with NYC that had me cringing at times). I also felt that she was quite naive, although that is somewhat acknowledged in the book. Castor, Lore's childhood friend, fell extrememly flat for me. His defining character traits are that he a.) has Apollo's powers but doesn't remember how, and b.) he's nice. I actually liked Van (Castor's cousin) and Miles (Lore's friend), but I felt that there could have been more development for their characters.

Honestly speaking, I really didn't like the romance between Lore and Castor. Just like the characters themselves, the romance was pretty boring. At the very least, it isn't insta-love, but the slow-burn didn't feel like slow-burn, but rather, that it was being dragged out just for more page-time. I didn't feel any sort of chemistry between them either, which translated to me being more invested in the growing something between Van and Miles.

The passage of time was also quite confusing in this book. Lots of things happen, but it's written to seem like it happens all at once. At one point, I had been reading a part of the book, wondering how on earth the characters could go through all of that in three days, seemingly without sleeping, and then there was a line saying "five days had passed". It doesn't make much sense, and I would have been more inclined to ignore the issue all together if it hadn't interfered with the progression of the plot.

One of the best things about this book, however, is the world that Bracken has created for the story to take place. I loved the idea of the Greek gods and goddesses becoming mortal for a week and being hunted by the descendents of major Greek heroes. It was clear that a lot of research went into the making of this book, and I really appreciated that.

Overall, I found this book as something with a really good concept, but not necessarily good execution, and part of that may have been because of how much I had hyped it up for myself. It wasn't really for me, but I can definitely see a lot of people enjoying this. I would recommend this for anyone who is appealed to the idea "The Hunger Games but make it modern with Greek mythology".

“Lore.” He kept that same soft tone. “I was born knowing how to do three things— how to breathe, how to dream, and how to love you.”


Lore has tried to let go of all the demons from her past and move on, but it seems like her past is not done with her. When a friend she thought dead shows back up with a warning that she is being hunted, Lore finds herself flung back into the battle for godhood with the remaining gods of the Greek parthenon and their trained soldiers. This time though, the cycle may not leave anyone alive.

Lore was gritty and dark and dangerous, full of death, battles and horror and I loved every minute of this story! I will admit that I only had a vague notion of what the book was about, I basically picked it up without having read the synopsis since I like the author, so I went into the story blind. Lore was the modern day retelling-ish version of the Greek Gods that I didn't know I needed in my life. The story takes place over 7 days- 7 scary, intense and action packed days that made the story feel like it was flying, the pacing so fast and exciting/stressful. I also found the story surprisingly romantic (no I would not call this a romance, more a coming of age with a lot of battles and action) and full of hope and compassion, which seemed so odd in such a desperate pain filled story.

Overall I found this to be exciting and engaging, 100% unique and unlike anything I have read before. I also appreciated that this story wrapped up fully, making this a standalone read in a world full of long drawn out series. I fully recommend this for anyone who loves the myths of Greek Gods, action adventures that still are full of heart and a girl who is ready to battle for what is right.

This book got three stars from me. I'm not a fan of the whole Hunger Games type genre, so I wasn't expecting to like this book. But it surprised me. I found the characters to be well developed and I found it easy to get into the story. I do love greek mythology and I thought that that part of the book was really cool. I prefer series as opposed to standalone novels, but this book is the exception. All in all, if you're on the border about reading it, I'd say that you should give it a try.

I was sold on "Lore" from the very beginning when I saw the maps and the list of houses. I always love a book that starts with a map! Lore is an awesome, strong, complex protagonist and I loved all the different relationships in the book. While I do think the book was a bit slow in the beginning, it being slow did not affect how interested I was in it- even with the slow beginning, I wanted to know everything about Lore's world and see how the events would unfold. I will definitely be recommending this to some of my seventh-grade students.

Abandoned reading about a 1/3 of the way through. Love the concept but the characters fell flat for me.

As soon as I heard about Lore — new modern-day Greek mythology fantasy set in NYC, yes PLEASE — I was in. Now, having read it, my feelings about it are sort of a paradox. Because while I did think the execution was a bit clumsy, I definitely did enjoy it, and I thought the story was fun and exciting and creative.

Hundreds of years ago, Zeus punished his children by condemning them to the Agon — seven days that happen every seven years in which they become mortal and anyone who kills them inherits their power. Lore is the last surviving member of one of the great families descended from the Greek gods, and the last thing she wants is to get swept up in this cycle’s hunt. But as you can imagine, fate has different ideas.

What didn’t work for me: I thought that the world-building in the beginning could have been cleaner. Having read a lot of fantasy books, even I spotted opportunities where they could have reminded us who a person was or what a thing meant in order to help us follow along. Similarly, I found myself sort of lost during the final confrontation of the book, struggling to follow the logic of the revelations and discoveries that brought all the pieces of the puzzle together. There were also just some clumsy moments with word choices now and then, but enough to be noticeable.

What I did like: The story itself; the unique and creative world she built; the characters we can’t help but root for; and the dueling themes of freedom and destiny, history and perception; heritage and individuality; feminism and tradition.

Bottom line: If you’ve got experience following along with world-building and fantasy plots, and especially if you love fantasy based on Greek mythology, this will be fun to pick up.

Warning: sexual assault, child abuse/marriage, violence, gore, death

As an avid fan of all things Greek mythology, it’s no surprise at just how much I loved Alexandra Bracken’s Lore. This was my first time reading Bracken and it definitely will not be my last. You can read my summary and initial thoughts on the first six chapters here.

Plot: Overall – fantastic! It had the right mix of everything. The Agon and nine families were a complicated world to introduce in a standalone story. I think Bracken did a great job of providing enough information to give the audience a road map of how this world fits into the one we know. I have to say I didn’t call some of the twists so it was also a pleasant surprise while reading!

Pacing: The action is non-stop which makes it a breeze to read through. The fight/action scenes are well written. These are usually things I skim through, but I found myself reading them quite closely as to not miss any information. Bracken also knows when to slow the action down to let the characters shine.

Characters: I really loved Lore. She was a great character to follow along on this journey. She’s tough, loyal, and she’s been through some really terrible things but she’s still able to believe in herself and others. Castor is the perfect underdog, presumed dead best friend turned love interest. It didn’t bother me once that the relationship between Lore and Castor would obviously end up together. I think because the friendship through present and past story telling was really developed and seemed really organic to me. Athena, man do I love a mortal god. I don’t want to spoil too much, but really great development of Athena (and all the god characters!).

I wish Miles, Van and Io had a bigger part of the story. Especially for Van and his place in the Agon world. I think that could have been a really interesting intersection as a character that is gay and a person of color. Same goes for Miles. Their relationship happened off page and ultimately felt a little unnecessary to the larger story, especially for a standalone work. I enjoyed the bits and pieces of Io but wish we could have gotten more from her and her relationship to Lore.

Overall this was a great read. Fans of Percy Jackson (or any of Riordan’s work) will enjoy this slightly more adult take on the re-imaging of famed Greek gods and heroes.

Alwxandra Bracken has done it again!! The characters are well written, the plots are thought out, the twists will have you on the edge of your seat and the lore (pun intended!) will have you begging for more!! Absolutely a fun read - highly recommend!!!

I went through a huge Greek mythology kick after reading this and just loved it! It's a fun modern spin on such an ancient story. If you loved Percy Jackson you'll love this too!