Review: A well-crafted, modern day Greek myth.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 24, 2012
A well-crafted, modern day Greek myth. Thomas does a stellar job blending ancient Greek mythology with the currently popular urban fantasy craze. We are brought into the story watching through the eyes of Hera, the greek goddess of old, as her associate Athena convinces an ordinary high school boy to recite the words that will allow a god to inhabit his body. The gods need to be in mortal bodies to discover what had happened to the Fates, a trio of sisters that control the destiny of the world. If they die, the world ends.In the guise of high school students, the ancient gods and goddesses Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Demeter and Hermes begin their quest to discover where the Fates are hidden. They are only allowed one divine power and they cannot communicate with Olympus. Their mission gets trickier as a mortal boy, Justin, with a strange fascination for Hera inserts himself into the group and they are chased by the deadly monsters of chaos. It gets even worse when they discover the gods can die if killed in their mortal bodies and that their is a traitor amongst them. It is up to Hera to discover the path that will save them all.I am an avid reader of Greek Mythology, so I had some intrepid feelings in the beginning. But the author handles the powerful history of said mythology with care. The characters stretch their confines, but remain true to their heritage, except perhaps the main character, Hera. In my opinion the author is a little too rule-bending with the relationship between Zeus and Hera, as well as Hera's nature, but as this appears to be the first in a series, maybe she means to rein it back in.The prose is well-crafted, easy to read, with only a couple name changes that made me stumble. At one point Justin is named Aaron, but it only happens once.I believe this is meant to be a YA since the gods inhabit teenage bodies, but it reads more adult. I hope in the future books the author will foray into adult bodies and allow the possibility of a more physical connection with the mortals as so much of Greek mythology is based on that.All in all, I would say this is a great read and would recommend it to fans of Mercedes Lackey, Robin McKinnley, or Anne Bishop.