Review: Hera, Queen of Gods
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 11, 2013
Reading young adult fiction as an adult makes me judge my teenage self. I haven't read any of the young adult books that I treasured as a teenager, which was anything by Tamora Pierce, but I remember simple plots, a low vocabulary, and a thrilling plot. A plot so enticing that I would stay up late at night with a flashlight, ruining my eyesight, just to read what would happen next. This is what T.D. Thomas delivers in Hera, Queen of Gods (Book One of Goddess Unbound).Hera, Queen of Gods follows the famous Greek goddess Hera, along with other well-known Greek gods and goddesses, adopt a human form to find the Fates, who have been kidnapped on Earth. If the temporarily-mortal gods do not find the Fates in time, the Universe could be thrown into chaos and existence threatened.This book is typical for the young adult fantasy fiction genre. It has an easy plot, flat characters, and an unchallenging vocabulary, but Hera, Queen of Gods is noticeable unique for two major reasons: the use of Greek mythology and the age of Hera herself. Thomas uses Greek mythology in such an intriguing way that I was enticed to research more about the Greek gods' history. And while Hera adopts the body of a mortal teenage girl, she is in fact an immortal woman-goddess that has lived thousands of years. She is negotiating with other gods, maintaining her status as queen, and grappling with her failing marriage to Zeus. These are not typical young adult topics, but that is what makes this book so unique--a stab at maturity.Ultimately, I felt that this book was too long. But I would recommend this book to my seventeen-year-old sister and I am tempted to read the next installment of Goddess Unbound.