Review: An Inventive and Compelling Retelling of Greek Mythology...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 25, 2013
One of my favorite things to read is a modern day telling of an old story or myth and Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis did not disappoint me. Persephone is living in the modern day world with her Mother attending school, working, and oh yeah, being stalked by some kind of mystical force. Time isn't on her side and if that wasn't enough Persephone has absolutely no inkling of who or what she truly is.I love, love, love that Persephone is a teenage goddess, well technically she doesn't even know she's a goddess. I think Bevis did a great job of jumping right into the story. Right off the bat we know something isn't right. Persephone feels like she's being watched and every time she touches people something strange happens to them.But the real craziness kicks in when she driving home with her best friend Melissa and the wind and ice try to kill her! I mean Oh my god. The scene was crazy and done incredibly well. You get the sense that there's something going on and all the characters around Persephone know a it more than they are letting on.I don't want to give away the entire plot, but once Persephone is attacked and saved by Hades the story really starts catching fire. I think my favorite part of the story was a mix between all the different Greek myths that were thrown into it and the relationship between Persephone and Hades.Bevis's depiction of the underworld having layers and not being this terrible place was a welcomed relief. Not that I don't love me some torture because Hades does have a pretty dark side haha, but I really like the idea of him caring about the souls and making a place they can live and have a good afterlife.I loved Cassandra as well. She was so bubbly and snarktastic. I absolutely couldn't get enough of her and oh my god Hades jokes about his depiction in other media, hilarious. When they mentioned the hair on fire you know I was totally picture Disney Hades in my head!One thing I absolutely enjoyed was how Persephone wasn't your typical teenager. Sure she snapped and got crabby, but in a lot of books when something doesn't go a characters way they lash out and are terrible to the people helping them who care about them, but Persephone isn't like that at all.She gets the urge to be bitchy, but then pushes it aside and realizes that if she said or did that she'd be acting liked a spoiled immature child and I adore that realization from the character. We see Persephone do a lot of growing up over the course of the story and the way she started out is definitely not how she ends up.I really loved this story and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who loves Greek mythology or a retelling of any kind!