Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Goddess Book Review

Rawr Reader,

    Is this real? I've waited a year for this book. Yes! I'm so excited to finish this trilogy which I've loved every moment so far. Please don't disappoint Greek gods! ;P
   Goddess is the final book in the Starcrossed trilogy and its synopsis was provided by Goodreads:

After accidentally unleashing the gods from their captivity on Olympus, Helen must find a way to re-imprison them without starting a devastating war. But the gods are angry, and their thirst for blood already has a body count.

To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a diabolical Tyrant is lurking among them, which drives a wedge between the once-solid group of friends. As the gods use the Scions against one another, Lucas’s life hangs in the balance. Still unsure whether she loves him or Orion, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, for war is coming to her shores.


Reference:
  The first and second books! Which I originally heard from a booktuber over a year ago.

Review:
(safe for those who haven't read this book yet)
   Yes. This was the perfect way to finish this trilogy!
   The beginning was a little slow, which may have been my fault since I hadn't read the first and second books since last summer, almost a year ago now, so yes, there was some confusion. So I was being thrown names back and forth and I remembered most of them, but still it was hard to associate some people with others. I still don't really remember who belongs to which of the four Houses. (The four are: House of Atreus, House of Rome, House of Thebes, and House of Athens).
   At first we're thrown into these scenes in Helen's mind that show Helen in her past lives, watching the scenes as a third party with the reader, and while at first they don't seem that important to the plot, they really do show later to be important. Though I'll admit there's one legendary British monarch incorporated with the Greek memories that I found a little random. In the end, I loved reading the different interpretations of scenes in the Trojan War. 
   Be warned, you'll be surprised who sides with who. I sure was. There were people who I thought would be on Helen's side and then revealed to betray her and emotions pretty much exploded from there. I mean, I didn't cry, but there were feelings stirring under my sternum.  
   Ah, Helen and Lucas, you have to love them. I think in this book more than Dreamless they're love is a little more tragic, because there isn't as much focus on their relationship as there is the upcoming confrontation between Scions and gods. While at times I found some scenes to be a little unnecessary or I lost sight as to why they were included when it regarded Helen and Lucas, it's my guess they were included to not rush to the finale. Even if they were, they were still cute moments.
    Favorite couple award in this book; though I won't say if they end up together (and believe me there were plenty of couples in the book to choose from). Drumroll please. Is: Hector and Andy. Yay, I think they were adorable. 
    My favorite character in this book is difficult to choose since I have many. I will list a few: Morpheus, Hades, Hector, and Orien. And it isn't like I didn't like Helen and Lucas because I did, and I love them together, I guess I just gather more character in the other four. Though I do argue that Helen is the only female I really liked in this story, besides perhaps Andy, I liked her. 
    As for the ending, after reading Once which had several anti-climatic endings, I was very satisfied with this one. It wasn't the clean happy ending I was expecting (and secretly not hoping for), it had its messes that would need to be dealt with later in the future. But otherwise, so much action and fights and everyone's involved! The tensions between enemies and relatives felt real, I can only imagine seeing it in person.
    I will admit, there is one loose end I didn't quite understand. Who was the Tyrant? Was is it the one who called themselves it near the end? (Check who I thought it was at the end of the spoiler section).
   Overall I am in love with this series and I love everything within its 1395 pages. Gods, Scions, mortals, mythical places, starcrossed loves, tragic deaths, epic battles galore. 

I give this book 5/5 stars.



Author's Quote:
"I've always thought that was the lamest argument—that we need some people to be poor in order to remind the rest of us to be grateful. All that really means is that someone has to suffer poverty so other people can feel better about themselves. What a selfish way to look at the world."
—Helen, Josephine Angelini, Goddess


My Goodreads:


Next To Read:
The China Garden by Liz Berry


River Song's Spoilers:
(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)
      Alright, I'm ashamed to say this, but I lost all respect for Claire once she betrayed Helen. And not only Helen, but Jason too. Loyalty is really important to me in real life and in books, and so when I saw that, her abandoning the trust and love of one she's known her entire life and who is her best friend AND her boyfriend, I couldn't see her any other way. I mean, she defended Matt who was on the side of the gods, the jerks who started this mess in the first place! Even if Helen turned out to be pure evil, at least she could hope someday in the future her relationship with Helen would prevail and she could turn her good again. She should've had more faith in her than that. 
     And Matt becoming Achilles was a little random. Again I don't remember everything about the first two books, but I found a mortal becoming the legendary Achilles a little off and out of place. Oh yeah, and then he died. That was sad. Especially by the heel of his hand. I'm not going to lie I chuckled at that. I've never heard of that before so I couldn't suppress a giggle.
    Can I talk a little about Morpheus? I fell in love with the god of dreams in the second book when he was first introduced and my feelings hadn't faltered since. Such a smoothie, how could a girl resist him? Hehe.
    I know at the end Helen was able to come to turns to forgive her mother, but I couldn't. She's one of the characters that I couldn't forgive after revealing all those seventeen years were spent wallowing on selfish desires. She just wanted Ajax back and he's all she wanted. I didn't really care that Daphne would return to Helen throughout her life and spend a couple minuted talking to her about her everyday life, that isn't enough. But hey, if Helen's okay with that.
   In the end I really liked how everyone who in the Trojan War was in love with ended up loving that person in the present times. At least whoever they looked like. That reminded me a bit of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie; it became predictable, but then I was still surprised by all the actions of the characters and who they showed true loyalty/devotion to.
   By the way, who did Daphne's Ajax look like again? Was it Hector?
  And was the Tyrant ultimately Helen because she was a Worldbuilder? I would have guessed it was Daphne since she was manipulating everyone for selfish reasons.


Until Next Time,
Nicole Ciel

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