Monday, January 7, 2013

Review: Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis

Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis
Persephone (Daughters of Zeus #1)
By Kaitlin Bevis
Publisher:
Musa Publishing

* A copy was provided by the author for review.

To Sum It Up:

Persephone just wants to live a normal life like any other teenager, but that’s not easy to do when you’re a goddess. Unfortunately for her, she's a goddess who's attracted the unwanted attention of Boreas, the God of Winter, and he is willing to go to extremes to capture Persephone. Her savior is none other than Hades, Lord of the Underworld; to protect Persephone, Hades takes her to his domain. The thing is, to be able to give her the power to cross between the realms of the living and the dead, Hades has claimed Persephone as his queen. Although she longs to return to the surface, Persephone finds herself growing accustomed to living in the Underworld, due in no small part to being around Hades. In addition to learning to use her new powers, she faces another task, that of reconciling being a part of two worlds.

Ally's Review:

I love, loved this book! I adore Greek mythology and all that jazz, so this book was simply perfect for me. Once I really got into my “reading mode,” I flew through the book. Kaitlin Bevis is one clever author; she knows her mythology. I was beside myself with all the mini references to other popular myths. This retelling of Persephone and Hades is truly original, and my favorite interpretation by far.

Persephone was a great heroine. She handled being an immortal goddess pretty well. She didn't unreasonably complain, and I admired that she stood her ground on learning how to defend herself rather than always relying on others. Persephone was a great queen, too! She cared about her people and her friends. Her loyalty to them was truly admirable. Plus, she had Hades leashed! Hades was amazing. He was handsome and powerful, but he was also really sweet and caring. He's one of the nicer versions of Hades. I liked how he cared about the dead and their lives and experience after death. I also liked how he didn't let anyone mess with him at all. He is Lord of the Underworld, after all.

The relationship between Hades and Persephone is so sweet. The characters really balance each other out well. The two falling for each other wasn't forced or too fast; it was gradual. They're just so cute together! I was shipping for the two the whole time.

The Underworld setting was amazing! Reading about Tartarus, the River of Styx, and the Elysian Fields was a lot of fun. It was like taking a safari through the Underworld. I wish the book would have focused more on the places outside of the palace. The people in the Underworld were so adorable. You really had this whole family atmosphere going on. Hades was like the father and everyone else was the kids. Charon was one of my favorite characters. He was a giant goofball, definitely not the type of guy you picture him being.

Even though the whole thing about the gods and goddesses dying out and stuff was interesting, I was a little bummed. I wish I could have seen more of the other gods out there. How cool would that be, to see Apollo or Hermes running about? Well, the series is titled Daughters of Zeus (“Daughters” as in plural), so maybe we can meet some other deities in future installments. The ending was a real doozy; I'm super curious to see what happens next.

All in All:

I loved this book, plain and simple. Persephone is such a great interpretation of the old myth. It's fun, exciting, and sweet. I'm pretty sure I have a crush on Hades! :D


Lee's Review:

When I began reading Persephone, I wasn’t sure how I was going to like it. The signs pointing to Persephone’s goddess-ness, like having a professor named Homer, living in Athens, Georgia, and attending a concert by a rock star named Orpheus were a little less than subtle. Once Hades rescued her from Boreas and whisked her away to the Underworld, however, I started loving this. The characterizations of the figures from Greek mythology were very well done and fresh, Persephone and Hades in particular. I also loved the romance, which was slow-building (just my type) and sweet. I’m always happy when a book that I get off to a rocky beginning with pleasantly surprises me in the end, and that’s exactly what happened with Persephone.

I like my heroines strong but not too perfect. Persephone represents a nice balance between wanting to be independent and able to defend herself against a creep like Boreas but flawed enough to have her moments of self-doubt and to act on impulse. She also has a self-deprecating sense of humor, which always endears a protagonist to me. I really rooted for her throughout the book because she made it so easy to do so.

Without question, my favorite character was Hades. This wasn’t the portrayal of the big, bad ruler of the Underworld that I was accustomed to/expecting. This is a kinder, gentler Hades than the one I always conjured up in my mind whenever I heard his name. Of course, that’s not to say that he won’t hesitate to snuff out anybody who earns his wrath. Overall, though, Hades is the hero here, and it’s so refreshing to see this side of him for a change. Yeah, he made swoon more than a few times while reading Persephone.

The secondary characters are equally well-developed and brim with such lively personalities, which is kind of ironic considering that most of them reside in the Underworld. I never thought I’d find myself laughing at jokes cracked by Charon, the ferryman of the river Styx, but yep, I did. Now imagine Charon, Cassandra, Thanatos, and Hypnos all joining Hades and Persephone around the dinner table chatting about their days and bantering with each other. I thought these scenes were fantastic because they were so different from the fiery, Dante’s Inferno-type images that I normally associate with the Underworld.

Persephone was an all-around enjoyable read, with characters that I became completely invested in, plenty of humor (the riff on vampire books was especially funny), a perfectly paced romance, and a good deal of character growth for our heroine. I loved how Kaitlin Bevis took Greek mythology and created a story that was at the same time uniquely her own. Daughter of the Earth and Sky looks like an awesome sequel, and best of all, it means more Hades to read about!

All in All:

Mythology retellings don’t get much better than this. Even if you’re not familiar with Greek myths, I still think that Persephone would make an excellent read, plus it’s a great starting point for exploring Greek mythology further.

12 comments:

  1. It's great that you both liked this! I haven't read many books involving Greek myths but over the weekend I read the first two books in the Goddess Test series and didn't really like them so I'd like to read a better example!

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    1. I haven't read The Goddess Test yet, but I've seen mixed reviews of the series. Ally read the first book and liked it. Persephone is a fantastic retelling; I hope you get to check it out!

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  2. Love the reviews and they have me convinced.. now I NEED To read this!

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    1. It is so, so good. I hope you enjoy it, too, when you read it!

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  3. Sold me! I am kind of geek for mythological goodness and the fact that you both enjoyed sells me on it. Great reviews, my lovelies!!

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    1. Ally and I are both mythology fans, too, especially Ally, and we just loved this. I think that even if I hadn't already been into mythology before reading the book, I still would have felt the same way about it.

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  4. After reading a couple of retelling duds I was skeptical when I started reading this one..but I was AWESOMELY suprised!! Best Persephone/Hades retelling hands down no contest thus far that I've read.

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    1. I was a little skeptical when I first began reading, too, but by the end, I came to the same conclusion as you- best retelling of Persephone and Hades that I've read so far, too!

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  5. I love Greek myth too, gosh Lee I'm starting to realize we have a lot in common! Score! See next Sunday #DowntonAbbey

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    1. I've loved Greek mythology since I was a kid but only recently got back into it in earnest. I'm determined to get up to date with the Dark-Hunters and got #5 from the library over the weekend.

      We do seem to have a lot in common! Awesome! And I will totally see you on Twitter for Downton Sunday(s)!

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  6. Eeeek I'm thrilled you both enjoyed this. I'm a HUGE lover of Greek Mythology so since I first heard of Persephone I'd been wanting to check it out...but I haven't happened to read many reviews on it. I was really excited when I saw you were reading it :D Thanks for the honest reviews!!

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    1. I wholeheartedly recommend this if you love mythology. I especially liked how Hades wasn't at all the type of character I'd expected him to be.

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