Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Review: Daughter of the Earth and Sky by Kaitlin Bevis

* Spoiler warning for the previous book, Persephone. *

Daughter of the Earth and Sky by Kaitlin Bevis Daughter of the Earth and Sky (Daughters of Zeus #2)
By Kaitlin Bevis
Publisher:
Musa Publishing

* A copy was provided by the author for review.

To Sum It Up:

Persephone knows that she can never go back to the way things were, not after finding out that she’s an immortal goddess and becoming Queen of the Underworld. Although Persephone herself eliminated the threat posed by the Winter God, Boreas, she isn’t out of danger yet. Zeus is still after her, and he’s in league with none other than Thanatos, someone whom Persephone once thought she could trust. Even worse, Thanatos has tricked her into keeping silent about his involvement in Zeus’s plans. She is unable to even tell Hades, her husband, about what Thanatos is up to. With Zeus's hidden agenda and Thanatos as her newly acquired enemy, Persephone's world is falling apart. Somehow, she must find a way to stop both of them before it’s too late.

Lee's Review:

Having loved Kaitlin Bevis’s Persephone, I was extremely excited to read the sequel, Daughter of the Earth and Sky. While I found myself a little frustrated at times with Persephone’s actions in this one, they were integral to showing her growing pains as both a teenager on the verge of adulthood and as a goddess. Overall, Daughter of the Earth and Sky is a solid second book that maintains the first book’s momentum and explores in greater depth some of the issues, like the age difference between Persephone and Hades, that were touched upon in the previous novel.

Although in the first book, Persephone seemed to be adjusting as well as she could to her new role as Queen of the Underworld, her return to life on the surface in Daughter of the Earth and Sky is a lot rockier. She’s pretty angry with her mother, Demeter, for withholding so much information from her for most of her life. Their relationship is rather strained in this book, as is Persephone’s relationship with her best friend and priestess, Melissa. Melissa is looking for a bit of independence from a life she didn’t choose but was born into, and she wants to attend college in another state. Also driving a wedge between the girls is Aphrodite, created by Zeus and possessing a dangerous amount of charm. No one knows exactly why Zeus sent her, but under the assumption that it was for some no-good purpose, Hades and Persephone are keeping a close eye on her. As Aphrodite worms her way more and more into Persephone’s life, Melissa gets pushed aside. I wasn’t too enthused with Persephone’s initial handling of both the situation with her mother and with her best friend. I thought she was acting a bit bratty, but I cut her some slack for having so much thrown on her shoulders all at once. She’s finding out that juggling life between two worlds isn’t easy, and her struggle for balance takes center stage in this book. I actually liked that the story took this turn because it gave Persephone’s character development a sense of realism. The story would have been boring if she simply sailed through life now that she knew she was a goddess.

Hades and Persephone’s relationship isn’t spared from some drama, either. Demeter does not approve of it, and Hades himself is wary of them developing serious feelings for each other because of their rather big age difference. Making things even more awkward is the fact that Persephone can’t tell Hades that his underling, Thanatos, is working for Zeus because Thanatos tricked her into staying mum. At one point, Persephone gets angry with Hades for not being able to guess what’s going on. This annoyed me some because I thought her anger was misplaced. Granted, Thanatos was very cunning with how he secured her silence, and I was quite surprised to find out that he was a bad guy at the end of Persephone. But Hades is already doing everything he can to protect Persephone, and it’s like she’s forgotten that. All right, so I’m pretty blind to Hades’s faults because I’ve loved him since the first book, and yeah, maybe he should have caught a whiff of something suspicious going on with Thanatos. Yet I still felt that Persephone was demonstrating the very immaturity that made Hades hesitant to return her affection. As I said before, I wasn’t always happy with Persephone’s actions, but they also illustrated that even goddesses aren’t perfect. I would have been more disappointed if she got everything she wanted, including a happily-ever-after marriage, without having to work for it.

Of the new characters, Poseidon was my favorite. The tension between him and Hades intrigued me greatly. I was not so thrilled with Aphrodite. Even knowing that Zeus was responsible for her grating personality, I still wasn’t keen on her addition. There’s a chance that she may surprise me in the next book, though, considering the twist ending to this book. Oh, and I wouldn’t mind reading more about Poseidon in the next book, too.

Daughter of the Earth and Sky concludes with one shocker of an ending. I thought I had things fairly figured out, but I figured incorrectly. Big time. I congratulate Kaitlin Bevis on completely fooling me with such clever plotting. I await the third book, The Iron Queen, with great anticipation.

All in All:

This is just a fantastic mythology retelling series. The Greek mythology is weaved into the story so seamlessly. I continue to be impressed with Kaitlin Bevis’s writing; Persephone may be a goddess, but Bevis gives her enough flaws to keep her grounded and relatable.

Ally's Review:

I immediately fell in love with the first installment in the Daughters of Zeus series, and I couldn't imagine what else to expect. I knew that I was going to love any mythology Kaitlin Bevis threw at me; I just didn't know to what extent. I usually don't anticipate much from sequels, shamefully favoring only the first and last in a series, but I was pleasantly surprised by Daughter of the Earth and Sky. I think I might even like it more than the first book.

The plotline in this book definitely takes a darker turn. There is more conflict with Persephone and her coming into her goddess-ness. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of action centering around Zeus, Thanatos, and all the other bad guys, but the book focuses on Persephone realizing who she is and what is expected from her more than anything else. Some of these revelations are sad, especially concerning Persephone's friends and family, but necessary. Persephone grows up a lot this time around, and that's a good thing.

Several new characters are introduced in this book. Poseidon makes an appearance, which I thought was beyond awesome! I wanted to meet some other gods and goddesses, and I got what I wanted! Poseidon reminded me of Finnick Odair from The Hunger Games with his surfer boy looks and his sea-colored eyes. I was most definitely crushing on him until Bevis rained on my parade, giving readers a glimpse of his bad side. Aphrodite is another Olympian introduced. Personally, I did not like her, but that could be credited to my jealous, skeptical, teenage trust issues. Then you have the mortal boy, Joel, who was unabashedly pining after Persephone even after she told him she was taken! I did not like Joel either, and I spent a good portion of the book wishing that he would go jog off a cliff or have a run-in with Hades.

The strain in Hades and Persephone's relationship was ever present. I had a front row seat to all of the angst and drama; it was killing me, but I couldn't look away! I had to watch Persephone's promise to keep the evil Thanatos's secret destroy everything! If, by some stroke of luck, I was Persephone and got myself into that situation, I would sit my butt down and meditate until I found a way to tell Hades the truth. Then I would kick Zeus and Thanatos's godly arses down into the deepest pits of Tartarus. It's not Persephone's fault, though. Thanatos was so cool and trustworthy in the beginning. He was even one of my favorite characters. No one could have expected him to turn evil. I feel so betrayed!

The only thing that I marginally disliked about the book was that it made me terribly homesick. I missed the Underworld, Charon, and everybody down there! They are barely in the book. I became so attached to them, and then I didn't get to see them. Every time Persephone said that she was visiting the Underworld, I would jump with glee only to be disappointed because she left almost as soon as she got down there.

Aside from my little bout of homesickness, Daughter of the Earth and Sky was fantastic. It keeps you on your toes and has you guessing until the very end. At one point, towards the end of the book, I thought I had it all figured out. Arrogantly, I told Lee about my Cassandra-like premonitions. She nodded her head, having already finished the book. When I finished the last twenty odd pages, I was rudely awakened. I had been wrong; completely, utterly wrong. I was misled into a passive lull. The worst part is that I had reveled in my seemingly glorious guesswork, and Lee had let me! It was all just too clever for me; now I feel the need to redeem myself. This book was just that good.

All in All:

Daughter of the Earth and Sky is the best young adult, mythological book I have ever read. The reader becomes so completely invested in the characters and the story that everything just feels real. Man, I wish it were real.

6 comments:

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    1. This series has quickly become my favorite mythology retelling, due in no small part to the giant crush I have on Hades!

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  2. I'll have to give the series a try, it's been ages since I last read YA mythology - the most memorable being Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson

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    1. I still have to finish the Percy Jackson series! So far I've only read The Lightning Thief, which I really enjoyed.

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  3. Wonderful buddy review. This series is generating a lot of cool reviews, the retelling really wounds great and not bastardized like some other adaptations out there.

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    1. I wasn't too crazy over the Persephone retelling in Everneath, but this one works perfectly for me.

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