Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Review: Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake
Antigoddess (The Goddess War #1)
By Kendare Blake
Publisher:
Tor Teen
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library

To Sum It Up: The Greek gods and goddesses still exist among us in modern times—but barely. They’re dying, and Athena, for one, is determined to find a way to escape death. She and Hermes set out on a search for the famed seer Cassandra, who’s been reincarnated and is supposed to be the key to saving the deities. Cassandra recalls nothing of her past life, however, and is living in quiet Kincade, New York. Athena isn’t the only immortal looking for Cassandra, either, and these beings are willing to kill each other to reach her first.

Review: I never get tired of reading Greek mythology retellings. I love seeing how different authors put their own unique stamp on these legendary tales, and I was especially excited to see what Kendare Blake would do with these stories. I’d seen some mixed reactions to Antigoddess when it was released, and now, I find myself echoing their sentiments. While I really liked Blake’s imaginative portrayal of fabled figures such as Athena, Hermes, and Odysseus, the plot couldn’t seem to find its focus or momentum.

Antigoddess sports an intriguing premise—some of the gods and goddesses are dying, and in alarming ways. Athena’s body is sprouting feathers inside of it, while Hermes is growing thinner and thinner. The pair, spurred on by Athena’s drive to preserve their immortality, travels far and wide in search of a solution. And when I say Athena is determined, I mean doggedly so; all of her experience leading armies onto a battlefield really kicks into high gear. She can be arrogant and single-minded at times, focused only on halting death and doing whatever she believes is necessary to achieve her goal. I appreciated the fact that Athena and her fellow deities weren’t perfect, though; their character flaws lent them depth and made them seem quite . . . human.

Initially the novel switches between following Athena and Hermes as they attempt to track down the reincarnation of the seer Cassandra of Troy and the life of the present-day Cassandra herself. The latter has no idea who she really is/was and believes she’s just a high school student—who has visions of the future. It takes some time for the two story lines to converge, and I often found the chapters that focused on Cassandra and her friends slow going. I preferred reading about Athena and Hermes’s travels, which were heavier on the action. Once certain characters get (re)acquainted there’s a noticeable pickup in the book’s pacing, but I think the wait for that to happen is a tad too long.

I also found myself rather confused about the war between the gods and goddesses that’s supposed to be going on in this book. That meanie Hera and her cohorts are bumping off other immortals, but exactly why . . . I still don’t know. This remained a nagging question throughout the novel, and one that was never satisfactorily answered.

Thanks to a few bumpy spots here and there, Antigoddess falls a little short of Blake’s superb Anna Dressed in Blood. Antigoddess still manages some creep-tastic moments, though; if you ever wondered what the result of combining Greek mythology with a touch of scary would be, that book is right here. I certainly enjoyed this enough to continue with the series, despite the couple of issues I had with it.

All in All: I definitely think that Antigoddess is worth checking out for anyone who loves mythology retellings. It’s not perfect, but I really love Kendare Blake’s characterizations here; they’re fresh and creative and sometimes even a little frightening.

12 comments:

  1. Hi . . I've just read Antigoddess too . . . I don't think Kendare Blake has been able to quite recapture the 'specialness' since Anna Dressed in Blood, but I did really like this book and am interested to see where she goes in the sequel . . . I'm glad Athena was a strong character though as I thought Cassandra was a bit 'bleurgh'!!!! LOL!!!!

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    1. I agree with you about Cassandra; I definitely enjoyed reading about Athena and Hermes more. I'm also interested to see what happens in the next book; I hope that it fills in some of the missing details about the ongoing war.

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  2. I still need to read this (I bought a copy awhile ago) so I'm a bit disappointed that this isn't as amazing as Anna Dressed in Blood since the premise of this book sounds wonderful! But at least you enjoyed it so I hope I'll feel the same! Great review!

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    1. I tried not to compare this to Anna, which I loved, but the latter was such an outstanding read that I couldn't help being a bit let down by the sometimes fuzzy plot in Antigoddess. I'll be curious to see what you think of it!

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  3. The image of Athena sprouting feathers and Hermess getting thinner and thinner is quite the visual. I do love Hermes is the god on the forefront, they need to switch up the Greeks a bit. Hopefully the next one will shed more light on Hera's motivation.

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    1. I hope so, too. I really liked how Hermes was portrayed here; he was more accepting of fate than Athena, yet he did whatever he could to help her fight off death. And he had some great, witty lines, too!

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  4. I love mythology retellings so I probably will check this out, but with lower expectations. The lack of focus does seem a bit weird though. I guess I was never as into Anna Dressed in Blood as other people were, so I don't really have those enormous expectations of Kendare Blake. Anyway, great review!

    -P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex

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    1. I was definitely surprised that this wasn't as tightly plotted as Anna Dressed in Blood, or so it seemed to me. I do think she did a great job re-imagining Greek mythology, though.

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  5. I never tire of mythological retellings either so I'm happy to see you recommending it to fellow mythology fans!! I've had this one on my TBR for a bit but like you mentioned, the mixed reactions to it were making me hesitant. The concerns you had with the plot as a whole sound like things that might bug me too, but not enough to avoid a book altogether. I'll definitely be checking this one out, thanks for the lovely review Lee ^^

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    1. I'm a big fan of Kendare Blake's writing, and it still shines through in this despite the few quibbles I had with the book. Based on some of the reviews I'd seen, I'd actually expected to walk away terribly disappointed, but that wasn't the case.

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  6. I read this near the end of 2013 and I was planning on reviewing it but got busy and everything, but I liked this one too. It was no Anna, but it was interesting and an interesting twist. I am ready to find out more details regarding the war and Hera in the next book though.

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    1. I'm itching to know exactly what Hera is up to, and I hope that the second book will shed some light on that. One thing's for sure-she's up to no good, lol.

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