Friday, June 13, 2014

ARC Review: Underworld's Daughter by Molly Ringle

Underworld's Daughter by Molly Ringle
Underworld’s Daughter (The Chrysomelia Stories #2)
By Molly Ringle
Publisher:
Central Avenue Publishing
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
Publication Date: June 27, 2014

To Sum It Up: As Sophie continues to regain her memories of her previous life as Persephone, she and Adrian/Hades are soon joined by two more figures from their shared past: Dionysos and Hekate. Sophie and Adrian need all the allies they can assemble, too, because Thanatos, the group that wants to destroy all immortals, is more determined than ever to carry out their lethal plans. Sophie’s own plans to just be a normal college student seem nearly impossible now, since she must devote all of her focus to protecting everyone she loves from Thanatos.

Review: My icy heart is not easily moved by swoony romances, but that’s exactly the effect Persephone’s Orchard had on me. I ended up loving the rekindled romance between Adrian and Sophie, the modern day reincarnations of Hades and Persephone. While there’s no shortage of sweet moments between the king and queen of the Underworld in Underworld’s Daughter, Sophie and Adrian’s relationship in the present hits a bit of a bump. She sometimes longs to just be Sophie Darrow, average college student without all of the baggage that accompanies being a Greek deity. Although this was a perfectly reasonable story development, the part of me that fell for Persephone’s Orchard because of the Adrian/Sophie pairing couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

Underworld’s Daughter expands its roster of characters, with the series shifting some of its focus to Tabitha and Zoe, friends of Sophie and Adrian’s who also featured prominently in the lives of Persephone and Hades. It’s not that Sophie and Adrian are totally forgotten, but you can expect to spend quite a bit of time getting acquainted with Tabitha, Zoe, and their previous incarnations. The flashbacks to their days in ancient Greece were absorbing to read about; their lives in the present—not as much. I would have liked Tabitha to have had a little more to her character than partying and chasing fame, even if those things were in total keeping with the lifestyle she led in the past. As for Zoe, I thought she let herself get too bogged down in her memories of who Tabitha used to be and how close they once were.

And I think that was my main issue with Underworld’s Daughter: I couldn’t get as invested in the present day lives of the characters as easily as I did their previous ones. There’s clearly a lot of love for Greek mythology here, and that love really shines through whenever the story returns to the past. Kudos also go to the storytelling technique that’s employed in the series; the narrative switches back and forth between ancient and contemporary times without ever causing confusion about where—or when—you are. I do wish that the contemporary plotlines had moved closer to the pace that the flashback scenes did and that my favorite character, Hermes/Niko, had made a few more appearances. Ultimately, Underworld’s Daughter was a satisfying sequel, though I did miss, and I sort of can’t believe I’m about to say this because it’s rather uncharacteristic for me, the sweeping romance of Persephone’s Orchard.

All in All: The Greek mythology aspect continues to be excellent, but the modern day story took a while to build and find its momentum.

4 comments:

  1. hahah 'your icy heart...' I feel that you and I are mostly compatible when it comes to swoony romances so I vividly remember your lovely review for Persephone's Orchard! In fact, I added it to my TBR shelf on your high praise! I didn't know this was the sequel but when I cottoned on, I was eager to read your thoughts on how the story evolves from book 1. The flashbacks to their days in ancient Greece sounds like they could be right up my alley, even though it IS sad that their love-story hits a bit of a rough patch. I'm sorry that this one didn't quite captivate you like the first book did, but I'll still be checking out this series nonetheless! Wonderful review Lee ^^ xxxx

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    1. I still think this is definitely a series worth checking out, especially for the Greek mythology. I just couldn't get into the contemporary story line this time, which I feel is a totally it's-not-the-book-it's-me type of thing.

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  2. I didn't fall in love with the first book, it lacked oomph for me. You're right though in that it's did a great adaptation of Greek Myth. Hopefully the next one is good.

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    1. The reimagining of ancient Greece was fantastic once again; I struggled a little with the pacing of the present day story lines this time.

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