Review: The Iron Queen by Kaitlin Bevis

* These reviews may contain spoilers for the previous two books in the series, Persephone and Daughter of the Earth and Sky. *

The Iron Queen (Daughters of Zeus #3)
By Kaitlin Bevis
Publisher: Musa Publishing

* A copy was provided by the author for review.

To Sum It Up:

Persephone has been captured by Zeus, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get her to swear fealty to him. As Persephone puts up a fierce fight, Hades frantically searches for her, as well as for a way to defeat Zeus. Other gods and goddesses are called in to assist, some of whom don’t believe that saving one young woman is worth risking the world for. There’s also the matter of whether or not Aphrodite can be trusted, especially considering her connection to Zeus. Persephone doesn’t have much time, though, and the deities need to band together if they’re to stop Zeus from seizing control of every realm.

Ally's Review:

I cannot even begin to describe The Iron Queen. After finishing the book, I was at a loss for words. The striking brilliance of this adaptation of Greek mythology is easily a favorite.

The new introduction of the shifting point of views had me initially worried. I feared that my ideal image of Hades would be tainted with the ability to see events unfold from his perspective. My fear was misplaced—it was thrilling and fresh to catch a glimpse inside the mind of Hades. It was even more enjoyable to read from Aphrodite's point of view. Aphrodite easily moved up in the ranks of my favorite characters with her witty humor. Her little side missions with Melissa provided a much needed breather from the neverending chaos that follows Persephone and Hades.

Another worry of mine concerning the shifting point of views was Persephone. For the two previous books, Persephone was the only window into the book. I wondered how my perception of her would change after seeing her through another person. If anything, my respect for Persephone grew. Not only did she hold her own against Zeus under the most abominable of circumstances, but she also gained the respect and admiration of the other gods and goddesses. In this book, Persephone is no longer seen as a child but as a force to be reckoned with.

Ever since I read the first book in the Daughters of Zeus series, I have been moaning and groaning about meeting other Greek deities. With this book, I got my wish. The whole entourage of gods and goddesses that are introduced left me giddy with excitement. The interpretation of each and every deity in the modern world was nothing less than brilliant. The new characters that eased their way onto my favorites list include Ares and Hephaestus. It was beyond fun meeting the new cast of characters, and it was even more fun watching Demeter and Hades trying to control them all.

The Iron Queen provides a constant stream of action and tension. The conflict with Zeus becomes paramount. I found it interesting to read about Persephone in the hands of the monster and then read about Hades trying to find his lost wife. It was interesting because as the reader you know where Persephone is but the characters in the book do not. No matter how much you want to help Hades and the other gods and goddesses, the most you can do is sit in the tension and continue reading. I was propelled by my own curiosity to read the book in a matter of hours.

With the new cast of characters and action at every turn, The Iron Queen is an exhilarating read. The previous books in the series left me stunned and wanting more, and this one was no exception.

All in All:

Daughters of Zeus is hands down my favorite mythological young adult series. It's very hard not to love these books.

Lee's Review:

Kaitlin Bevis’s Daughters of Zeus series has quickly become my favorite mythology retelling, and after reading The Iron Queen, I love it more than ever. This is the most intense, action-packed installment yet. I hated having to put the book down because I was so into it, and any time I had a free moment, even if it was five minutes, I pulled this up on my phone so I could continue reading.

I might have squealed just a little when Chapter 1 opened with Hades’s point of view. Okay, it might be more accurate to say I had a full-on freak-out. But it’s Hades—the badass god of the Underworld whom I’ve been in love with since the first book. With Zeus holding Persephone prisoner, we have access to the storm of Hades’s thoughts: fear for his wife, determination to save her no matter what the cost, and pure hatred of Zeus. Even though the tone of this book stays fairly serious throughout, there are still a few glimpses of Hades’s sense of humor (yes, he has one!). I cracked up at his memory of Cassandra telling a recently arrived soul to the Underworld about how he went through a “dark phase” after meeting Dante, he of The Divine Comedy fame.

Hades isn’t the only new POV addition to the series. Aphrodite also narrates some chapters, and at first I had mixed feelings about this. I really didn’t like her in the previous novel, Daughter of the Earth and Sky. I thought she was a bad influence on Persephone, and I found her annoying in general. But after reading from Aphrodite’s perspective, I really had to eat my negative opinion of her. Zeus took away her free will, and she’s stuck being bossed around by any member of the family who outranks her. It’s not a fun life. I actually wound up liking Aphrodite and her pert attitude. She and Melissa, Persephone’s friend/priestess, have some hilariously snippy exchanges that further provide some comic relief.

Poor Persephone spends the majority of the novel getting tortured by a merciless, power-hungry Zeus. To her credit, she fights back as much as she can against Zeus’s endless lightning zaps and the fake nightmares he’s planting in her head. Persephone actively searches for even the tiniest opportunity to get away, which is a lot more than I can say for some other YA heroines I’ve read about. I can’t stand it when a female protagonist spends more time talking about escaping than making actual plans to do so.

My absolute favorite part of The Iron Queen was the gathering of other figures from Greek mythology to unite against Zeus. It was like something out of The Avengers, and I LOVE The Avengers! Ares, Apollo, Artemis, and Athena all make appearances, and the assembly of awesomeness was just amazing. Apollo was too, too funny, with his cult of hippie worshippers and tongue-in-cheek alias, Mr. Sunshine. Even Hades snickered at that. As content as I’d been with the cast of deities in the first two books, the roster expansion in this one was both perfectly time and perfectly executed.

It’s always gratifying to see a series move forward with each installment, and this series truly hits the sweet spot with The Iron Queen. The story doesn’t appear to be finished yet, either, which makes me all the happier because I only just became acquainted with a host of fascinating new characters. I really hope their presence continues in future books.

All in All:

I loved this from start to finish. If you’ve read Persephone and Daughter of the Earth and Sky, you should be extremely happy with The Iron Queen.

Review: Daughter of the Earth and Sky by Kaitlin Bevis

* Spoiler warning for the previous book, Persephone. *

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.

Review: 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.