ARC Review: 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.

ARC Review: Persephone's Orchard by Molly Ringle

Persephone’s Orchard (The Chrysomelia Stories #1)
By Molly Ringle
Publisher: Central Avenue Publishing
Publication Date: June 28, 2013

* An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.

To Sum It Up:

Sophie Darrow is about to start her freshman year at college, but adjusting to university life is going to be the least of her worries. She’s barely had time to settle in when she’s whisked away to another realm, where she meets the mysterious Adrian Watts, a young man who actually isn’t the total stranger Sophie believes him to be. Adrian hopes Sophie will unlock her memories of the past, which stretch farther back than she realizes, and which tell a story that’s something like a tale straight out of Greek mythology.

Review:

I’ve had some very good luck with mythology retellings lately, and that streak continues with Persephone’s Orchard. I absolutely loved Molly Ringle’s inventive reimagining of Greek mythology, in which deities are reborn into new lives throughout time, and the Underworld isn’t that scary a place (and neither is the god usually associated with it, Hades). I really liked the idea of the gods and goddesses living in the present day under different identities. It was fresh and creative, plus you still get to spend plenty of pages reading about them during their lifetimes as the figures you might be familiar with from mythology. It was this clever, seamless blending of the traditional images I have of these legendary characters with more contemporary versions of them that really sold me on this book. Needless to say, Ringle pulled it off effortlessly.

One of the things I most look forward to whenever I read a mythology retelling is how the author characterizes the gods and goddesses. Each of the characters in Persephone’s Orchard has a unique personality, and I was especially fond of a hilarious and roguish Hermes. Hades, given quite a tragic past here, wasn’t all, “Your soul is mine for eternity, mwahaha!” He’s the total opposite of that; instead, he’s into seeking justice for murdered souls and finding out if the plants that only grow in the spirit realm can be used to cure disease. Persephone is a very relatable character, with her jumble of confused feelings when she begins seeing Hades, whom she’s grown up around, in a different, and romantic, light. As interested as I was to read about Sophie and Adrian in the present, I was completely engrossed in the flashbacks to Persephone and Hades’s past.

The romance in the book leaned a little more toward the epic, swoony side than I normally go for, but I was okay with that because it worked so well for the novel. I’m not a firm believer in soul mates and such, but even I found myself rooting for Sophie and Adrian. It’s difficult not to with a remarkable history like theirs.

I admit that I was a tad skeptical of this book at the beginning because Sophie wasn’t in hysterics over being transported by a stranger to another realm to meet another stranger spouting some babble about souls and a spirit realm. She was startled all right but didn’t have a meltdown, which would have been my reaction. Since Sophie got through it, I decided to shove my doubts away and give this Adrian fellow a chance, too. This proved to be a wise choice because Persephone’s Orchard was a fantastic read, from its take on mythology to the literally timeless love story.

All in All:

If you love Greek mythology, particularly the story of Hades and Persephone, then you should definitely add Persephone’s Orchard to your TBR list. I was very impressed with Molly Ringle’s reworking of the myth, and I can’t wait to see what she has in store for the rest of the series.

The eBook edition of Persephone's Orchard is going to be available for only $0.99 for the first two weeks after its release on June 28, 2013!
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