Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake [Review]

4 out of 5 Robots!

  

Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake
Series: Goddess War #2
Genre: YA Fantasy/Mythology
Release: October 14, 2014
Hardcover:  341 Pages
Publisher: Tor Ten
My Copy: Purchased
Reviewer: Shannon

Book Summary:

Ares, God of War, is leading the other dying gods into battle. Which is just fine with Athena. She's ready to wage a war of her own, and she's never liked him anyway. If Athena is lucky, the winning gods will have their immortality restored. If not, at least she'll have killed the bloody lot of them, and she and Hermes can die in peace.

Cassandra Weaver is a weapon of fate. The girl who kills gods. But all she wants is for the god she loved and lost to return to life. If she can't have that, then the other gods will burn, starting with his murderer, Aphrodite.

The alliance between Cassandra and Athena is fragile. Cassandra suspects Athena lacks the will to truly kill her own family. And Athena fears that Cassandra's hate will get them ALL killed.

The war takes them across the globe, searching for lost gods, old enemies, and Achilles, the greatest warrior the world has ever seen. As the struggle escalates, Athena and Cassandra must find a way to work together. Because if they can't, fates far worse than death await.

(Courtesy of the Publisher)

Shannon's Thoughts:

Mortal Gods is the second book in the Goddess War series.  The basic premise is the immortal gods of Olympus are dying in our modern day world.  There are two sides and the gods are split between them.  War is raging between the two sides.  Things get ugly.

The Good:
- I love how inventive this series is.  I loved the concept of the gods dying, each from a disease that stems from their mythology.  Athena's lungs, for example, are slowly being drown in owl feathers.  Ares' old war wounds continually reopen and bleed.  It is gruesome and disturbing.  I like it.
- I love how the gods fit together in modern day.  I like the inclusion of other well known heroes and warriors such as Odysseus, Hector, Achilles, Cassandra, etc.
- I like that Blake does not hold back.  The series is harsh and dark.  But I think it really works.  I love that she doesn't wrap it in sunshine and rainbows, but keeps it disturbing and bloody.

The Meh:
- I sometimes find it confusing to keep everyone straight.  I have to look at Wikipedia constantly to figure how everyone is related to each other.  I also couldn't remember the plot very well from the first book and spent most of the second book confused.  I do not recommend reading these books far apart from each other.
- It is so angry!  It was exhausting to read in that sense.  I know Cassandra was grieving, but she is so mean and angry in this book and it was annoying sometimes.
- No one is nice.  They ALL have issues.  It doesn't make for a clear side to root for even though we're supposed to root for Athena's side.  But if they lost, I'm not sure I would care all that much.

Overall, I have no real complaints about this book, other than having a little trouble following it.  I like how dark it is, but sometimes I wish it would lighten up!  This second book, in particular, is very angry.  But the ending leaves everyone is great peril, so I will definitely be back for the final book to see how it plays out.

Books in this series:
1. Antigoddess
2. Mortal Gods
3. Ungodly (expected publication 2015)