Lore - Alexandra Bracken

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals. They are hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality.

Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world, turning her back on the hunt's promises of eternal glory after her family was murdered by a rival line. For years she's pushed away any thought of revenge against the man - now a god - responsible for their deaths.

Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek her out: Castor, a childhood friend Lore believed to be dead, and Athena, one of the last of the original gods, now gravely wounded.

The goddess offers Lore an alliance against their mutual enemy and a way to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore's decision to rejoin the hunt, binding her fate to Athena's, will come at a deadly cost - and it may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees."

📚📚📚

 Dude...the plot twists in this book. I knew it would be good, and I'll tell you what, it did not disappoint. It isn't often that a twist throws me for a loop, but Lore left me reeling MULTIPLE times. It helps that there's like...deep deep lore (ha...pun not intended) that the reader is learning as they progress through the story, so sometimes it felt like I was just barely keeping my head above water with all of that, but MAN. Truly got me so good, in the most satisfying ways. Truly, reading this felt like swinging along a series of ropes or something, trying not to drop, and as soon as you thought you were in a rhythm and had a grasp on things, it was like NOPE! So masterfully done.

I want to talk details, but I don't know how to without potentially spoiling things, so I'll just say the characters - top notch. The plot develops at a great pace, with more detail revealed at intervals where you're juuuuuust starting to get frustrated, and then ope, here's another little kernel for you, my desperate reader, I hope you enjoy! 

I think my one wish after finishing this is that there had been a little more actual God lore included, not just the house lore, but honestly, this book was SO long, I truly don't know if that would have been feasible. And I think if it came down to more details about the pantheon and maybe making this a duology or less and keeping it a standalone book, I would come down on the side of standalone book. There are so few standalone fantasy books with solidly developed worlds, I really loved that. Plus even though we didn't get a lot of pantheon lore, what we got...was good. So hey, maybe I have no wishes. This was a great book!

The Chalice of the Gods - Rick Riordan

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"After saving the world multiple times, Percy Jackson is hoping to have a normal senior year. Unfortunately, the gods aren’t quite done with him. Percy will have to fulfill three quests in order to get the necessary three letters of recommendation from Mount Olympus for college.

The first quest is to help Zeus’s cup-bearer retrieve his goblet before it falls into the wrong hands. Can Percy, Grover, and Annabeth find it in time?"

I have a student who is OBSESSED with Greek mythology, and he tipped me off that this book was coming out, so I grabbed a copy. I didn't look into a synopsis or anything, I just assumed it was one last book to cap off the series for...reasons? And I figured whatever the case, I like Percy Jackson, I like Rick Riordan books, it'll be enjoyable no matter what. And it was! So that's good!

Am I confused at the choice to make it book six in a series that was finished publishing over a decade ago, particularly when the story picks up at a completely new point in Percy's life? I am. Honestly, I assumed it was because it was a one-shot, so tacking it on to the end of the series made more sense than having a standalone book. After reading it, though, it has clearly been set up for at least two additional books so...why not make it a new trilogy? I guess because Percy Jackson and the Letters of Recommendation doesn't have the same ring to it as Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Whyever they made the decision, that's my biggest gripe with the book. It does nothing to change the book itself, it's just an odd thing I'm curious about. The book itself - great. Same Percy Jackson sense of adventure, some nice action, and lots of Annabeth and Grover to enjoy. There's more time at home than we usually get to see in a middle grade book, which I thought was sweet, and there were some surprising twists in how Percy, Annabeth, and Grover ended up approaching their quest that I really enjoyed. Overall, a very enjoyable read, and I look forward to the next one.