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Admittedly, I haven't really been exposed to any other mythologies from around the world. Nonetheless, I loved their various stories, some funny and others downright disturbing, and their various deities, each distinct in their own way. I'm quite sure that I never would have loved Greek Mythology as much as I do now if it hadn't been for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. It made me appreciate it more. They're not just boring topics we need to learn for English class. They're actually thought-provoking and fascinating like any of our modern day books. I'd pretty much read anything involving the Greek Gods. And that's why I'm here talking about the first book to Kendare Blake's The Goddess War trilogy, Antigoddess.
I became aware of this book, and of Kendare Blake herself, earlier this year while browsing through the shelves of our school's book fair. Both the Anna Dressed In Blood duology and The Goddess War trilogy were there and when I found out both of their premises, I was itching to get them immediately. Unfortunately, I had limited money then so I had to choose only one. It was either buy Anna Dressed In Blood or Antigoddess. I had a classmate who has read both books and liked them both so that made me more indecisive. But in the end, it was my preference for the Greek gods than stories about ghosts that won me over. I didn't really know what to expect from this book. I hadn't read any of Kendare Blake's other books so I didn't know how she wrote or her preferred genre. It was pretty much a clean slate.
And as it turned out, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Antigoddess.
The premise, as I said, hooked me in right away. The almighty Greek gods, the powerful deities of the ancient world, are dying?! You can't get any better than that. The direction the plot took kept me on my toes. It keeps you guessing and guessing 'til the very end. I also liked the way Kendare Blake wrote her book. There was an atmosphere filled with dread and tension throughout the story especially the first third of it. She managed to create that atmosphere with the way she described the surroundings and the characters' thoughts. You really felt the weight of the problems they were dealing with and what was at stake if they managed to mess even a single thing up.
Although the plot was nice, the characters made it something worth reading. They were the best part of the book. The gods had this unique personality that can only be explained by their situation. They were once these formidable creatures, able to burn down entire cities with a snap of their fingers but now they have very limited power and are dying. They are not used to this shift and you see that clearly indeed. It gave their character depth and created engrossing dynamics between them. Of course, not all the characters were gods. There were some humans too. But even though they're human, they were written in a way that gave them distinguishable personalities. Even though the gods had the best characterization, the humans weren't too far behind.
Although, as much as I would like to say that this was a perfect book, it wasn't. It does have its share of flaws. For me, the biggest one was the execution. You have a great plot and an excellent writer who knows her stuff but for some reason there were just moments of inconsistencies and some random occurrences that needed more explanation. I felt that this could have been immediately improved if it were given some more thought. The random occurrences weren't the only things that were jarring. This book has many POVs. Sometimes, the POV changes weren't done very smoothly. This created instances wherein you get confused on where exactly are we in the story and who's thoughts we are now reading from. There were also a number of unanswered questions. I know there are some people who don't really factor this as legitimate criticism because it doesn't change what happens in the book but I'm very particular of these things. I would have liked to know why these things happened no matter how small it was so I need to consider this with the other downs.
Overall, this book was still very good. It was interesting and thrilling. I loved the unique plot and the characters. ESPECIALLY THE CHARACTERS. The characters really made it work. I liked the way it started of and how it ended. It leaves enough crumbs in its wake to make you excited for the next book, Mortal Gods, but not open enough that it feels unfinished. Unfortunately, it did have some shortcomings. What makes me sad is the fact that these shortcomings could have easily been addressed with more elaboration and time. But in any case, this was great first book. It seems like Kendare Blake has some elaborate plans for this trilogy. The good undoubtedly outweighed the bad and it is definitely still worth a look.
7/10 stars
(Side note: This is my second and more elaborate and thought-out review of Antigoddess. If you want to see my first one and all the questions I had that I felt were unanswered, you can click here.)
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