Any fan of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series should read Lore by Alexandra Bracken. It's got all the same elements: friends to lovers, betrayal, corruptive power, found family, LGBTQ characters—and of course, Greek gods.
The first book I read by Alexandra Bracken was The Darkest Minds and its sequels—a series about kids who have powers and are feared and hunted because of them. I loved her writing, and so once I heard she had written Lore, I knew I had to read it.
The premise hooked me right away. Every seven years, nine Greek gods—Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hephaestus, Poseidon, and Dionysus—are stripped of their immortality for seven days and hunted by the descendants of some of the greatest ancient Greek heroes—Perseus, Achilles, and Theseus, to name a few. If a god is killed, their killer gains their power and takes their place as the new god. Naturally, this leads to power-hungry, corrupt, greedy families who will stop at nothing to gain a god's power and keep it. When the story begins, only two of the original nine gods remain, Athena and Artemis, and both are desperate to avenge the deaths of their fellow gods and ensure their own survival.
Melora Perseous—who goes by Lore—is protagonist of the story, the last of Perseus' descendants, caught between trying to protect the ones she loves and breaking free from the Agon (the cycle of the hunt). She fled the world of the hunt years ago after her family was brutally murdered and turned her back on the glory promised in the hunt, but as the next one approaches, a wounded Athena seeks her out to form an alliance—help her survive the week and she'll kill Wrath, the new Ares and the man responsible for the death of Lore's family. Meanwhile, Castor, a childhood friend of Lore's whom she believed to be dead, also asks Lore for help as his allies dwindle and he fears what Wrath has planned for all of humanity.
I love a good book that has so many twists and turns that you can't put it down, and that's exactly what Lore did—I stayed up until three in the morning to finish it. It weighs the allure of immortality against the brutal cycle of a seemingly-endless hunt and explores how far one can go while still retaining their humanity. It pits pride against morality and questions just how much control a person has over their destiny in a world guided by Zeus and the Fates. And it has romantic lines so powerful they'll ring in your head for days.
There isn't much I disliked about Lore. The exposition comes at a natural, welcome pace and answered most of my questions by the end. The unanswered questions are mainly to satisfy my own curiosity, not necessary to fully understand the story, and a testament to how interesting this world is and how much more I'd like to know about it. The characters are compelling and their relationships believable, and I wished I could stay with them long after I read the last page.
I would not hesitate to rate Lore by Alexandra Bracken 5/5 stars. It is a great fantasy book that any mythology fans will enjoy, especially those who grew up on Percy Jackson and The Hunger Games.
Yorumlar