Book Review- The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Title: The Penelopiad

Author: Margaret Atwood

Series: Canongate Myths

Published:  October 2005

Length:  198 pages

Source: library

Other info: Atwood has written many things, such as The Blind Assassin, The Handmaid's Tale, and The Heart Goes Last. The Penelopiad was written as part of the Canongate Myths series.

Summary : For Penelope, wife of Odysseus, maintaining a kingdom while her husband was off fighting the Trojan war was not a simple business. Already aggrieved that he had been lured away due to the shocking behaviour of her beautiful cousin Helen, Penelope must bring up her wayward son, face down scandalous rumours and keep over a hundred lustful, greedy and bloodthirsty suitors at bay...And then, when Odysseus finally returns and slaughters the murderous suitors, he brutally hangs Penelope's twelve beloved maids. What were his motives? And what was Penelope really up to? 

Review: Since her husband Odysseus left to fight in the Trojan War, and then gets caught up for ten years on the way back, Penelope has been left running her household, and fighting off suitors who want to marry her, and eat her out of house and home. Now that she's dead, she's ready to tell her side of the tale, as are the twelve maids who were hanged.

According to Goodreads, I read this a few years ago and gave it three stars, but I don't remember doing that. Now I know the Odyssey a bit more, and we're doing a feminist-orientated piece of English coursework, I decided to pick this up, and now I understand things better, I loved it.

There's reinterpretations and challenges to the characters and stories. Obviously, there's those against Odysseus, where there's the question of whether the Cyclops he fought was a monster or a one-eyed barkeeper, and whether his years with Circe and Calypso were spent in brothels or nymphs and witches. But there's also a conversation with Antinous, one of the suitors, explaining why they wanted to marry Penelope so much, and the presentation of Helen as vain, proud, and wanting to conquer men just because she can. Atwood has taken inspiration from multiple sources, not just Homer's epic, but also theories from Robert Graves (who used many writers to inform his work) and Homeric hymns. I like the possibilities this gave Atwood to work with, and the ways she used them.

Penelope's voice often dryly comments on various parts of the stories, and I enjoyed her different insights. What I liked most was the use of the chorus, the twelve maids, whose chapters mostly alternate with Penelope's and change styles each time. Poems, songs, plays, and a transcript of a modern-day murder trial are some of the ways the maids pass their story on in many ways. The writing is well crafted, allowing each of the styles as well as Penelope's main narration to work together to make a story that is intriguing and easy to read.

Overall: Strength 5 tea to a book that makes you think about the different interpretations a myth can have, and provides a new one.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | Foyles

Book Review- Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Title:  Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Author:  Rick Riordan

Series:   Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Published:  May 2005 by Miramax,  May 2006 by Puffin

Length:  377 pages

Source: bought and library

Other info: Many other series such as The Heroes of Olympus and the Kane Chronicles have stemmed off. There was a film adaptation of The Lightning Thief.

Summary :  Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse-Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends -- one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena -- Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

Review: Percy Jackson is a mostly normal child. Yes, he has trouble concentrating and keeps getting thrown out of schools but mostly, he's ok. Until, on this school trip, it looks like he'll get thrown out because his maths teacher wants to kill him. And he vaporises her with a sword. More things happen, and Percy ends up at Camp Half Blood, with satyrs, demigods, and a centaur of a Latin teacher. And a quest. Because Zeus is angry. And things get better from there.

I love this series from the bottom of my heart. I read it first when I was eight or nine, maybe? I don't know, but I wanted a book and I asked my dad for recommendations in Waterstones and he picked this off the shelves and I fell in love with it when I read the chapter titles. Add the fact that I already had a love of Greek mythology and you can see how this is going to work out.

I reread this because my reading aim for 2015 is to work my way through all of Rick Riordan's demigod series and this is the first one.

The world of this is wonderful. The Gods are alive and kicking and operating out of the USA, doing what they've always done in a more modern way. This "what they've always done" includes having children with mortals, thus necessitating Camp Half Blood, a safe place to train and live without fear of monsters.

The characters  are well fleshed out and great to read about. The new takes on mythology are genius, especially when you notice the clever ways little things are updated'. You just fall in love with all the characters- Percy for his determination to keep trying, Grover for his determination to keep trying, Annabeth for her cleverness and levelheadedness, Chiron for his general badassery of being both a centaur and a Latin teacher...the list goes on.

They adventure in such a way that we meet a variety of creatures from Greek myth. I must say, when I first read it, I felt so proud of myself for being to guess ahead as to who this threat was, and I also enjoyed learning about new aspects of mythology too.

The writing describes well, but has a huge dose of humour. Case in point: chapter titles. But I loved the sheer amount of fun that this book was, comparatively speaking to everything else I was reading.

The  plot keeps running in new direction throughout the whole novel. The twists at the end where we learn how the thing got in, I  did not see coming the first time I read it. It was foreshadowed so perfectly and the way it all came round made me happy.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to  a strong opening to a brilliant series.

Links:  Amazon| Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review-Last God Standing by Michael Boatman

Title: Last God Standing

 Author: Michael Boatman

Series: First in series.  

Published:  April 3 2014 by Angry Robot

Length: 400 pages

Source Publishers:

Other info: Book 2, Who Wants to be the Prince of Darkness comes Spring 2015

Summary : When God decides to quit and join the human race to see what all the fuss is about, all Hell breaks loose.Sensing his abdication, the other defunct gods of Earth’s vanquished pantheons want a piece of the action He abandoned.Meanwhile, the newly-humanised deity must discover the whereabouts and intentions of the similarly reincarnated Lucifer, and block the ascension of a murderous new God.How is he ever going to make it as a stand-up comedian with all of this going on…?

Review:  Yahweh, aka the Abrahamic god, has decided he's had enough of being God.  Therefore, he quits, joins the Human Race and tries to live life as a stand-up comic. However, with gods of old pantheons trying to take his place, and a now-human Lucifer to deal with, this isn't going to be easy.

I was really looking forwards to this. Multiple pantheons, all the myths, all wrapped up with a big dose of comedy? Right up my street.

It starts off well. The dramatis personae sets up an interesting c premise, featuring my favourite gods from various mythologies, plus a few more I was less familiar with.

Lando has a good voice. I liked him and his comedy could be good if it wasn't wrapped up in a whole load of other stuff. I also liked Yuri, Lando's family, and Suhrabi. I love the way the gods are presented-Zeus and the Morrigan especially.

The thing that let it down most was the plot, and the way it just went ways I don't really get. The bit with Hannibal got good at the start, then relaxed a bit earlier than I  was expecting. The whole thing with Lucifer, Gabriel and the angels was very predictable, but turned out well. But then there's this whole bit in the middle where I think Lando swaps bodies or something with another guy. I say I think. I honestly don't know what happened there, but it changed Lando for the last quarter of the book. Also, the god battles, while fun, were also a bit confusing in that they went everywhere in time and space and were hard to follow.

Also, I didn't get the comedy that I was promised, apart from in small bits ie  introduction of the gods. Or maybe it just wasn't my kind of humour. Either way, sadness from that. 

Despite this, I will read book two. Just because  Hell. And game shows.

Overall:  Strength 2 tea to a book with a really good premise that just wasn't put together as well as I was hoping.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review- The Weight of Souls by Bryony Pearce

Title: The Weight of Souls

 Author: Bryony Pearce

Series:  The Weight of Souls #1

Published:  6 August 2013 by Strange Chemistry

Length: 350 pages

Warnings: N/A

Source: netgalley

Other info: Bryony wrote for me A Ghost By Any Other Name. She has also written Angel’s Fury.

Summary : Sixteen year old Taylor Oh is cursed: if she is touched by the ghost of a murder victim then they pass a mark beneath her skin. She has three weeks to find their murderer and pass the mark to them – letting justice take place and sending them into the Darkness. And if she doesn’t make it in time? The Darkness will come for her…
She spends her life trying to avoid ghosts, make it through school where she’s bullied by popular Justin and his cronies, keep her one remaining friend, and persuade her father that this is real and that she’s not going crazy.
But then Justin is murdered and everything gets a whole lot worse. Justin doesn’t know who killed him, so there’s no obvious person for Taylor to go after. The clues she has lead her to the V Club, a vicious secret society at her school where no one is allowed to leave… and where Justin was dared to do the stunt which led to his death.
Can she find out who was responsible for his murder before the Darkness comes for her? Can she put aside her hatred for her former bully to truly help him?
And what happens if she starts to fall for him?

Review: Taylor Oh sees the dead. As  a result of the agreement that one of her ancestors made with Anubis, she and her family must, if they see a ghost of a murder victim who marks them,  they must transfer the mark to the murderer as soon as possible. Because the Darkness will come for whoever carries the mark, and no one knows what happens  to them then. Taylor has been doing this for five years now. It’s been okish up until now, but then Justin Hargreaves, Taylor’s source of torment, dies and comes back as a ghost. But he doesn’t know who is responsible for his death, and Bryony must discover some of the school’s dark secrets before the darkness comes for her.

I was a little interested in this when I heard about the concept. Then the cover came and the MC is Chinese, which makes me really happy. Then I got the guest post about how these ghosts are different, and I thought: yes, I’m reading this one.

It starts quickly, showing Taylor’s normal job. And the dynamics between her, her friend Hannah AND THE POPULAR GROUP OF Justin, Pete, James, Tamsin and Harley within the first few  chapters. Justin dies about a fifth of the way in, a good pace. The pacing works.

I really liked Taylor. She’s been dealing with the ghosts since she was ten, and as well as having to cope with them. She has to deal with  dissolving friendships and trying to get in with the crowd she hated to find the killers. Justin, likability levels vary as the novel progresses, but by the end, you’ve seen who he really is. I really liked Taylor’s dad, who’s determined to find a way to defeat the curse, and is really supportive of Taylor.

The writing is great especially in places of tension and once Taylor’s picked up on the actual lead. The scene with the wheel and the scene at the tube station are two standout scenes that kept me gripped. The unmasking scene is not what I expected and what follows is definitely unique.

The ending is  really clever, links well to the clues scattered throughout, and leaves room for a sequel. A sequel I can’t wait for.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a superbly written novel.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review-The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer

Apologies! This is a day late. The post actually scheduled for today will be posted later.

Title: The Dark Wife

 Author: Sarah Diemer

Series:   N/A

Published:   12 May 2011 by Createspace

Length: 256 pages

Warnings: rape, non-explicit sex, misgendering

Source: free download from OceanID

Summary : Three thousand years ago, a god told a lie. Now, only a goddess can tell the truth.
Persephone has everything a daughter of Zeus could want--except for freedom. She lives on the green earth with her mother, Demeter, growing up beneath the ever-watchful eyes of the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. But when Persephone meets the enigmatic Hades, she experiences something new: choice.
Zeus calls Hades "lord" of the dead as a joke. In truth, Hades is the goddess of the underworld, and no friend of Zeus. She offers Persephone sanctuary in her land of the dead, so the young goddess may escape her Olympian destiny.
But Persephone finds more than freedom in the underworld. She finds love, and herself.

Review: This is the story of Hades and Persephone, in which Hades is female. Hades offers Persephone freedom from the expectations of Olympus, romance grows between them and Zeus tries to take Persephone to do what he wants her to do.

Hades and Persephone is a famous story, not particularly one of my favourites due to the fact that  it can be read as rape, but anything that retells Greek myths well is my kind of thing.

It starts off with Persephone falling in love with the nymph Charis and planning to leave so that Persephone doesn't have to do what Olympus says. Then Zeus rapes Charis because,  well Zeus is Zeus, aka a colossal asshole and also a complete fricking monster at times, leaving Persephone alone. Then Persephone, after meeting Hades at Olympus, chooses to go with her, and, with the help of Pallas, settles in to life in the Underworld.

Persephone is nice enough. She isn't particularly standout to start with, but she's likable and sweet. By the end she's standing upto people  and being a bit more independent. Pallas is a bit more interesting. Hades is the best-more on that later.  Charon is very interesting-a merge of all the souls he has collected payment in formats other than money.

The romance, it was a bit more subtle than I would have liked because at times it didn't feel there. The plot is good, mainly involving finding a way to stand up to Zeus.  There's some nice development of Persephone's character.

I love Hades' resentment at the fact that humans don't believe a woman can run the Underworld, when she does it fine. I feel like this could be a metaphor for the whole ancient Greek view of lesbianism (ie, it doesn't exist, because sex can't happen if a penis isn't involved)  but  could also be a general rage against the patriarchy, which I'm also totally up for.

Sarah's writing style is very gentle and descriptive. I liked it and it suited Persephone's character.

Overall:  Strength 3.5, probably more a 4, to a retelling that added more to it's original story.

Links: Amazon |  Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review- Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Title: Starcrossed

 Author:  Josephine Angelini

Series:  Starcrossed #1

Published:  3 July 2011 by Macmillan

Length: 514 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary :  Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is--now it's getting harder. She's having nightmares of a desperate desert journey, visions of three women weeping tears of blood. And why is she possessed by the sudden, unstoppable urge to kill the handsome new boy in school, Lucas Delos?

Review: Helen Hamilton is your general shy girl. Lucas Delos is your general hot guy. Obviously, they fall for each other. But there’s big problems. From ancient warring families, they’re cursed to hate and kill each other. Despite this, they still want to pursue their relationship and therefore want to find a way of escaping the curse.

The first thing I got from this was that it was a really thick book for what was described on the back. And I wasn’t sure how a romance could be dragged out for that long. then I got into it, and found a lot more to it than just  love bringing two teenagers together.

The first thing that grabbed me was Helen’s dreams. They were written really vividly and the idea behind her actuallygoing to the Underworld was really interesting.

This book heavily relies on Greek mythology, slightly more relating to the heroes’ side of things. it’s not often you see anything relating to the humans rather than the gods that come up in these stories, so the four warring family set up was really nice.

Helen, I found a little bit boring, as well as really nice. She’s strong and able to defend herself, but she’s all quiet and drawn away, which I think puts me off her a little bit.  The family was good, with a lot of different dynamics. Actually, all the supporting cast was good. Lucas...I didn’t like him.

I don’t think I’m the only one to notice how similar it is to Twilight. Strange family, understated heroine, romance that’s meant to be nice and engaging  but doesn’t turn out that way. At least there’s some improvement-no love triangle and Greek mythology being the main bit.

The plot goes through a lot of changes, some not really making that much sense. What does make sense  makes up for it and the best way to enjoy Starcrossed is to pretend that half of it didn’t happen.

The whole plot element relating to Creon and his lot was the most engaging thing for me. It’d be nice to see how that carries on in Dreamless.

Josephine really plays with Greek mythology. A lot. She plays with it kind of well, but there are some bits where I do think that there could be improvement. Demi-gods being pretty much all powerful? Helen and Aphrodite? To someone who loves Greek myths, these things really stand out. however, I do like the added mythology of the wars between the demigod houses and such.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a book that I’d recommend if you want a dose of paranormal romance that’s fun and sticks to a familiar and (sometimes working) formula, but not really deep. It’s like junk  food-you know it’s not that good a quality, but you still enjoy it anyway. And I meant that in a good way.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website |

Book Review- Abandon by Meg Cabot

Title: Abandon

 Author: Meg Cabot

Series:  Abandon #1

Published: 26 April 2011 by Point

Length: 304 pages

Warnings: kissing, a little teacher/student relationship, mild profanity, suicide, violence, drug references

Source: Library

Other info: Meg Cabot has written a lot of things, such as the Princess Diaries and the All American Girl series. The second book in this trilogy will be published next year and is called Underworld

Summary :  Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.
 But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.
 Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away... especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.
 But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld

Review: A year ago, Pierce died. But because she was cold, after they warmed her up, they were able to revive her. During that time while she was dead, she met John. Then she left him when she came back to life. Ever since, John's been kind of following her. He turns up her school and something bad always seems to happen, John's here to take her back to the Underworld. But why? And what will happen to Pierce if she doesn't go?

I was drawn in by the summary saying it's are-telling of the story of Persephone and Hades. On that note, it didn't disappoint. Meg Cabot's views of the Underworld were interesting, with the queues, the two boats and so on.

John wasn't my favourite male lead of all time. Pierce was believable and easy to understand. Mr Smith, the cemetery keeper, I didn't like at first but found myself warming to him.

I really liked the fact that all chapters started with an excerpt from Dante's Inferno. It added a little extra something to the book. Exactly what I'm not sure, as Dante was describing a Christian Hell whilst this was based on the Greek Underworld, but anyway.

I had a problem with following all the events in Pierce's life chronologically. There's parts with her old school, parts with her new one, parts involving a perverted teacher, parts involving a cemetery and so on. But they were all mixed together and I found it hard to piece together Pierce's life story.

I also don't see the point of all the tassels.

Despite this, I enjoyed this retelling.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a different, more romantic take, on one of my favourite Greek myths.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors

Title: Mad Love

 Author: Suzanne Selfors

Series:  N/A

Published:  4 January 2011

Length: 336 pages

Warnings: romance, sex references,

Source: Library

Other info: Suzanne Selfors has also written other things like Coffeehouse Angel, Saving Juliet and Smells like Dog.

Summary : When you're the daughter of the bestselling Queen of Romance, life should be pretty good. But 16-year-old Alice Amorous has been living a lie ever since her mother was secretly hospitalized for mental illness. After putting on a brave front for months, time is running out. The next book is overdue, and the Queen can't write it. Alice needs a story for her mother—and she needs one fast.

That's when she meets Errol, a strange boy who claims to be Cupid, who insists that Alice write about the greatest love story in history: his tragic relationship with Psyche. As Alice begins to hear Errol's voice in her head and see things she can't explain, she must face the truth—that she's either inherited her mother's madness, or Errol is for real.

Review: Alice Amorous is living a lie. Her mother Belinda is the bestselling Queen of Romance. But it's been a while since she's published anything, and her crown is slipping. Alice tells the publishers a lot of things. She's overseas. She's doing research. Alice doesn't tell the publishers her mother is in hospital being treated for bipolar disorder, or manic depression. And then the publishers start demanding a story or money, neither of which Belinda can produce. Enter Errol, or Cupid. He wants Alice to write his story. But doesn't she have enough to cope with? 

This book handles the subject of  mental illness, which is interesting for me because a family friend was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which I never knew much about. Mad Love presents bipolar in delicate, easy to understand way. It mentions both the scientific facts and traits, and also the way it can ruin family life. I liked the way that all this was presented in dribs and drabs, woven into context. If it had been Alice just saying in one block of text "my mother has bipolar disorder. This is what it is and this is what its like.",  that would be boring and wouldn't let you properly understand it. Mad Love is useful for those who are being forced to cope with those around them suffering.

In my opinion, the plot is not the most outstanding or intriguing. It takes some getting in to, and isn't the thing I normally read and enjoy. I think that if it was just the mental illness part,being really interesting, as a rule pure family life isn't really my thing and I might not enjoy it quite as much. The fantasy element of Errol aka Cupid was something that you wouldn't expect to see tied up with a serious topic like this, but it worked.

I liked Selfor's take on the tale of Psyche and Eros, which is completely different to  the one we're familiar with.

The characters were interesting. Alice has a lot going on in her life, and I liked the fact that she tried to do something to help her mother, even if it was difficult. Each character was different and distinctive, such as the church priest, the older gay flatmate and the girl who is mean at first and turns out ok.  Some of the characters were unlikeable at first, but by the end I understood their reasoning and personalities. 

It was written from Alice's perspective, which made it easier to understand everything Alice was going through. Although I didn't like the fact that at some point she's basically lying to everyone, I could see why she did it.

This is quite an emotional book. I found myself really hoping everything would turn out ok for Alice and Belinda, cheering for them when it did, and getting sad when various things happened, like the ending.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a book that mixes myth and reality in perfect measures.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |