Book Review: Antigoddess

Title: Antigoddess

Author: Kendare Blake

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review:

I am going to be upfront and honest about this: my review is probably bias for a number of reasons. 1) I picked up this book because my sister borrowed it and I thought it had a cool cover 2) One of the main characters (there are two) has the same name as me--Athena (my full name is Athena but I usually go by Tina online) 3) I had high expectations for this book based on the previous two factors.  Unfortunately, I think I might have set my expectations too high because Antigoddess fell a tad short of them.

So basically the Greek gods and goddesses are dying; Hermes flesh is being eaten away, Hera is turning to stone, Athena is being choked by owl feathers, etc.  War is brewing among the gods and goddesses and it seems as if Athena and Hermes are on the losing side against Hera and Poseidon. One important player in this war game can change everything though: Cassandra, a prophetess from Troy. Only one little problem--she died like 2000 years ago...right?

It seems as if Greek heroes and legendary figures (such as Achilles, Odysseus and Cassandra just to name a few) have the ability to reincarnate.  And it's a race among the gods and goddesses to see who can find Cassandra first. (On a side note, today we were talking about Cassandra of Troy in my Latin class and I got wicked excited, lol) 

The novel is told from Cassandra and Athena's point of view.  Both characters were solidly built and had distinct personalities.  Cassandra, unaware that she has be reincarnated into the modern world, lives a relatively normal life with her boyfriend Aiden.  The visions that she gets once in a while do get on her nerves though--luckily, Aiden seems to be very understanding and takes everything in stride.  Athena, once a proud goddess, is slowly dying.  Her powers are a fraction of what they used to be. Often viewed as harsh and callous by others, she's just trying to survive (then again, I might be a bit bias here...)  I love how both Cassandra and Athena do not need to be saved by some knight in shining armor every five seconds, as Athena makes it obvious here:

"Don't baby me," she said. 

Odysseus raised hi eyebrows. "Wouldn't dream of it."

As much as I liked the characters, (Cassandra, Aiden and Athena being my favorites), I couldn't really connect to them.  I personally felt that the novel would've been better off told from first person POV.  I mean, one of the mentioned three characters above dies and I didn't feel anything.  Honestly. One of my favorite characters died yet I didn't feel sad or angry or depressed....

There is quite a bit of background building up, setting the scene and everything.  Athena and Cassandra don't actually meet until halfway though the book.  But there wasn't really any slow or drag in the plot.

There was definitely some swearing and crude humor in the novel, but that didn't bother me at all.  

Final thoughts about Antigoddess: It's like a Percy Jackson book aimed towards an older audience--I think readers 14+ would enjoy this book.

Rating: