Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs ★★☆☆☆

Out of Tune

Fiction – YA – Urban Fantasy/Mythology

Reading level: Ages 12 and up Grade 7 Up

272 pages

Publication Date: May 1st 2008 by Dutton Juvenile

Oh. My. Gods. #1

Literary awards: RITA® Award by Romance Writers of America for Best First Book (2009), TAYSHAS High School Reading List (2010)

 
Phoebe’s senior year of high school is ruined when her mother comes home from a vacation to Greece engaged and plans for her and Phoebe to move to a Greek Island where her mom's new guy is the head master of a very exclusive school.  Phoebe knows if she can only get through the next nine months with decent grades and a good track season she can go back to California for College with her best friends and continue on with her normal life.  However, this plan turns out to be epically more complicated than expected when Phoebe finds out that her new classmates – including her evil step-sister and step-father – are all descendants of Greek gods.  Competing against superheroes, dealing with a home life turned upside down, drowning under a sea of homework and finally having an inexplicable attraction to a jerk of fabled size, Phoebe is going to have to find a way to cope quickly or give up her dreams of a normal life.

I picked this book because it seemed fun and I really wanted to give it 3 stars just because the potential of premise, but sadly this is yet another book that just didn’t measure up.  I found the idea of an “average” girl going to a school for descendants of Greek gods only to find out she was one herself rather exciting, but Childs just couldn’t seem to make it work: this is no Percy Jackson story people.  Don’t get me wrong it was a fairly breezy read and the writing was fine, - unexceptionable, but passably average, nothing that would really detract from the story - but the characters were beyond disappointing, there seemed to be a lot of holes in the plot and motivations and Childs never convinced me why I should care about this story.

I found Phoebe to be a whiner and kind of mean without anything really likable about her.  The other characters didn’t feel authentic or real, just archetypes without any flesh and blood.  Their interactions didn’t’ seem to have any substance and felt very contrived.  Apparently I was just supposed to accept was going on, because the author said to, and while I understand that to a certain point Childs never won my loyalty enough for me to give out passes.  To be fair, for a few pages in there I thought I was wrong about the two stars, I saw the clouds began to part and I was really wanting that ray of sunshine or rainbow to burst out, but my briefest moment of hope was quickly dashed and back to the lackluster characters we went.  It was like a song where all of the words were right, but the singing was out of tune and the melody had no soul.  Trust me when I say there are better offerings somewhere else; don’t waste your time on this book.   

Hopefully Childs has something more to offer in another series – yes I haven’t given up on her, and yes I know I suffer from the never-give-up-and-hope-it-will-be-better-next-time-reading sickness, but her writing saved her just enough to try again.

ISBN 0525479422 (ISBN13: 9780525479420)

The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan ★★★★☆

A promise fulfilled.

Fiction – YA – Urban Fantasy

Reading level: Ages 10 and up

406 pages

Publication Date: May 1st 2012

Kane Chronicles #3

With the plan of bringing back Ra not quite working out Carter and Sadie Kane may have only prolonged the enviable.  Apophis is still set to swallow the sun and send the world into chaos, with the House of Life nearing Civil War and the gods divided only the Brooklyn House initiates stand in the way.  Add to that Carter’s inability to give up on Zia   and boy trouble for Sadie, with a cursed Walt and “teenaged” god, Anubis, life is anything but normal, or in this case, even guaranteed.  The Kanes’ only hope isn’t really hope at all and only the forbidden knowledge about Apophis’ shadow may save the world.

I found this book a marked improvement upon the first one.  There is a good deal of growth and the awkwardness from book one is completely gone.  The writing is way more at ease and comfortable with the format.  This is rather a short analysis-at least for me, because I so enjoyed this story that I actually forgot to make notes.  So take that as the rather large thumbs up that it is.  Mostly what I can say is this series fulfilled its promise, and I couldn’t ask for more.

ISBN 1423140575 (ISBN13: 9781423140573)

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan ★★★★☆

Is Seven a Crowd?

Fiction – YA – Urban Fantasy

Reading level: Ages 10 and up

574 pages

Publication Date:  October 2nd 2012

Heroes of Olympus #3

Literary awards:  Goodreads Choice for Best Middle Grade & Children's (2012)

The seven Greek and Roman demigod heroes of the prophecy finally come together and set out on a journey to the ancient land to stop the rise of Earth Mother, Gaea, but not without usual amount of monsters and disasters.  The arrival of the Greek flying ship, Argo II, and subsequent encounter has sparked a war between the Greek and Roman camps that only Annabeth Chase can stop all on her own by following the Mark of Athena.  With war between the demigods on the horizon, terrible giants, schizophrenic gods, and a friend slowly suffocating with the heroes as his only means of rescue our heroes are going to face challenges and sacrifices even greater than they ever imagined.  

Okay, at first I was a little concerned about the whole four different narratives thing.  Sure Riordan pulled off three in the other two books, but four seemed to be pushing it, however, I found myself needlessly concerned and actually really enjoyed it.  This book is really fun and rather ambitious.  With so many main players and factions it could have easily dissolved into chaos, but Riordan managed to keep all of the threads together weaving a fast paced, but introspective story, while not losing me.  My hat off to him and his obvious skills.

I tore through this book with an unexpected speed and high degree of excitement.  It greatly builds upon Annabeth’s character and gives a lot more insight into her.  As always Leo made me laugh, adding a lighthearted note to drama, though the explanation of why Leo looked like Hazel’s friend Sammy was kind of disturbing.  I found something wanting in Frank’s character for this book and missed how much understanding of him I received while reading The Son of Neptune.  I loved watching the dynamic between the alphas (Jason and Percy), the kind of love triangle (Frank, Hazel and Leo) Annabeth, as the conflicted and burdened leader and Piper trying to find her place in the crowd.  I relished the dramatic ending and the unexpected turn of events when everything seemed okay.  There is no real sense of satisfaction to the end of this book unlike The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune.  And now I find next Fall is just too long to wait for, The House of Hades!

ISBN  1423140605 (ISBN13: 9781423140603)