#I have a hard time choosing a Greek God because they're all so fascinating but I have a soft spot for those who are fire-align

[anotherlongstoryshort]

Things about the Wisdom Saga that have plagued me all damn day

Legendary

Whether intentional or not, Miguel's Telemachus really sounds like a younger version of Jorge's Odysseus. And that hurts.

"If I fight those monsters, is it you I'll find?" The layers. Could he go out and hunt for his father? Could he find his 'legendary' strength within himself? Or will Odysseus be the 'monster' he finds?

"Somebody help me, come and give me the strength" And his call is answered T_T

20 years.

Antinous fully interrupts this bop. Rude.

Ayron sounds legitimately scary and Telemachus taking a stand is so O.O

Little Wolf

I wanna fight this guy. Love that Athena agrees. (The beat of the song and sharp bursts of vocals really emulate blows.)

The quaver on "I don't know how".

Athena is immediately charmed by Telemachus' enthusiasm. She sounds so fond.

The fact she sees heart in him as an advantage when it was Odysseus choosing heart over mind that drove them apart. Guh.

Did she tell him to bite Antinous? XD

"Oh, maybe I pushed you a bit too hard." The change in her perspective is already so apparent - she wouldn't have admitted a mistake or miscalculation to Odysseus.

We'll Be Fine

"I had a friend before..." A FRIEND? FRIEND?!?!

An admission that she didn't fully appreciate what Odysseus was going through, that she feels guilty for having "missed it all".

It's unclear to begin with if she's come to Telemachus for Odysseus, or to try and replace him. Both are equally heart-breaking.

"I don't know who your friend is, I don't know what he's like" UNKNOWINGLY ECHOING HIS OWN THOUGHTS IN 'LEGENDARY'. NO IT'S FINE I'M FINE.

"The best day of my life because I got in a fight and I didn't die! :D" Telemachus, child, please.

"We'll be fine" using the same run as "this is my goodbye" T_T

Him immediately offering up friendship to Athena, like Odysseus once did, must hit her so hard. "You're a good kid." Yes he is - because he's more like his dad than he knows.

Love in Paradise

"Old friend..." FRRRRRIIIIEEEENNNNNDDDDD!!!!!

10 years.

The memory fragments sounding so fraught and chaotic together, hitting harder because they're hitting Athena all at once. She missed a lot.

"She's my wife." "Anyways..." Calypso, girl, please.

Love that they're singing completely different melodies through the first half of this song for two reasons: because Odysseus is revisiting previous motifs, once more trying to hold onto the man he was, and also because it shows Calypso is not willing to compromise on what she wants.

"Last I checked goddesses can't die." We'll come back to this later.

Then Odysseus realises he is truly trapped and he sings along to Calypso's melody in muted horror.

POLITIES OUT HERE STILL HAUNTING THE NARRATIVE.

Just the words "open arms" are enough to confront Odysseus (again) with all he's lost. All he hears are screams.

And the one he screams out for is Athena.

"He needs my help." NO KIDDING GO GET YOUR BOY.

God Games

"Father, God, King..." There's a lot to unpack in that fun family dynamic.

"To untie apprehensions that were placed on that Greek?" Zeus is like, nobody likes that guy, why do you care?

The gods being called out like X Factor finalists is everything.

So there's a great contrast against the previous song - unlike Calypso, Athena is matching each of her singing partners with their tone and beat as she convinces them. She isn't winning by 'imposing her will', she's meeting them where they are.

Rational arguments work until Aphrodite, where Athena says "please" for the first time. She softens to appeal to Aphrodite, which is why Ares has to step in.

The way she says his name XD

Ares' lines sound like as much of a fighting chant as 'Little Wolf' did, which makes it all the better that the mention of Telemachus is what gets her to 'fight back'.

"His son's my friend!" YES HE IS. And Athena of all people declaring "a broken heart can mend" is fascinating. Can't help but wonder if she's talking about herself coming around to forgiving Odysseus.

"Never once has he cheated on his wife." Handwaving the source material is worth it for this line ALONE.

Zeus is so pressed by everyone openly knowing he cheats on Hera. Stop doing it then my dude.

Ares sounding genuinely concerned for Athena is doing things to me. Goddesses can't die, huh?

Her time motif flitting in and out like a weak heartbeat.

The soft piano of 'Warrior of the Mind', touching on a whisper of 'Legendary', then rising to a triumphant crescendo as Athena regains herself. I will be forever haunted by visions of Odysseus and Telemachus helping her to her feet.

And then, finally, she faces her own father and begs. Because Odysseus and Telemachus deserve a chance to be father and child.

The parallel, by the way, of Athena entering this saga to help an outnumbered Telemachus, and now closing it with him/Odysseus unknowingly helping her win her own battle too. JORGE HOW DARE YOU T_T

[sorakh28]

HI HELLO CAN YOU BE MY NEW GRANDMA? Her design is *chef's kiss* IMMACULATE.

NEW GRANDMA UNLOCKED

[mistwraiths]

3.5 stars

Every seven years, nine Greek gods become mortal on earth, and the bloodlines of past Greek heroes hunt to kill and take their power for seven days. Lore Perseous escaped that life years ago after the brutal murder of her family and she has no intention of going back to it. However, when this year's hunt begins, Lore's asked for help by two shocking faces. Castor, her friend who she believed to be dead, and Athena, the goddess herself. To defeat a shared enemy and stop evil itself, they'll have to work together.

While I enjoyed Lore, I found myself constantly just being rather disappointed and wanting more. I have a lot of slight dislikes that just build up and really impact me from really enjoying this book. The plot of this book is fascinating and interesting, and unique. There were so many twists I honestly didn't see coming which is very impressive. I'm a huge fan of Greek Mythology and I'm pretty knowledgeable about a lot, but at times it did feel hard to follow. I also have several questions that just don't get answered.

Firstly let me address the worst bit. There's a lot of sexual assault mentioned or hinted at, and even an attempt of rape, and threat of and implied pedophilia. All to women and girls. Look, I don't fucking care if marriage at twelve was something that happened in Greek times, IT DOESN'T EVEN NEED TO BE IMPLIED OR BROUGHT UP THAT IT HAPPENS IN PRESENT TIMES. Just don't write it. This is an urban fantasy involving the Greek gods and mortals killing them to take their power and immortality. And you choose to have this society continue to be misogynistic??? I'm so tired of it.

This book also has a lot of dark material like graphic violence to children described, lots of violence, and gore and blood, etc. There's absolutely more than that too so if you have any trigger warnings, you may want to check first before reading.

Despite the book having lots of action, lots of twists and turns, I found myself feeling like this book was slow. But I actually think most of the time I was bored. I think this was partly because sometimes things just seemed to happen too easily. They're just a little too capable. It just never felt like there was enough of a struggle. Oh, Lore and Castor got wounds, but that's it. I just was never on the edge of my seat like OMG. There would have been one really great shock if it hadn't been reversed so quickly. It just felt like all the characters were Special™️.

But I think that was mostly in part that I didn't really care about any of the characters??? Also all of the characters just never felt consistent?? For example, Lore's pretty kick ass in the beginning, fierce and violent but that gets smacked down hard because a singular character goes "that's not you" or some bullshit even when they haven't seen each other in *checks notes* seven years? Also, if people are actively trying to kill you, I think the MC should be allowed. Lore wants revenge but also doesn't want a part in it. She wants glory so bad but also doesn't. Honestly, Lore's thoughts and feelings sometimes felt like it was too much. Let's not forget the part where for SEVERAL pages she's thinking I MUST LEAVE and proceeds to not leave and tells Castor he's not safe and there's not time. And no he can't come with her. And guess what? They run out of time and they leave together.

Castor was okay I guess?? I can understand that for some people it must be really awesome to have a character who has gone through cancer and survived and was facing remission, and come into power and be a freaking god instead. I actually thought he died during one part and that shocked me but it was quickly reversed and if you hadn't realized yet you know that he was Different Than The Other Godkillers™️. I have some questions about him. We're told that in older people it turns the mortal body to their prime and I believe brings out the strongest parts of them? Or something like that. It's not quite clear how the split of godly self and the godkiller mortal self is. However, Castor was TWELVE. And it's implied he was like an incorporeal form unable to really do anything?? So how did this twelve year old age well?? Or at all?? Mentally is he really 17?? Or 12?? Or older because of Apollo? I did find him a little too preachy and mainly he was the one always like policing Lore the most with not killing or not being violent. And then he's also like I WILL KILL THEM at one point. Consistency who??? I'm all for a character knowing they might have to do something against their beliefs or changing their minds, but write it well don't slap it in there.

Also, I could have just done without the romance of Lore and Castor. Y'ALL HAVEN'T SPOKEN IN SEVEN YEARS??? You barely know each other anymore. It just really didn't bring anything to the table and while it isn't central at all, I was rolling my eyes.

The side characters are okay. The whole "leave" "No I'm helping." "You can't do this" "Yes I will" struggle between Miles and company became a little monotonous. Iro could have been an interesting character but she's barely around. She also KILLS CASTOR on purpose and that's quickly forgotten and forgiven WAY too quickly.

Which also sums up the ending. It kind of just happened so fast and like... it's so bizarre to me to have the person who murdered your entire family give you their godhood? Like are you implying she forgave her? Both Castor and her are gods and they're just like "Please let us go" and... that's it??? Also like I DO HAVE TO SAY IT'S ABSOLUTELY FUCKING WILD TO PUT ZEUS IN THE GOOD CATEGORY??? Or at least the one not being punished because he needs it the MOST.

There's also one thing that took me out of the story, which is that for some reason during a treating the wound scene, instead of simply moving a bra strap or removing the bra, they snap it. And then the main character proceeds to have to fight and run around ALL WITH A SNAPPED BRA STRAP. Excuse me???? If my bra strap snapped, I'd immediately have to fix it. It's just haunted me until she finally changed clothes.

Anyways, this sounded like a LOT but it still is pretty enjoyable. Greek mythology meets The Hunger Games with more death. So much death.