#lore olympus: retold

[crystals-lo-rewrite]

Fun fact: I was planning to make my redesign of Minthe have a shade of mint green as her skin color, but I ended up changing my mind and chose a darker shade of red, instead I decided to make mint green her eye color.

[demeterdefence]

Previous anon here:

Hmm agreed, it's not JUST her fault but it sucks that our current cultural landscape keeps falling into the same trap of trying to make something woke, feminist, progressive, what have you but winds up so much worse instead

It's the same issue with the disney remakes, failing so hard to update the story when its original incarnation was more feminist without even trying. For example: I know a lot of people love the 2015 remake of Cinderella, and I've seen people say it's the best live-action adaptation but I will NEVER forget that, while the movie hammers home the lesson "be kind, always" they had the nerve to insert a line that says something like: It's a good thing Cinderella's stepmother was cruel, because otherwise she never would've met the prince and like EXCUSE ME?!

I think MOST people would rather have a safe home-environment where you weren't bullied, demeaned, and forced to work over the vague possibility of a special someone coming to rescue me from this situation...

Anyway this was about lore olympus... XD

i think you have a really valid point! and it circles back to how rachel is just one of many people who insists on a flawed perception of something, thinking it's "better" because it's "modern"

like with rachel's lolita fetish or the gross racism within lore olympus, this really does speak to a wider issue - the fact that webtoons promotes the content and publishes it to such a wide audience, who is so often comprised of younger teens who don't yet realize why this is an issue. i can only imagine ancient greek women who adored the hymn of demeter, finding out that modern times vilifies her and glorifies persephone's kidnapping as some kind of romance. and there are ways to portray things in a modern setting, or to create romance in a story that is more or less devoid of it; the trick is, you need to know the originals to make a retelling. one of my favourite movies is disney's hercules, which is so far from the original lore of heracles it's pretty much an entirely separate story - but it's done with such love and so many nods to the canon myth that you can acknowledge this is an offshoot inspired by the myths.

rachel's comic is just so utterly devoid of any kind of love for the original myths and legends. she uses such surface-level interpretations of the characters that removes any complexity from their motivations, and thus the story as a whole. hades and persephone are given depth, supposedly, but zeus being forced to kill his own father, or why he's a sex addict, gets thrown into the trash for cheap shots. demeter's trauma in being made for war, watching her sister torn apart, watching her mother killed, sexually abused by two of her friends, and abused / vilified by hades for centuries, who then goes on to marry her teenage daughter, is tossed away for demeter to be "overbearing mom eugh."

like, rachel wants all the modern glitz and glam of the modern era, but that's it. she does not want to tell a story - she wants to draw her ocs in hot clothes having bad sex.

[depvotee]

Okey, I'm going to rant a bit about the Myth of Persephone and why do I have a big gripe with most modern interpretations and I have just seen ONE piece of media retold it on the best (without attempting to)

And okey maybe some spoilers abt Furiosa.

Lore Olympus as much as it sets out to retell the myth of Persephone it fails to understand the main reason OF the myth, it's not the myth of Persephone and Hades but Persephone AND Demeter, it's about a mother who the man she conceived her with sold their daughter behind her back and Demeter on her infinite grief left the earth almost barren.

That's what most of the modern "feminist" retellings of the Persephone myth just fail, they ignore the core injustice of the tale and not only that but romanticize the kidnapping of Persephone, which sadly enough reinforces the patriarchal nature of the kidnapping.

Mind you, there's also a lack of historical thinking, never asking: Why did the Greeks of old told this story? It was not to entertain, the story itself shows the kidnapping as a bitter reality of the time. Why this story survived the ages? (Let's not mention the cruel irony of LO ending on the expressed sentiment that the myth survived due to just Persephone and Hades "love" story.)

I think the only modern piece of media that is the closest to the myth of Persephone and also making it their own thing is, well, you might wanna sit down for this:

Mad Max: Fury Road (I'M DEADASS) and the sequel Furiosa. If we see the timeline of the character Furiosa, she is Persephone in spiritual way, she was kidnapped from a place of abundance and taken to the wasteland (underworld) and her mother Mary Jabassa (Demeter) goes for her, in her own ways and means but she dies on the attempt and with her dead, it also symbolizes the last contact Furiosa had with The Green place of many mothers then she was sold off to the lord of the wasteland Immortal Joe (Hades) but Furiosa then takes her own choices and finds a way to live on this place until she has the means to get out but after the events of Furiosa, she also plants her tree, she makes the place of abundance on the barren home that was Immortal Joe's and she also ends up killing him to also protect the other women that she knows.

I just, It's incredible to me how George Miller and Margaret Sixel accomplished to tell a much more compelling story about women being kidnapped and their subsequent liberation (by themselves) than these half-asses retelling that promote them as feminist retelling just to get more promotion rather than an actual feminist approach.

All I'm saying is, if you have a kidnapping kink whatever, just market it as it is, I'm sure there's going to be some people into that, but do not try to sell it as something that it is not.

[genericpuff]

Im trying to write a Hymn of Demeter based story element in a story with many characters, but want to avoid possibly being offensive to Greek mythology. I know many comics bend the rules a bit and take inspiration instead of full on adapting the mythos. Any advice on good comics that meet in the middle with this, or ways to avoid this so I don't end up accidentally having similar problems to stories like Lore Olympic. (For reference I have read Plunderland and Theo mania, just if you have any tips I'd greatly appreciate them!

My presphone is already on the more serious dark humor side get shit done side so it's definitely not 100% accurate to the hymn

You'd be better off asking someone who's actually Greek when it comes to cultural respect, that said, Lore Olympus disrespecting Greek myth doesn't really have to do with it being a modern interpretation or taking creative liberties with the original story and its characters, it has more to do with how much it's morphed public opinion and knowledge of the myth both through how it doesn't regularly remind readers that it's fanfiction and its creator who claims to be "better read" on Greek myth on other people (which she very clearly isn't). Even Hercules is frankly more respectful towards its source material than LO in spite of all its inaccuracies (Hercules' name, Hades trying to overthrow the Underworld, Zeus being a loyal husband, etc. lol) because Disney makes it clear it's meant to be purely for entertainment purposes for general audiences (kids and parents!), and you can tell the animators and artists put a lot of work into stylizing a film that was uniquely Greek. Plus the writing and characterizations are genuinely well done, it doesn't feel like it's spitting in the face of Greek myth like LO does lmao Supergiant's Hades and Hadestown also attempt to tell either retold or completely new stories through the lens of Greek myth characters and settings. Even works that aren't retellings like Final Fantasy XIV manage to include Greek myth references and parallels without being disrespectful to Greek culture or myth as a whole.

The real beauty of Greek myth is that it's something that's been retold and re-interpreted into all kinds of works - the stories and its characters are timeless and can be adapted into just about anything! There's always more room for fun and unique Greek myth interpretations, retellings, fanfiction, etc. just be on top of your research and be clear in your goals and intentions with your audience (whether you're trying to do a serious and accurate retelling vs. using Greek myth as simply points of reference vs. writing cozy fanfic of Greek myth material etc.) !!!

So unless you go around calling yourself a "folklorist" or allowing whatever readers you gain to run around calling your work fact, you're likely not gonna cause the same kind or amount of damage to the Greek myth community and its stories that LO has (￣ω￣;)

[finisnihil]

I feel like one of the reasons "feminist" Greek mythos retellings suffer so much from being made into modern retellings is because these stories were originally kinda feminist for the times they originated from. Making these already woman-based stories feminist by modern standards only make them reductive.

Authors make some of the men involved worse than they were (Perseus, Odysseus, Ares, Apollo) and will often use the female characters to bash on other female characters (Penelope and Helen, Persephone and Demeter, etc).

You also have to take into account who wrote down these stories. If this version of it is from actual Greek records/can be corroborated by other sources or if it's just from Ovid's versions, who retold these stories from a Roman perspective and with intention to depict certain aspects a certain way because he had bias against authority. Sure, his versions fleshed out the female characters more, such as Medusa and Arachne, but was it truly out of care for the women in the stories or just to use them for his personal desire to villainize the gods and those in power? Ovid's Medusa doesn't feel anymore feminist than the original because I don't think he actually cared about the character as a woman in pain but as another knife to stab into Athena and Poseidon.

How are some modern retellings any different? Margaret Atwood uses Penelope of Ithica to beat down Helen of Troy more than anything. Lore Olympus makes Persephone a sword for her mother to fall on. How are these authors any different than Ovid?

Finally, why do the more evil female characters have to be justified? There is the aspect that if a woman is not adhering to the cultural expectation she is to be made evil, but women like that do exist. Women like Medea exist. Women like Calypso exist. Women like the goddesses exist. Why do these retellings insist on making women morally upright and entirely justified to validate being "feminist"? Doesn't it just insist on a requirement to meet a different cultural standard for how a woman should act to be considered valid?

Is your retelling truly feminist if it justifies its existence by pretending the original wasn't?

[ryebread-x]

I noticed a discussion started by @bugwolfsstuff about Lore Olympus and Loki Lord of Chaos(two webcomics I don't particularly like as well due to both being pretty poor portrayals of Norse and Greek mythology). However, there is one webtoon comic I want to talk about in a more positive light, but I felt it would be off-topic, so I'm going to make a separate post for it.

That comic is Mythos Redone by Gonzalez and Liss . Unlike the other two comics, it focuses on all the pantheons (though mainly Greek,Norse,and Egyptian). While it isn't completely accurate to the actual myths, it's made clear by the title that the comic isn't going to be a complete accurate portrayal.

The comic follows an artist named Paige, and a demon named Anthemion who makes a deal with her to give her powers in exchange for her emotions so she can make art.They then slowly start to catch feelings for eachother. Making the main couple two original characters who are connected to the gods rather than it being an actual couple from mythology. Which I like because then their personalities feel more original because they are their own characters . Opposed to taking a mythological couple doing a complete personality switch with them(which is fine on it's own but it's excuted poorly most of the time).

This comic is also one of the only versions of Hades and Persephone I like(and that's saying a lot because I don't like a lot of adaptations of Hades and Persephone). While they still are romantic in the comic, Demeter for once isn't portrayed as overbearing or controlling. All the myths are mostly being retold from Anthemion point of view as well. Demeter is portrayed as just being worried for her kids rather than overbearing.

I like how the relationships are portrayed in this as well. Some of them are non canonical to the myths such as Nyx and Gaia, who are Anthemion's moms. While Aphrodite and Hephaestus are portrayed as more health in this comic, they aren't end game but stay on good terms.

Anthemion also got with a few of the gods from different pantheons before meeting Paige as well.

However, there is one downside to this comic being while Loki is in this comic, and major side character, he isn't with Sigyn. He's with a completely different figure from mythology. However, I did see in the comments that it was confirmed by one of the creators that Loki and Sigyn were together, but they got divorced. Whether on good terms or not is unclear, but she isn't completely erased from the comic as far as I know. Updates are pretty slow, but art takes time, and she could possibly appear in a flashback since Norse mythology hasn't really been covered yet.

That one downside aside, it's still a pretty good read . The art style is beautiful, and the designs are well done as well. It also has its own original story while still including the myths and the gods as somewhat side characters/stories. Again, I don't want to spoil too much, but it's a good webcomic, none the less.

[werewolfetone]

Utterly fascinated and somewhat distressed by the decision of a bookshop that I just had a look around to have a "myths retold" table where The Illiad by Homer is displayed next to The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and the Lore Olympus comic

[museit]

My thoughts on Lore Olympus right now.

This series, just like any other, is art retold by different people, and you love it or hate it, that's fine. But we don't need to dunk on it just because it's not the exact retelling of the OG mythology or it doesn't meet the requirements or standards fans place it. We are separate from the original mythology by removing the incestuous nature and other attributes that the original myths may have had that impacted the story in a way that it was difficult to decipher. Lore Olympus is a modern retelling if the concept of older gods were modernized, like in our society with the complexities that make perfect, untouchable beings flawed or have flaws. Sort of in a way of making them human in sense. Giving feelings and thoughts to beings whom we never known to have any beside what was told to us in ancient times.

If people are going to critique this series as a whole, It needs to be with a neutral opinion or unbiased comments on what Lore Olympus got right and what needed to be fixed or corrected. This includes characters, character design, narrative, story pacing, and presentation of each character's personalities, which are shown with depth and quality. Not bashing on the author or any authors who decide they want to put a spin on an old story.

All media on the mythology is not perfect and was never gonna be to begin with. We'll all add a bit or piece of our own narrative into media that we find fascinating. Personally, I don't even watch the videos that pop up on YouTube because it doesn't give a good commentary video on Lore Olympus. Either saying it's terrible or the worse retelling and harping on it without actually giving good pointers on why they hate it so much. It should be about the pros and cons towards good storytelling, and if we need to make fan work to create artistic expression, then so be it. If not that, then what would be the point of reading, playing, or watching media based on mythology of different cultures in the first place? Including this one.

[ourrobotculture]

Nine, oh nine, you’re quite divine, A number that dances, a mystical sign. Let’s unravel your secrets, line by line, Why you’re the best, let me intertwine.

Three threes you hold within your core, A triad of magic, a cosmic encore. Pythagoras smiles, for you’re his lore, Geometry’s muse, forevermore.

2. In baseball, you’re a triple play, Three bases conquered, hooray! A home run’s dream, under the sun’s ray, Nine innings of hope, where legends sway.

3. Nine planets once graced our sky, Before Pluto’s demotion made us sigh. Still, you remain, steadfast and spry, A celestial waltz, as constellations fly.

4. Music adores you, oh symphonic nine, A scale’s sweet notes, harmonies entwine. Beethoven’s sonatas, melodies divine, Echoing through time, a celestial design.

5. Nine lives for cats, they say with glee, Curiosity fuels their feline spree. Leaping rooftops, defying gravity, Nine chances to explore life’s tapestry.

6. Nine Muses on Olympus reside, Inspiring poets, artists, far and wide. Calliope’s quill, Terpsichore’s glide, Their gifts bestowed upon the tide.

7. Nine circles in Dante’s Inferno unfold, Each deeper, darker, tales untold. Sinners repent, their stories retold, Ninefold path to redemption’s threshold.

8. Nine squares in a tic-tac-toe bout, X versus O, a childhood clout. Strategy and wit, no room for doubt, Victory or draw, the game’s devout.

9. And when the clock strikes nine at night, Stars twinkle brighter, the moon takes flight. Dreams weave their spells, in moonbeam light, Ninefold enchantment, till morning’s sight.

So here’s to you, dear number nine, A symphony of wonder, forever entwined. In math, in art, in life’s grand design, You reign supreme—a numeral so fine! 🌟

[abookisafriend]

The Broken Earth Trilogy: a series about a unique magic system and the social dynamics surrounding it. queer characters and a brief but tender polyamory interlude

The Player of Games: one of the galaxy's greatest game-players lands in hot water and decides to leave town for a while ... only he's been chosen by his government to represent them in a far-off empire where their entire ruling hierarchy is determined by a single game

Beggars in Spain: as genetic engineering expands to humans, what relationship will the first generation of those who inherit the most powerful traits have with the rest of humanity?

Lore Olympus: on webtoons and in print, soon to be a tv show; the story of persephone and hades retold in a contemporary setting. other myths appear in the ensemble cast, such as the story of cupid (here eros) and psyche

Klara and the Sun: an unusually observant "artificial friend," a sentient robot, is purchased to serve an unusual role in a privileged but haunted family

The Silver Metal Lover: a young woman living in her wealthy mother's shadow develops feelings for an artificial human

Sunshine: harried baker discovers her inner capacity when thrown into the middle of a struggle between powerful vampires with very different philosophies

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl: a shapeshifter fucks his way through the interwoven spheres of queer culture at the turn of the millennium. almost a work of anthropology

follow me for reviews!

listen I ended up regretting saying anything about this on my old blog because people will interpret literally any and every statement maliciously on this hellsite but I want to start like. a helpline for people who are like “hey I pretty much only read YA but I’m like 22 now and don’t relate to teenagers as much, it’s such a shame that there are no fun books written for adults :(” because boy HOWDY are there some fun books for adults 

[crystals-lo-rewrite]

Introduction post

Main blog: @crystalsandbubbletea

About the AU creator:

-My name is Rian, feel free to call me 'Crystals', 'Crystal', 'Bubble Tea', 'Bubble', 'Tea', or 'Mint' though!

-My pronouns are they/xe/ve/zir

-I'm a transmasc nonbinary

-I'm on the AroAce spectrum (Demisexual and Demiromantic)

-I have ADHD and Autism

-I am a senior in Highschool, so updates might be slow :'}

-While this blog is for my LO AU (Still coming up with a name, for now it's being called Lore Olympus: Retold), I will also make criticism posts about canon Lore Olympus

-I only read one volume of Lore Olympus, so most of my LO criticism will be based off on what I saw from spoilers

-This is technically the second comic series I'm working on

-My favorite Greek gods are Apollo, Hephaestus, and Ares, while my favorite goddess are Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, and Nyx

-I require tone tags for things like jokes and criticism

-I plan on renaming this blog someday

-I was mostly inspired by Lore: Rekindled by @/genericpuff

Pronouns page:

Chapter links

Chapter 1: TBA

Redesign links

Minthe Redesign: W.I.P

Info about my AU + Warnings are below the cut

Info about Lore Olympus: Retold (Minor spoilers[?]):

-Character redesigns (I'll definitely be posting my redesigns)

-Personality changes for characters (Apollo, Hera, Persephone, Hades, etc)

-Doing Nyx right because Rachel did her dirty 😤

-None of that wibbly wobbly timey wimey time travel ish

-Persephone isn't nineteen, instead she's ageless, like all the other gods

-Doing Demeter right because much like Nyx, Rachel did her dirty 😤

-None of that fertility goddess stuff, I saw things about it and it never made sense to me

-Persephone has an actual personality instead of being Pink Rachel Smith

-Minthe having a better storyline because Rachel also did her dirty

-Doing Apollo right because Rachel got everything wrong about him (He would never do the thing he did in Lore Olympus)

-Artemis canonically being AroAce

-Things won't be accurate to Greek mythology (Persephone being a Bisexual Demigirl who uses she/they and Minthe having ADHD + NPD + ASPD, for example)

-There will be the occasional Lore Olympus roasting

WARNINGS:

Lore Olympus: Retold is not meant to be accurate to actual Greek mythology and is not meant to be considered as a source of research. It also goes into some triggering themes (Ex: racism, substance abuse, panic attacks, and night terrors). Any chapters that contain triggering themes will have trigger warnings.

[genericpuff]

lore rekindled looks really interesting, but i wanna ask if it can be understoood by someone who never read lore olympus? Like i can't get into LO for ReasonsTM (mostly of triggers that don't seem to exist/or are less prevalent in your work) but i know fanworks often rely on the pre-existing knowledge of the reader since its presumed they read the original, so some things don't get expanded upon or foreshadowing is there that only fans pick up on. I don't normally read fanworks of stuff im not even into because of that but i really like ur art style in rekindled so i gotta ask!!

There are some things in Rekindled that may rely on pre-existing knowledge of LO, but I'm also trying to write a version of LO that's retold from the beginning, meaning you should hopefully be able to read it without having extensive knowledge of LO beyond the fact that it was attempting to retell the Hymn to Demeter (i.e. the Abduction of Persephone). It's still trying to be a cohesive story from start to finish. So if you're into Greek gods and want to try reading Rekindled, by all means don't let it being an LO rewrite stop you! Worst case scenario if you wind up not being into it, then all you've lost is maybe twenty minutes to an hour of your time :' )

[buggykitty]

As a “Greek Myths retold” genre lover (and reluctant Lore Olympus fan), I have to admit that this is true. They’re unreadable </3

people will write a modern retelling of hades/persephone and unironically make the underworld an office building or something

[hermes-is-my-homeboy]

Have you read the Lore Olympus web comic? Hermes is in it and he’s an Absolute Best Boy in it. It’s a super easy and quick read and it’s still being published weekly. The illustration and story is amazing.

I’m going to check it out, thank you!

[booksociety]

Book Society introduces its August and September reading event - Of Gods & Tales! As we are celebrating our fourth birthday this month, our members have decided for us to revisit the theme of our very first reading event titled Myths. As both names suggest, this event's focus is on books inspired by various mythologies from all around the world, as well as their retellings. This event is open to everyone, not just our members, so we invite you to come and join us on our mythical reading quest!

✧ how to participate:

optional: reblog this post; check out our network and members

read (or reread) a book of your choice that fits this month’s theme

share what book you've chosen, thoughts, reactions, and/or creations

use the tag #booksocietynet in your posts, and include “@booksociety's Of Gods & Tales event: [insert book title here]” in the description of your creations

the event starts on August 5 and ends on September 30

✧ reading recommendations (under the cut):

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint (adult, retellings, romance, historical; 320 pages; Greek mythology)

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (adult, retellings, historical; 368 pages; Greek mythology)

A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee (young adult, fantasy, adventure; 400 papges; Japanese mythology)

A Touch of Darkness (Hades x Persephone #1) by Scarlett St. Clair (adult, romance, fantasy; 282 pages; Greek mythology)

Beasts of Prey (Beasts of Prey #1) by Ayana Gray (young adult, fantasy, romance; 496 pages; African mythologies)

Blood of Elves (The Witcher #1) by Andrzej Sapkowski (adult, high fantasy; 398 pages; Polish and Slavic mythology)

Blood Scion (Blood Scion #1) by Deborah Falaye (young adult, high fantasy; 432 pages; Yoruba-Nigerian mythology)

Daughter of the Moon Goddess (The Celestial Kingdom Duology #1) by Sue Lynn Tan (young adult, retellings, romance; 512 pages; Chinese mythology)

Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood (adult, historical fantasy, retellings; 370 pages; Greek mythology)

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente (adult, historical, fantasy; 352 pages; Russian mythology)

Elektra by Jennifer Saint (adult, retellings, historical; 291 pages; Greek mythology)

Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean (young adult, fantasy, romance; 384 pages; Japanese mythology)

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (adult, fantasy, magic realism; 338 pages; Mexican mythology)

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (urban fantasy, humour; 491 pages; Biblical mythology)

Here, The World Entire by Anwen Kya Hayward (adult, fantasy, novella; 83 pages; Greek mythology)

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (adult, retellings, LGBT; 478 pages; Hindu mythology)

Lore by Alexandra Bracken (young adult, urban fantasy, romance; 480 pages; Greek mythology)

Lore Olympus: Volume One (Lore Olympus Volumes #1) by Rachel Smythe (adult, romance, graphic novel; 384 pages; Greek mythology)

Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold by Bolu Babalola (adult, romance, short stories; mixed mythologies including West-African, Greek and Middle Eastern)

Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1) by Katee Robert (adult, romance, fantasy, retellings; 380 pages; Greek mythology)

Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap (short stories; 297 pages; Philipino mythology)

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (adult, fiction, mystery, fabulism; 245 pages; Greek mythology)

Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (middle grade, fantasy, adventure; 356 pages; Navajo mythology)

Shadow of the Fox (Shadow of the Fox #1) by Julie Kagawa (young adult, fantasy, romance; 454 pages; Japanese mythology)

Sh*t Cassandra Saw by Gwen E. Kirby (adult, fantasy, short stories; 288 pages; Greek mythology)

Skin of the Sea (Skin of the Sea #1) by Natasha Bowen (young adult, mythology; 336 pages; West African mythology)

Song of Sacrifice (Homeric Chronicles #1) by Janell Rhiannon (adult, fantasy, retellings; 543 pages; Greek mythology)

Sunblind (Sunblind #1) by Ramona Meisel (adult, poetry, LGBT; 95 pages; Greek mythology)

The Bear and the Nightingale (The Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden (adult, historical; 319 pages; Russian and Slavic mythology)

The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy #1) by S.A. Chakraborty (adult, historical, fantasy; 533 pages; Middle Eastern mythologies)

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh (young adult, fantasy, romance, retellings; 336 pages; Korean mythology)

The Goddess of Nothing At All (Unwritten Runes #1) by Cat Rector (adult, fantasy, romance, LGBT; 430 pages; Norse mythology)

The Heartless Divine (The Heartless Divine #1) by Varsha Ravi (adult, fantasy; 434 pages; Hindu mythology)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (adult, high fantasy, LGBT; 848 pages; Christian mythology)

The Shadow of the Gods (Bloodsworn Saga #1) by John Gwynne (adult, high fantasy; 480 pages; Norse mythology)

The Silence of the Girls (Women of Troy #1) by Pat Barker (adult, retellings, historical; 325 pages; Greek mythology)

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (adult, retellings, historical, fantasy, romance, LGBT; 352 pages; Greek mythology)

The Sunbearer Trials (The Sunbearer Duology #1) by Aiden Thomas (young adult, fantasy, LGBT; 352 pages; Mexican mythology)

The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore (adult, retellings; 368 pages; Russian mythology)

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec (adult, fantasy, romance; 359 pages; Norse mythology)

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid (adult, fantasy, romance; 448 pages; Jewish and Hungarian mythology)

This Woven Kingdom (This Woven Kingdom #1) by Tahereh Mafi (young adult, high fantasy, romance; 512 pages; Persian mythology)

Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse (adult, urban fantasy, postacopalyptic; 287 pages; Native American mythologies)

Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung by Nina MacLaughlin (adult, fantasy, short stories; 352 pages; Greek mythology)

Wicked Fox (Gumiho #1) by Kat Cho (young adult, urban fantasy, romance; 429 pages; Korean mythology)

Wildalone (Wildalone Sagas #1) by Krassi Zourkova (young adult, fantasy, romance; 384 pages; Bulgarian mythology)

Woven in Moonlight (Woven in Moonlight #1) by Isabel Ibañez (young adult, fantasy, romance; 384 pages; Bolivian mythology)

more recommendation here, under our 2018 event post

[antiloreolympus]

6 Anti LO Asks

1. I believe a lot of LO’s fans forget that you can still enjoy a character without liking them as a person. That’s how I feel particularly with Minthe: she’s sleek, she’s pretty, she’s complex, she’s in a caste system struggle in which she’s within the bottom-rung of society. We start to see her own personal reasons for treating Hades the way that she did (which doesn’t make it right), but I still find her to be a very interesting character! It's a shame that her fate became that of all HxP opponents: wrongfully wiped out and promptly forgotten about until they (hopefully) show up again for plot convenience.

2. I know that many of Lore Olympus’ critics have already brought this up and established the true definition, but LO is not a “modern retelling” of the Abduction of Persephone. A narrative that is retold is one where the story and the characters are still recognizable no matter the changes made from the original texts.  Thor from the MCU, The Lunar Chronicles (a series of books that retell fairy tales in a futuristic society), Punderworld… Those are renditions of original myths/stories that can still be recognized by even oblivious viewers. Lore Olympus, if anything, is a rewrite. It consists of a bunch of multicolored characters that the author slapped the names of mythological beings onto, in which the comic is now being hailed as some super progressive and faithful adaptation of the original myth(s), when it isn’t. Honestly, the stories are so botched within the webcomic itself that it almost gives me whiplash with how far left a lot of the characters and plot lines stray away from their original sources. I’m not even a partaker in reading Greek myths, but the way in which others have rightfully complained about the comic’s complete unfaithfulness to it’s stories, it’s almost baffling how it’s most devoted fans can even continue to uphold the work as some new form of the Iliad.

3. Idk if you’ve seen it or not, but on YouTube someone did a whole character redesign for LO with her own take on the characters (with some really good art of the characters and explanations to why she made the changes she made) and the comment section is full of a lot of people complaining about how “You don’t get Rachel’s art style!” and “Ew I can’t even recognize the characters! This is disrespectful to RS!”

And it’s like??? Dude it’s her own take on the characters??? Chill out y’all she was just giving her take on them

4. YOOO PEOPLE ALREADY GOT ADVANCES TO THE PRINT LO BOOK AND IT STILL HAS THE TYPOS IN IT ✋🏾😭 HOW MANY TIMES DID YALL REWORK IT AND STILL NOT FIX THOSE???

5. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now (and I guess it’s technically not a “critique” in a way), but I always thought that Persephone’s name should’ve just stayed “Kore” until her eventual marriage to Hades. In the original myths, it wasn’t until her status as Queen of the Underworld was cemented that she began to go by multiple titles. Wouldn’t it be interesting when reaching the presumed end of the comic that Persephone has this fresh name that everyone now regards her as, almost like a movie hero/villain shifting into their own respective title(s)? But I guess that means the author would’ve had to scrap the mortal realm massacre/trial plot line altogether to accomplish that idea. Though I still don’t find those current stories to be that interesting anyway and are basically just utilized to show that Persephone is, in fact, a “cinnamon roll who can actually kill you” archetype.

*Also, please correct me if I’m wrong! I want to say her name was Kore until meeting and marrying Hades, but she might’ve been regarded as such before then! ^^;

6. part of the reason LO trying to be "glamorous" fails is that it just isnt. the minimalism fashion isnt well designed or pretty (and no, adding sparkles doesnt make it look anything more than a a basic white dress) and the world design especially is lacking. it looks like any generic american city over something distinct and unique. sure LO can mimic the glass being shiny, but theyre all still the same black rectangles. Olympus nor the Underworld in LO have any true gravitas or   beauty to them.