3 Stars. A fun read, but not
enough action and too little relationship development. I loved Kate in the
beginning of this book. She was a tough young woman dealing with the responsibility
of caring for her dying mother. She was so strong, but as the story went on I
felt her character weakened some. I liked seeing her devotion to Henry (Hades)
and they had a really interesting dynamic. He was very distant and protective
and she was always trying to get him to open up. But, I don’t think Aimee
Carter did a good enough job of explaining why Kate was so into him. I admired Kate’s
dedication to the goddess test, but I didn’t see enough of why she fell for
Henry.
I wanted to know a little more about who Henry was. For a
good chunk of the book the only thing the reader, or Kate, knew about him was
that he was old, honest and attractive. And, while those were all great traits,
I wanted more. As the story goes on Henry and Kate started spending more time
together, but I wish we’d gotten to see more of it. I never really felt a
strong spark between them.
Also, this book it set up with a twist. And, it was a good
twist. I didn’t see it coming, but the way the story is set up makes parts of
the plot drag because you don’t understand how important certain small moments
are until the end. <spoiler>You don’t find out who the gods are or what
the tests were until the very end. It was a nice twist, but it made the plot
drag. I spent a lot of time waiting for Kate to take a test just to find out
she’d been taking them all along. </spoiler> I also felt like the tension
in the story could have been upped a bit. It’s mentioned a number of times that
it may be dangerous for Kate to stay with Henry as someone has been killing all
the girls Henry bring to take the test. I would have liked to have seen a few
more attempts on her life.
Overall it was an enjoyable read, and I’ll give the sequel a
shot.
