Book Review :: Lore by Alexandra Bracken

Lore by Alexandra Bracken
Published by Quercus Children's Books
on 2021-01-07
Pages: 546
Goodreads

Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality. Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family's sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt's promises of eternal glory. For years she's pushed away any thought of revenge against the man--now a god--responsible for their deaths.

Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods.

The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore's decision to bind her fate to Athena's and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost--and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.

Last updated on 10 November 2021

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A quick comment …

I was going to minor in Classics at university, and the only thing stopping me was lack of papers (I went to a Uni with a very small humanities department). But I love Classics and Greek mythology (even went to Greece because of it!), so when I saw that Lore was being released and it was all about that, I was super excited to pick it up.

“Sometimes the braver thing is to accept help when you’ve been made to believe you shouldn’t need it.”

Thankfully, it lived up to expectations.

Having not read another Alexandra Bracken book before (The Darkest Mind series has been on my TBR for the longest time) I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of plot or character or setting. But I enjoyed this book so much I might have to check out her other novels now.

Lore: the story

Lore is set in our world (kinda), and every seven years the Agnon begins. It’s much like The Hunger Games in that it’s everyone for themselves as nine gods are forced to turn mortal for the week as they’re hunted by descendants of old bloodlines. If you’re the one to kill a god during this time, you take their power, their immortality, and basically become the new version of that god.

“I was born knowing how to do three things – how to breathe, how to dream, and how to love you.”

Melora (aka Lore) doesn’t participate in the Agnon anymore, even though she’s of the Perseus line. After her family were slaughtered, Lore has been in hiding for years. But suddenly Lore is thrown back in the Agnon when a god lands on her doorstep, wounded and in need of help.

What follows is a chase to the death. There are old friends reunited, new ones formed, there’s danger around every corner, a dash of romance, and a whole lotta gods.

My thoughts on Lore

If it wasn’t clear already, I loved this book. It was violent and hard to read at times, but it was so good. Bracken’s characters are superb and felt life-like (something that I think some authors just can’t quite pull off), and the plot was fast-paced and barely allowed for breath between pages. It was cruel and harsh, but somehow beautiful, and while I didn’t quite give it 5 stars (hello 4.5), that was because there weren’t some of my favourite gods in it. Which was a shame.

On the whole, if you like Greek mythology, The Hunger Games, or just fast-paced, action-packed, urban fantasy stories, you need to pick up Lore.

Have you read Lore? What did you think?

Thank you to Hachette Publishing NZ who sent me a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. This does not influence my opinion and all thoughts are my own.