Author: Kendare Blake
Publication Date: September 10th 2013
~A copy was provided by Hachette, in exchange for an honest review.~
Old Gods never die…
Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.
Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.
These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.
Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.
Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.
The Goddess War is about to begin.
*Note: I was doing a giveaway with the review, but I've had too much caffeine and after this am going in a dark room because I have a migraine coming on. Giveaway will start tomorrow!*
Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.
Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.
These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.
Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.
Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.
The Goddess War is about to begin.
*Note: I was doing a giveaway with the review, but I've had too much caffeine and after this am going in a dark room because I have a migraine coming on. Giveaway will start tomorrow!*
I would love to tell you I hated this. I would, and gladly
do so. I had this huge expectation in my head since I finished the Anna series
and heard about Antigoddess, and though I had this expectation, I didn't know
what to expect. It was nothing like my expectation, in the best way possible.
I read this slower than usual, because I wanted to read it
but then I didn't. I just had this feeling, and as soon as I started I knew I
wouldn't be disappointed. I am, and then again, I'm not. Not because it didn't
live up to my expectation, because it did and a lot more, but maybe
disappointed is not the right word. I'm feeling like I did after The Girl of
Nightmares, that same bitter sweetness. The same bitter sweetness because I
loved Cas and Anna just like I loved Cassandra, Aidan, Athena, Hermes, hell,
even Henry and Andie. You know it's going to hurt but you read it anyway and
you love it. All of it, every little piece that made the book that book, whether the bad or good, and
I haven't felt that since the end of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. This
is more of a feelings rant because it's hard to write a proper review with so
many emotions brewing, and it would be hard to without a lot of spoilers.
Antigoddess, Unlike the Anna series is in third perspective, which worked better and was needed, and though I don't like to favour first or third person, I don't think it would've had the same feeling Antigoddess has if it was in first.
Antigoddess, Unlike the Anna series is in third perspective, which worked better and was needed, and though I don't like to favour first or third person, I don't think it would've had the same feeling Antigoddess has if it was in first.
I love mythology, it's always has always been my
favourite type of genre to read, and I love reading different interpretations of the Gods in each
book. It's interesting to see the interactions
between them, the history you know that's already there. The Gods stay the
same, but it's different, which I love, like Athena. I couldn't hate her at all,
where as in Kelly Keatons' Gods & Monsters series, there's nothing to do
but hate Athena. But Antigoddess' Athena, though a tried bitch, has morals and
reasoning behind what she does, now. She's strategic, the God of battle. It's
what she knows. It's what she does. It's what she is. She doesn't hide, even
though she wants to, she doesn't wallow, she doesn't switch teams, and she's
surprisingly loyal. She stood her ground, and believed in what was good, even
though the God's are dying, she's stubborn, and on the losing side while all
the Gods are stabbing each other in the back to take them down with them, she's
level headed out of the bunch.
I get what Athena did, what she did to Cassandra, and Oh,
poor Cassandra, I get why she hated Athena, why Aidan hated Athena, the
history's there. History Cassandra doesn't quite know yet, but she needed to.
And though the reasons for why Athena did it, why she couldn't just leave them
alone, unethical as it was, was necessary. Cassandra needed to know for her own
good, to protect herself whether she wanted it or not. Cassandra's hand was
already being played and what was coming for them wouldn't stop, and Athena's
side, bad enough, what was coming was worse. Sides had to be picked, because
whether or not they wanted to, it had to be. Cassandra was unknowingly in too
deep to do otherwise.
In the beginning Athena's reasons where selfish, because she
didn't want to do die, and that, over anything else scared the hell out the
Gods because they were immortal, but whereas Hermes was more accepting, Athena
was hell bent on not. They feared death more than anyone else because they have
always been eternal. So yes, her fear was her selfish reason, but it was also
her nature, to not go down without a fight. But, as the journey went on
Athena's reason changed, and it wasn't necessarily to live anymore, but to
protect the losing carnage. The God's war was already drawn as soon as they
started to pick each other off, and that, in its wake would burn the world down
with it.
Admittedly, I had to brush up on some things to do with
Cassandra and Apollo, her prophecies, The Trojan War and demise of Troy, and
Athena's hand in it, but Antigoddess made a lot more sense after it, but you
get the gist of it inside Antigoddess anyway.
It was just so amazingly written, and bloody and violent and
grotesque and all kinds of everything I loved about Anna Dressed In Blood. It's compelling, and there's just something
that Kendare Blake does to make you care about the characters, even if they
make mistakes, and I swear, I will never look at feathers quite the same.
Can I also point out that feather on the cover that actually
feels like a feather!
The Goddess War has just begun.
It'll hurt, but you'll like it.
Rating: 5/5
