Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: YA Fantasy / Mythology
Length: 400 pages
Author: Claire M. Andrews
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson Books
Release Date: June 8th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Sparta forged her into a deadly weapon. Now the Gods need her to save the world!

Seventeen-year-old Daphne has spent her entire life honing her body and mind into that of a warrior, hoping to be accepted by the unyielding people of ancient Sparta. But an unexpected encounter with the goddess Artemis—who holds Daphne’s brother’s fate in her hands—upends the life she’s worked so hard to build. Nine mysterious items have been stolen from Mount Olympus and if Daphne cannot find them, the gods’ waning powers will fade away, the mortal world will descend into chaos, and her brother’s life will be forfeit.

Guided by Artemis’s twin-the handsome and entirely-too-self-assured god Apollo-Daphne’s journey will take her from the labyrinth of the Minotaur to the riddle-spinning Sphinx of Thebes, team her up with mythological legends such as Theseus and Hippolyta of the Amazons, and pit her against the gods themselves.

A reinterpretation of the classic Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo, Daughter of Sparta by debut author Claire Andrews turns the traditionally male-dominated mythology we know into a heart-pounding and empowering female-led adventure.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

MANY THOUGHTS.

Well, one of my highly anticipated reads has let me down a bit.

Side note: I read a handful of reviews and it looks like if you Google what’s Daphne’s mythology, it can spoil part of the book. I went and Googled myself (after reading) and would say, YES IT DOES SPOIL. So please don’t search anything until after reading if you’re curious what her history is! I didn’t know before this book there was a story involving Daphne.

I loved the inital set-up and story. I liked that Daphne was trying to find a place for herself. To feel like she has a home. Add in some brothers and I was loving this little family plotline. First goddess into the ring was Athena and thus one of my least favorite tropes arrived: the travelling trope.

Most of this book is indeed spent with Daphne going from location A, B, C, etc. trying to first, figure out what is missing from Olympus and secondly, how to retrieve and fix the situation. What bothered me a lot about this was that a handful of times she ran into someone new (or saw the main villian) they would say you can’t know my name yet. And just WHY? Leaving it as a “mystery” wasn’t really a mystery. It was more annoying than anything not to say who’s who.

I didn’t know there would be a romance, mainly because it took a VERY long time for it to arise and I was suprised by it. There wasn’t anything to them. Honestly, could’ve done without and I might have enjoyed it more. The small scenes didn’t add to the whole story. I would have liked to have just seen more of Daphne being a warrior.

What I did love was the interpretation of mythology. I love books about mythology because I like seeing how each author depicts the gods and whatever story they’re using. It was great seeing many many secondary characters and remembering their general storylines as I went. I love these kind of scenarios brought to life.

By the end I was left with more forced questions than answers, trying to dangle me into reading the next book rather than the entire book convincing me I should want to read the sequel, so we’ll see. It did keep my interest for a very long time. It was towards the end where I started to slip and wanted finish the book quickly. The writing and story is there, I think I had the hype in my mind for a bit different of a tale.

Overall audience notes:

• YA Fantasy / Mythology
• Language: a little
• Romance: kisses
• Violence: battles, skirmishes, friends being turned into creatures, animal attacks, physical altercations, murder

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