The “talk” was bad enough, but how many teens get told that they’re a goddess? When her mom tells her, Persephone is sure her mother has lost her mind. It isn’t until Boreas, the god of winter, tries to abduct her that she realizes her mother was telling the truth. Hades rescues her, and in order to safely bring Persephone to the Underworld he marks her as his bride. But Boreas will stop at nothing to get Persephone. Despite her growing feelings for Hades, Persephone wants to return to the living realm. Persephone must find a way to defeat Boreas and reclaim her life.
If you read YA, it's really only a matter of time before you end up reading a re-telling of some sort. Personally I really enjoy a good re-telling, but after a while some of the stories get told too much and end up being basically the same book. This one, though, stood out as different to me. Obviously, as the title suggests, this book is about the myth of Persephone. (If you don't know the one, here is a place to read up on it. I like this one!)
I started off thinking that this was probably going to be just another re-telling to add to the list, but a few things made it stick out. Most importantly was the portrayal of the gods and other people that originally appear in Greek mythology. All of the ones that had at least somewhat important roles in the story were unique characters. Hades, Cassandra and Charon were the characters that stood out the most to me as having personalities different than I have ever seen them written as before. Hade's personality was one of the things that made me really enjoy this book, to be honest. It was just so much different than any way I've ever encountered him before.
Also, Persephone herself was not one of those annoying main characters. She did NOT like being told what to do without explanation or sitting back and letting everyone else do things for her. She struggled through the whole book to make people listen to her opinions and not decide things for her.
The writing style in this book is fairly simplistic and straightforward, but for me it really fit the storyline and the characters. It made it so that I could sit down and read a good chunk at a time without getting mentally tired at having to think all the time, but I could also pick it up and read a page or two quickly when I had a few minutes spare and not have to re-read, just jump in. It was refreshing to read, although that could have something to do with me reading another book at the same time that was much, much darker. Along with being straightforward, I found the writing was also smooth and flowed well.
Here's a quote that stood out to me for some reason that I still can't figure out. I think that it captures how the Underworld is portrayed in lots of modern re-tellings, and especially how it is portrayed in Persephone.
"I couldn't believe I'd ever been intimidated by the Underworld. It was just like the living realm. Life went on, so to speak. People were still people, and they continued to do the things that made them happy."
The Good: The characters, the writing.
The Bad: Started off being similar to other re-tellings.
The Verdict: 4/5. Definitely worth the read!
This book was supplied by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Kaitlin!
Rachel
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