Lore

Title: LoreAuthor: Alexandra BrackenAge Group: Teen/Young Adult/New AdultGenre: Fantasy/HorrorSeries: Lore, book oneStar Rating: 4 out of 5 StarsI bought this book and reviewed it.Trigger Warning: * Rape, mentions of rape off-page, graphic violence, blood and gore, kidnapping, gaslighting, murder, sex, and abuse. If any of these topics are sensitive to you, I would suggest not reading this book! Your mental health always matters. *Alexandra Bracken stole my heart with her sci-fi trilogy, The Darkest Minds, and later with her second series, which began with Passenger. So, when I found out she was writing a brand-new book, I was over the moon excited about it. I ordered it with my Christmas money, given to me by my mother-in-law. I’d been hearing from my Booktok and Discord friends about Lore, and I was curious. So, I decided once I was finished with A Heart So Fierce and Broken and Yolk, that I would dive in. This book... I finished it over a month ago and frankly, I’m still chewing on it. I really feel like this book should not have been marketed to the young adult sector; this book would definitely be shelved in the new adult or adult section of the store. I loved it, definitely, but I will say that this book is not for everyone; it contains very sensitive material. Nonetheless, I’ve been seeing comparisons to the Percy Jackson series, and I would say that those are accurate. Nonetheless, this book needs to come with a trigger warning, if only so people know what they’re getting into. Regardless, this story was dark, bloody, and surprisingly hopeful. I’m not sure if this is a series or not, but I’ll wait and see. Bracken has penned another knockout, and this is definitely one of my favorite novels of 2021.Perseous Lore has spent the majority life pursuing one thing and one thing only: vengeance for her fallen family and friends. At seventeen, she is out of the game, as they say. Every seven years, a powerful and mythical tournament called The Agon takes place, and in it, demigods from powerful and magical bloodlines fight for ultimate supremacy. If the demigods take the gods’ power and succeed in slaying them, they become the new god. When a mysterious new god named Wrath shows up, Lore becomes even more obsessed with revenge. When the last of the old gods, Athena, offers to ally with her in pursuit of revenge, Lore reluctantly agrees, but only to avenge her fallen family. But in Lore’s pursuit of a childhood friend, she finds dark and dangerous secrets, hidden within the ancient tradition of The Agon. When she begins to dig deeper into the dark and violent roots of her past and the reasons her family died, Lore realizes that it’s more than her life at stake in this war: plunging back into her bloody past may cost her more than she can possibly give...I’ll be honest: I finished this book a little more than a month ago. And I had mixed feelings about it because BookTok has long been buzzing about it, the good and the bad. I couldn’t take my curiosity anymore, so as soon as I was finished with A Heart so Fierce and Broken and A Vow So Bold and Deadly, I plunged in, unsure of what to expect. The prose was beautiful, and the pacing was instant. I read this book over the course of a week and a half, and I will admit, there were times that it was hard to get through. At times, it was very triggering; I had to read another book alongside it to just not be depressed. Nonetheless, I liked it. But I really think this should have been marketed as new adult or even adult; there was pretty graphic violence from the start. And that wasn’t a bad thing, necessarily, but people need to know what they’re getting into. To call this the dark and bloody adult sequel to Percy Jackson would be in my opinion a fair assessment. I was captivated by Lore, and her dark, bloody quest for vengeance. At times, this book was very difficult to get through: death, blood and gore await the reader on every tautly written page. I wanted to love this book, and I did, somewhat, but there definitely needs to be a trigger warning so people know what they’re getting into. Next on deck: A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas and A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer!

Easy young adult novel to read. The ending is well constructed and doesn't end in a cliffhanger, so this is a stand alone book.I think the Mythology aspect was slightly lacking. I'm not sure what I was expecting, perhaps something just a tad more "godly" when interacting with every day situations. Most of the incorporated themes of mythology surround the fictitious family bloodlines and mythology based themes created specifically for this book. As someone who loves mythology and especially Greek mythology, I was excited a new book was coming out with a promising theme. Unfortunately, it was just a tad underwhelming.Characters were well developed, albeit did all kind of share the same emotional dilemmas. The main character had a pleasant but not overpowering feminist vibe, but was quite repetitive when talking about the past. Of course there was the go-getter best friend, the handsome childhood friend, the broody/over-thinking tag-along, etc. Pretty predictable lineup in that sense, but still entertaining.The book was slow to start for me. Halfway in I was getting extremely tired trying to keep up with all of the partially-introduced information. I had to reread quite a few paragraphs wondering what I missed since a whole paragraph seemed out if place or wasn't explained. One of the characters would make a realization and start talking, but then that realization wouldn't be shared until many chapters later. Typically, a few of these instances are fine, but it seemed that every major plot detail followed this trend. Extremely frustrating to read. Luckily I held in until after the halfway mark, because answers were finally being divulged. But seriously, who is talking to a group of close friends on the brink of death, has a major revelation, and then decides to just stop the converstation and do something else..... at least 5 times throughout the book. It made me want to scream.Overall, decent read but not one of my top favorite YA novels.

A pleasure to read- descriptive, a great plot, no plot holes. Tied in a neat bloody bow. Enjoyed the heck outta this.

The story was interesting but a little convoluted at times to explain things away or make them work out.I'm always a little bummed when there are grammatical or spelling mistakes which there were a couple.I'm not sure why it bothered me but she over-used a few phrases and descriptions to show the characters were angry or upset: their hands curled into fists or they were seeing black around the edges. I haven't finished it yet so maybe there is some significance to it that I don't understand yet but it's in there a lot!

This was a Christmas gift

Muito bonito o design gráfico

I really like the version of the book, is like first edition books!

Libro con una historia entretenida en una realidad moderna en la q los dioses griegos andan de nuevo sobre la tierra y los humanos pueden cazarlos para alcanzar la inmortalidad., con una trama muy dinámica que hace q no puedas dejar de leerlo.

Initially I was a confused by all the houses and decendants of the gods in the way they were presented from the first chapters. Passages that read e.g. the old god did this, the new god did that, the imposter etc were a little trying to get my head around, but as the story progressed it was easier to follow the events and characters. The keys at the start and end of the book explaining the houses and characters also helped and I suggest they be read.The characters were written naturally, flawed but ultimately likeable. My favourite being Van (Evander Achilleos - decendant of Achilles.The eponymous character Lore (Melora Perseous - descended from Perseus) was both strong and weak which made her an interesting protagonist. Her internal struggle in regards to her past and future really helped to drive the story forward and added a feminist perspective.I don't expect or require authors to be overtly political in their writing and where there was, what I perceived to be, instances of this in the book it came across more like appeasement rather than a statement, so for anyone who cares more about a good fantasy story than reading an author's socio-political opinions, you won't feel preached to.There are two main romances in the book (m/f & m/m) and both were so sweet and endearing, playing into the opposites attract cliché which is by far the most stimulating pairing (imo) I was really rooting for both couples and after almost 550 pages of tense action and uncertainty, I was more than satisfied with the book's ending, which I galloped towards with palpitations.A lot of readers have likened the book to Hunger Games and I suppse that's a fair comparison, but they differ in one major aspect, this is not a dystopian novel. This is less concerned with humanity's future and rather our past. I love ancient mythologies, particularly Greek, and the stories and legends woven into this contemporary novel is really well done. It proves their relevancy even thousands of years since their conception.