Series: Goddess War, #1
Publisher:  Tor Teen
Publish Date: September 10th, 2013
Source: ARC
Goodreads

Rating: 4/5 – Good gods, this is a good book!

About the book: The Goddess War begins in Antigoddess, the first installment of the new series by acclaimed author of Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake.

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.

Thoughts: When I went to BEA, evvveeryyonne was talking about Antigoddess. Everyone. And the lineup for ARCs was nuts. Since I hadn’t read any of Kendare Blake’s books before, I opted to pass. Biiiggg mistake! Sufice it to say, I eventually got my hands on this one, and I’m so glad I did! The Greek gods always make for a great story, and Kendare Blake put a fantastic spin on things. Love, love, love!

The storyline mainly follows to characters–Athena, the eternal Goddess who is slowly dying, and Cassandra, a human prophetess, reborn into our world with no memory of her ancient role. I really liked Cassandra, which had a lot to do with her relationship with dreamy Aiden, but also because she came across as very real and genuine, despite her paranormal ability. Athena was definitely less likeable, very much in line with the Greek gods of old. She makes some interesting growth across throughout the story though.

Essentially, we have reached the twilight of the gods. Everyone is taking sides and teaming up to take out the opposition. Only one group can live, while the others waste away in a variety of poetically appropriate ways. The amount of craft that went into creating this world shows some real understanding of the ancient myths, and I absolutely loved everything about the plot. The writing probably could have grabbed me a bit more, but that’s really my only complaint–that I wasn’t quite hooked enough to for-go food and sleep.

Highly recommended!

Purchase Antigoddess
@Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN) @The Book Depository

Second Opinions
@Books Live Forever
@Pen to Paper
@Peace, Love, Teen Fiction