#20: A book at the bottom of your to-read list: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter.
After Kate’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and battled it until she couldn’t stand on her own, she asked her daughter to take her back home to the town she grew up in. When Kate arrives in the small town in the middle of nowhere, she realizes quickly that the town is the complete opposite of New York City. She starts at the local high school and automatically tries to keep to herself, but in a small town, that’s nearly impossible. She is quickly discovered and dragged through an invitation to a bonfire.
When the event turns out to be a hoax, a terrible accident puts her face to face with a young man close to her age calling himself Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. He offers her a bargain; he can save her mother’s life if she takes a series of tests and passes. At first, she believes him to be crazy, but when she watches him bring a dead girl back to life, the crazy disappears and is replaced by the dangerous act of hope. He gives her time to think and warns her, that she must come by her desire, but once she enters his home, she cannot leave for the next six months.
If she passes, she can save her mother, but she will have to marry Hades and in turn, become a goddess, but if she loses… the stakes are high.
The myth of Persephone is a well-known tale that has been told over and over again in different versions. My favorite version is as follows:
Persephone is in the fields with her friends collecting flowers, her father Zeus watching from above as she comes across a narcissus that he planted. She plucks the flower in hopes of giving it to her mother but when the ground around where the plant once stood began to crumble away, a hole opened up. Hades, the god of the Underworld flew up in his golden chariot picked up Persephone, and fell together into the hole, with the walls closing behind them, cutting her off from the field. Her mother, Demeter: Goddess of the Harvest and Hearth, noticed something was wrong, and when she couldn’t find her daughter, she fell depressed and all crops died. After endless searching, seeks out Zeus to help her find their daughter. Once in the Underworld, Hades confesses his love to Persephone, desiring nothing else to but to have her beauty and kind heart to be by his side in the world of the dead and cold. Without having another choice she stays with him. Months pass and eventually Demeter discovers, after much investigating, that Zeus was behind part of the plan to kidnap Persephone as an offering to Hades, by providing him with a wife and Queen to help him rule the Underworld. Zeus eventually agrees to get Persephone back to cease the ache of Demeter as she refused to let anything grow on earth until her daughter returned to her.
Zeus sent Hermes, the messenger god, to travel to the Underworld and bring back Persephone, but under the condition that she must be as pure as the day she was taken from the land of the living. When Hermes arrived to the Underworld, he was surprised to find the young goddess radiant and grown as a magnificent Queen of the dead, and Hades’ wife. When he told her Zeus has asked for her to return to her mother’s side, she was torn between wanting to return home and staying with Hades. She felt she had found her calling, greeting people and helping them adjust to their new lives in the underworld. Hades offers Persephone a pomegranate, telling her to relax and to eat from the fruit of which he knew she would like. She ate six seeds from it and the red juice from them stained her lips. She returned to Zeus, but seeing that she had eaten from the tree of Life, he knew she must return to the Underworld. Not bearing to see Demeter lose her daughter once again, he allows Persephone to be above ground, but remain with Hades one month for every seed she ate. During those months Demeter would fall in mourning, waiting for her daughter’s return; every time that Persephone returned, the flowers bloomed and all was well.
With that in mind, this book was a big struggle for me to determine if I enjoyed it or didn’t. Those that know me well, know that I have a “slight” obsession with Greek mythology. When I picked up this book there was a lot of hope for the series. As I read it, I appreciated the original feel it had, but in retrospect, it was very different from the original classic character behaviors from the Ancient Greek myths.
This is where I’ve noticed most people who have read it take sides. Independently from the classic myths, the story is enchanting and entertaining, mysterious and dark. I enjoyed that part of it heavily because it felt like a well-done fanfiction of the Greek mythology of Persephone, one of my favorite myths. That being said, it being my favorite myth also disappointed me with how certain outcomes in the book change the myth to fit the storyline. Key characters were very different from their source and undermined all the power they should naturally hold. For some people, it was borderline disrespectful.
On that note, you will either hate this book or love this book, depending on your knowledge of the original myths. Considering this, I will give this book a rating right in the middle and let you decide. 2.5 out of 5.
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