Review: Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Summary

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.

My thoughts

I loved Kendare Blake’s Anna series, mostly because they were different. Sadly horror is not a genre that is often seen in YA. I hoped Kendare Blake would keep writing horror novels but then I heard about Antigoddess. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed at first. Another book about Greek mythology? Do we really need that? Hell yeah!

Since reading ‘Anna Dressed in Blood’ Kendare Blake is one of my auto-buy authors and I’m happy that I picked up Antigoddess even if I had my doubts about it. Kendare Blake takes Greek mythology and tells a whole new story, something unique that at least I haven’t read about before. Gods dying and fighting each other? Sounds like an epic battle is ahead.

I really liked that there is no information overload about all these gods and goddesses. We get some names and how they are related, sometimes a quick background story and that’s it. Besides that I already know a huge deal about Greek mythology from previous books I read, I didn’t feel the need to know more than those few details. The gods dying and the upcoming war, that’s something new for them too. The past doesn’t matter anymore. Only the future and finding out what exactly is going on is important.

When it comes to stories about gods I’m always afraid that we get one of those cheese and unrealistic love stories between a god and a mortal. But again Kendare Blake surprised me with something different. What I loved most is that we don’t get to read about characters falling in love but already being in love, already knowing each other for quite some time.

And then there are the gods trying to kill each other. That alone should be pretty suspenseful but what actually kept me from taking a break from reading was the fact that everything seemed so hopeless. While reading I feared Kendare would turn into George R.R. Martin and just kill off all my favorite characters. And there are quite a few deaths and it’s still not over yet.

The end of Antigoddess isn’t really one but a good point in the storyline to take a break. A heartbreaking one. I was glad that there is no cliffhanger but I was still left speechless and sad after reading the last pages. I really don’t see a way how she could do it but I hope Kendare Blake will make it up to me somehow in the second book (which I need right now!).