By Alexandra Bracken ★★★★☆
Lore opens in New York City with the start of another “Agon”, a once-every-seven-years event during which nine Greek gods and goddesses must walk among us as mortals. Unfortunately for them, descendants of the gods (and of those heroes wronged by them) have waited those seven long years not to praise the gods, but try their hand at killing a rival god, thereby assuming his/her powers.
Lore Perseous is among those descendants, but wants nothing to do with the Agon. As the last surviving member of House Perseus, she simply wishes to leave that world behind. But when the goddess Athena turns up on her doorstep, gravely wounded and offering a deal, Lore reluctantly accepts it and is thrust back into a world she thought she’d fully left behind.
Blending an obvious love of classical mythology (including an accurate accounting of the typical personalities and traits of the gods and goddesses involved) with a layered, action-filled plot, Bracken does a nice job of believably bringing the gods and heroes of Greek mythology to life in our modern world. The varied houses, assumption of godly powers, and construct of the Agon provide a great platform on which we can see Lore, along with other central characters, evolve and grow over the course of the novel.
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