Title: Lore
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: Standalone
Publish Date: January 5, 2021
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Format: Print, Hardcover
Goodread Summary:
From the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Darkest Minds comes a sweepingly ambitious, high-octane tale of power, destiny, love and redemption. Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality. Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family's sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt's promises of eternal glory. For years she's pushed away any thought of revenge against the man--now a god--responsible for their deaths. Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods. The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore's decision to bind her fate to Athena's and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost--and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.
Review: Reading Lore was like coming home.
I picked Lore for four reasons. I made a promise to myself to read every Owlcrate and Barnes & Noble YA Book club selection. I also fell in love with the cover. The premise caught me when I read the summary. And finally, I’ve always had a love for the myths, and used to read them obsessively.
Lore surprised me. I went into the novel with only the summary in my mind. I didn’t immediately recognize the author (to my benefit, as I really didn’t care for The Darkest Minds series, and would have given this novel a skip just on principle).
Lore‘s pace was spot on. It moved quickly without making the reader feel as though they missed something. For only taking place over seven days (and some flashbacks), it almost felt as though weeks passed. But at the same time, I blinked and we were on the move again. The relationships built along the way also felt organic, not forced. And I’m not just talking about the budding romantic relationships, that are not the focus of this story. I also mean the friendship and commraderance, but also the antagonistic relationships as well.
All the characters felt really fleshed out, with backstories that are revealed organically, instead of just an info dump. This actually works to the story’s advantage, as so much is built into those backstories, mostly revealed in flashbacks.
There are so many twists and turns that this novel takes, some of them out of nowhere. But again, this worked for me. It’s been a while since I read a book that had a twist that I wasn’t expecting, and that I still feel like it works.
Lore is absolutely one of the best books I have read this year thus far.
Rating: 5/5
Goodreads Goal 4/52