Aphrodite: Goddess of Love (Olympians #6)
George O’Connor
First Second
December 2013
Aphrodite. The Goddess of Love. The Goddess of….troublemaking? That’s right, Aphrodite the Goddess of Love, is a troublemaker. Because what else is love, but something to stir the pot and create jealousy and envy…and even hatred. Not just amongst the humans of the world, but of the gods as well, for all feel the power of passion and love and anger that Aphrodite brings forth. For she has always been around. Longer than the gods, she is the same age as Gaia, the earth goddess. And while Aphrodite has just taken physical form and does not know the powers she carries, Zeus foresees the troubles that will come…and must make decisions that will cause chaos within the heavens themselves, to keep the world turning another day.
This is a fantastic tale. I’ve always been fascinated by Greek and Romany mythology and I love how O’Connor puts this book together. It’s an easy read, but gives so much information to it and is so much better than the boring old books I remember reading about Greek myths. O’Connor makes the world come to life and gives personality to the gods that we meet so that we can understand why they did what they did. This is the first book though that we begin to get a hint that there’s a greater plan in place, not just in Greek mythology, but within this series itself. Towards the end of the book Zeus has a chat with Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, discusses the power that love has to create chaos, and destruction, and even war. To me this is just a great bit of information, and well written, to add to the story so that readers understand that just because this book ends, the characters and the stories continue on. And what happens here can have a wide range of influences that are yet to come.
I’ve always enjoyed George’s artwork in these books with his great use of shadows and bold colors, and even a little bit of foil, makes the characters and the story come to life. And Aphrodite is no exception. The character of Aphrodite is more than just being one of the most beautiful women alive, its also about her movements, her voice, the way that she carries herself and George is able to capture this so that we get a good sense of just who she is and the power that she holds. Even better O’Connor really highlights the gods and goddesses faces in this volume, where we can see their confusion their hurt, anger, and all of the other emotions that come about because of Aphrodite. It takes a skilled artist to be able to pull that off and O’Connor is able to capture it in the nuances of the characters expressions with a raised eyebrow and a slight tilt to the head. It really helps make the characters come to life.
One of the great features of this series, is at the end O’Connor has a section that talks about the different characters, who they are, and other details to help learn more about the Greek world. This is the perfect companion for people that have been enjoying the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan and want to know more about the Greek/Roman gods and how they work. It would be ok for elementary school age (3rd and above) but they would probably need to read it with a parent. But this would be an excellent book for a middle or high schooler (or even adult) that wants to learn more about the world of Greek mythology. I can’t wait to read the next volume. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.
ARC provided by Gina at FirstSecond
Recent Comments