Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Review: The Goddess Test

Book Details
Author: 
Aimee Carter
Genre: 
YA Fantasy
Page Count: 
297
Publishing Info:
April 19, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Why I Read It:
netgalley review copy
Grade:
C+ (enjoyable, but not great)
Cover Thoughts:
I'm not exactly sure what's going on here on the cover, or how it relates to the story exactly.  It's kind of a typical YA cover 

My Review
Kate's mother is dying, and before she dies she wants to move back to her childhood home in a small town.  Kate starts going to high school, and (as we so often see in YA) seems to catch the eye of the good-looking boy with the jealous girlfriend.  So the girlfriend plays a prank on Kate, and that's how she meets Henry, who is actually Hades, god of the underworld.  Kate doesn't believe him at first, even after he brings someone back from the dead.  But eventually she believes him, and agrees to live with him and try to pass seven tests (judged by the Olympians) where if she passes, she'll become immortal, and also his wife.

Kate is nice enough, but I got annoyed at how she took the blame for every single thing that was going on around her.  And Henry, your typical brooding, gorgeous YA boy was not very believable as Hades.  At times I think the author forgot she was supposed to be writing Greek gods and goddesses.  I wasn't really feeling the romance either, mostly because Henry was just so blah about it all.  I don't really care about the reasoning behind it; the way it was written doesn't make me root for the romance.  On the plus side, there weren't any characters I hated, and the eye-rolling was minimal.
 
The gigantic house/manor they were all living in was very nice, and although you'd think it'd get boring having the whole story pretty much set in one house, it really didn't. 

If you're a big fan of Greek mythology, you really won't see a whole lot of it in this story.  In fact, if you go into it looking for that, you're bound to be quite disappointed.  On the other hand, if you completely forget that aspect of it, and are just looking for an easy to read, enjoyable YA, you might like this one.

It only took me a couple of days to finish The Goddess Test, and it's a very quick and easy read (that also happens to be quite predictable).  I was thinking the tests she was going to have to pass would have been harder--more focused on Greek mythology maybe, and less on Christian morality (the seven deadly sins).  The story was kind of a mish-mash of different things, but really overall it was enjoyable enough and good if you're looking for something that doesn't require a lot of thought (and in fact, may require you to not think about certain things).

4 comments:

  1. You are a reading machine, girl!

    I visited the Bountiful Barnes and Noble yesterday and thought about you because I saw so many of the titles you've reviewed. It was nice to just walk on by so many which you had given a lower grade to and search out a couple I've wanted to read because of your reviews. Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ts too bad, I liked this one a lot. You are right there isn't a ton of Greek mythology in it but I was ok with that there was enough for me. Lately I have been in the mood for easy reads which is probably why I loved this one so much.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I didn't dislike it, Felicia. I thought it was entertaining, it just had a few flaws. :) Easy reads are really nice sometimes!

    ReplyDelete