Have a Hot Time, Hades! (Myth-O-Mania, #1)

by Kate McMullan

Denis Zilber (Illustrator)

In this story with a modern twist, Hades tells his own version of how he became King of the Underworld and Zeus became King of the Gods.

• ISBN10: 1434221369
• ISBN13: 9781434221360
• Publish Date: 1 July 2011 (first published 1 August 2002)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 17 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Stone Arch Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 176
• Language: English

Reviews

This was a fun read. Much like Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams' Goddess Girls and Heroes in Training series, Kate McMullan takes well know Greek mythology and fractures it into tween friendly novels. This is probably for a slightly older audience than Goddess Girls or Heroes in Training though. There's a bit more violence and less focus on friendship and family.

In Have a Hot Time, Hades! we find out that Zeus has been lying about how he came to be the ruler of the Gods. It didn't happen like he said at all. But that's okay, Hades is on a mission to correct Zeus' lies. To do so, he's writing books featuring the truth of the story. Have a Hot Time, Hades! is the first novel (written with the help of ghost writers of course) but it's only one of a million myths Zeus has butchered so be prepared for a lot of reading.

There were some interesting revelations. I liked the reasoning behind the Olympic Games (the Titans and Gods played a bunch of games to determine who should be the ruler of Mount Olympus) and I enjoyed Mother Earth/Gaia or Granny as she's known to Hades telling everyone off - and Hades logic to get out of being in trouble (they're her grandkids and grannies are supposed to like their grandkids). Plus I love a good chicken joke.

“I’m Thalia!” said a third. “Muse of Comedy. Here’s a good one. Why did the chicken cross the road?” “To be sacrificed to the gods, of course,” Hera said. “Wrong!” said Thalia. “To get to the other side!” All the other Muses cracked up.

McMullan, Kate. Have a Hot Time, Hades! (Myth-O-Mania Book 1) (p. 48). Capstone Press. Kindle Edition.

Overall, fun read - 3 stars for me. 4 stars for target audience.