Lore

by Alexandra Bracken

THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLER

“Epic from start to finish.” —Marie Lu, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Warcross

“A brilliant and breathless twist on classic mythology!” —Marissa Meyer, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lunar Chronicles

Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals. They are 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, turning her back on the hunt’s promises of eternal glory after her family was murdered by a rival line. 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 her out: Castor, a childhood friend and first love Lore believed to be dead, and Athena, one of the last of the original gods, now gravely wounded.

The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and a way to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore's decision to rejoin the hunt, binding her fate to Athena's, will come at a deadly cost—and it may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.

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.

• ISBN10: 1484778200
• ISBN13: 9781484778203
• Publish Date: 5 January 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Disney Hyperion
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 480
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781484778203

Reviews

[bookstagramofmine]

"Monsters lived in the shadows. To hunt them, you couldn’t be afraid to follow. And the only way to destroy them was to have the sharper teeth and the darker heart."

 

Lore is one of those few books where you don’t see the twists coming and a plot that is genuinely different! It’s also an incredibly violent book where these families have clung to some really insane outdated traditions to maintain power. The angle with Tidebringer was really interesting, but it was also weird to see how the families treated women.

 

I did have a problem with how I wasn’t really invested in any of the characters because besides Castor and Lore you don’t really explore any of the other relationships Lore has, we’re just told that these are deep and meaningful but not shown. I did see the romance and I wish the author had done something different with that.

 

However, the authors writing sucks you in and you kinda just start reading! Yes, there are quite a few names at the start, but I don’t feel like it’s too much information. The twist that we get at the end is one that you really aren’t prepared for because all the signs that could have been pointing towards this could have been that character just being who they are (and they are a bit of an ass).

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog!


I think by now everybody here knows how much I love all things (Greek) mythology. So, obviously, I *had* to read Lore.

had heard a lot of praise about this book but other than that it was somehow related to Greek mythology (which I had garnered from the title and the cover) I knew nothing about Lore and had no clue what to expect from this story. Turns out, it’s a surprisingly fresh take on the matter and is certainly unlike anything else that I’ve read so far.

The concept is rather intriguing with old gods getting replaced by new ones but not in a way that you might think. It’s not just that they might have out of existence because people start believing in different things (which is a take I have read before), here it’s an actual fight to the death. You wanna be a god? You come from an ancient line of Greek heroes? Well then, go for it! While I consider this idea to be really captivating, I wish we would have gotten some more background information. Little bits of info and history on the week of fighting that happens in this novel are dispersed throughout but it didn’t feel like enough. In the end, this all still felt a little fuzzy to me. I get that the focus was not on the creation of this but since there is a lot of talk about the end, there should have been more substance to this newly created myth. And not just about the very origin, but a little more insight into the years between then and now would have been interesting. Yes, we get a bit of that through events closely related to Lore, but this is older than her and more things happened than what she experienced. Since this would also be somewhat integral to understanding this whole newly introduced concept, I consider it an important chunk to be missing. The thing is while reading you notice this a little bit but I was constantly thinking that more explanation would come at some later point. You can definitely follow the story without any issues, it’s not like it’s a glaring omission that ruins the book. But when I turned the last page and still didn’t have any answers to my questions I was mildly annoyed.

However, as I said, you can follow the story without deep background knowledge, so this is probably just a me problem. I always want *all* the info, but other readers might appreciate that we don’t get any lengthy backstory that you don’t necessarily need.
But I for my part would have appreciated for example more information on the heroes the families hail from. Or even more information on how the current gods are connected to ancient mythology.

The story we do get is captivating and comes with a host of twists and turns. There is for sure enough intriguing stuff going on for you to forget any little bits of criticism you might have. Lore is action-packed and fast-paced. As it takes place over the span of just a few days, a lot is happening in a very short time. The characters are interesting enough, even though there are some developments (read: the ending) that you can see coming from a mile off. For my taste, that was a little bit too cliché, but – again – I feel like many other readers wouldn’t mind this too much.

So far, this review sounds a little negative, but I didn’t mean it to. I really enjoyed this novel and never wanted to put it down. I wonder if at some point we could get an adaptation of this story. Lore would translate so well into a TV show, you could do an episode on each day that the book features and you’d get a perfect limited series. I can picture all the action sequences working out really well on screen – and of course, some of the godly powers coupled with some CGI would be amazing as well. Not every story works on screen, but I feel like Lore really has a decent shot at making a good show.

[maggiefan]

Some of it went way over my head as I'm not quite used to reading fantasy in English (even YA). Nonetheless, it was a great read. A very interesting and original story.

[bearley]

Great read that completely submerges you into the story! You feel like you’re a character on the journey with everyone in the story. Didn’t expect there to be any plot twists, let alone these great ones. Author did an excellent job at maintaining the theme without making it feel repetitive.

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Lore is a (Greek) mythology mash-up with a sort of Percy Jackson meets Hunger Games vibe, reimagined by Alexandra Bracken. Released 5th January 2021 by Disney, it's 480 pages (print edition) and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.

This is, admittedly, a very well written book. The author is adept at her craft and the world building and characterizations, the narrative arc and the dramatic tension are engagingly rendered and believable. It took quite a long time for me to read and review this book not because of any technical defect, lack of editing (superlative editing and continuity for what it's worth), but simply because this is a brutal book. I thought it would be fairly safe since it was marketed as a Disney YA selection, but *wow* it's violent. Trigger warning: there is graphic violence, torture, rape, graphic murder, etc. Every time I would pick it up, I would wind up putting it down again because I was distressed at the gore and violence.

Readers who don't mind fighting and gore with a side serving of angsty angry young heroines will find a lot to like here. Readers who are well immured to hardcore ancient Greek tragedy a la Euripides, Aeschylus, and the other boys in the band, but who are looking for modern retellings will enjoy this one.

Three and a half stars for me, likely four+ for readers who don't mind violence. (It's not egregious, it is integral to the story).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[reshydari]

3.95(?) stars. There were a few things that did bother me in this book. Way more than what I’m mentioning here (won’t spoil). The story seemed to fall apart once the *big revelation* happened. Idk I think I would’ve been fine without an element of shock? This would’ve been far better as NA/Adult. Far. Better. It’s just crazy to believe these kids had skills like that at the age of 10. Otherwise, this was a very unique story with a WHOLE LOT OF ACTION (was never bored); and Lore, Athena, and Iro were just the best.

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: —> 4-4.5 Stars

SO MANY THINGS RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD RN !

I definitely need time to digest this one; i'm needing some time to wrap my head around all of this... all of the complexities & the story as a whole, the pieces that made up the whole, as well as the parts that made up the pieces and so on...

There's an endless amount of things I could say here...

But for now, this is all my brain is willing to spare! Enjoy my immediate thoughts

[Leigha]

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Lore Perseous attempts to flee her past only for it to come full circle in this sorta young adult romance.

Lore was rage personified. While she had moments of clarity and insight, the majority of the novel focuses on her inability to look beyond her own volatile emotions and her misguided impulsive actions. She goes down a rabbit hole of her own making, but eventually pulls herself out of her own self-destructive cycle. I didn’t particularly like her most of the time, but I did respect Lore’s journey into the darkest part of herself and eventual redemption.

The world-building was utterly confusing. Someone with a knowledge of Greek mythology will probably not be nearly as confused by all of the houses, gods, and mythos packed into it. Violence, gore, and sexual assault all make an appearance – I’m amazed this is not being marketed as New Adult rather than Young Adult. While several romances develop over the course of the novel, the true romance is the setting. New York is written about in loving detail, whether it be the trash on the street or the indomitable spirit of the people.

It does have two positives – it’s a standalone and that book cover is on point!

tl;dr While I may not have loved the story, I did respect Lore’s journey into the darkest part of herself and eventual redemption.