Goddess Interrupted (Goddess Test, #2)

by Aimée Carter

[ladygrey]

This is the first book where I'm actually glad for the recap snippets because I didn't really remember the first one. Maybe it's because I actually needed them, but they seemed more subtle than most sequels.

I did like that it jumped right into the story and integrated the recaps organically. It moves at a brisk pace for most of the first three quarters of the book. There's a good bit of action and a lot of internal wrestling of Kate's insecurities and some decent dialog (not Henry's since his dialog is almost entirely stilted but I think it's designed to be that way as character development. Doesn't make it any easier to read, though). Dealing with a pantheon of characters [a:Aimee Carter|767317|Aimee Carter|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1290233298p2/767317.jpg] only focuses on a few which makes sense. I liked that the Olympians are essentially the good guys but she retains their taciturn nature, making them not entirely admirable while also showing their capriciousness through the lense of their exhaustively long life. It was different and insightful, but still keeping with their traditional personalities. It made the characters complicated and interesting, which I like. The only one I kind of balked at was Ares portrayed as adverse to war. But then I realized I could believe in Ares as a coward who liked to watch others battle but was adverse to his own blood being spilled.

That being said, as much as I liked the characters I didn't really like the core relationship. Kate is devoted to Henry - chose to become his wife in the first book - contends that she loves him. She says that a lot. But we never really see why. Their relationship through most of the book is very one note and it's not one that shows us why Kate loves him or draws us into their relationship at all or makes us want to root for them as fiercely as Kate does. I don't know if Carter was trading on how strong their relationship was in the first book, because I don't really remember the first book. But almost the entire first half of this one Kate spends with James and they talk and they fight and they comfort each other and they have a relationship I can see and understand as a reader. And suddenly I'm torn because I'm all for fidelity but there was more than once I half wanted her to walk away from Henry because James was much more interesting as a relationship. But what I really wanted, more than that, was for Kate to have a relationship with Henry and a conversation with him and for me as a reader to believe she actually loved him and understand why instead of her just continually insisting that she did. I wanted to be invested in their relationship enough to want them to be together.

On a completely side note - there's an interesting dynamic you could draw out in her spending most of the first half of the book with James and the second half of the book with Henry that could seem like poor development of her relationship with Henry but could also be the nature of Kate's existence as Hades wife; in his world half the year and out of it the other half. If you were looking really hard.

But because I like the characters and because they're complicated and interesting and because the whole thing moves so quickly I'll read the next one.