Solstice (Dying Earth, #1)

by P. J. Hoover

[ladygrey]

Most of this book was good. The writing didn't bother me and the world Hoover created was unique and fairly well drawn.

But something about the whole thing felt flat. I think that's because Piper was a kind of bland heroine. I mean, it was annoying when she was naive but there was a good plot reason for that naïveté. And she got angry and was irrational but she never really felt like a solidly developed character. It could have just been me, though. I was really tired when I read this.

Shayne, though, I thought was better developed. I still would have liked to have seen more distinction in his personas and the power with Hades. But mostly he was a good guy. I liked the way he balanced being seductive and a gentleman and quiet and comforting.

Now that I think about it, I think it felt flat to me because it was more of an analytic book than an emotional one. And we all know I like emotion in my stories.

Piper's mother was completely psychotic, but she was supposed to be. And Reese was erratic, veering between charming and the worst kind of domineering. But in both those characters I liked the way Hoover maintained some of the madness and unseemliness of Greek myths. I thought all the mythology was handled well, and I totally didn't expect it to be a mythological based story because apparently I forgot the synopsis by the time I got around to reading it.

I think people like to re-tell the Persephone myth because its one of the few that seems like it might actually be romantic. But I'd like to see some variety in our myth re-tellings. Which has nothing to do with Solstice, I was just thinking it.