Alexandra Bracken’s newest release, Lore, unexpectedly threw itself onto the starting spot of my TBR list, and I can’t say that I regret it. I went to every readers place of vice (the bookstore, where wallets go to cry) and stumbled upon this nice, sleek white book cover adorned with the classic image of Medusa’s head. Having finished Mistborn, I was eager to decide on my next book and figured I would choose this book that I knew literally nothing about it. Thankfully, I was pleasantly pleased with the choice I made.
Lore is a novel that takes many of the big-name figures from Greek mythology, and puts them in a place of vulnerability and the modern age. Every seven years, nine Greek gods are punished for a past rebellion, in the form of the Agon. The Agon is a week-long period where each of the surviving nine old gods are able to be killed, and many ancestral bloodlines are all seeking to murder them in order to take their power for themselves. Lore, a member of one of these hunter families, has been living her life in isolation and away from the Agon, but that all changes when familiar faces show up and she realizes this years Agon is taking place in her home: New York City.
"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 sharper teeth and a darker heart"
Now, let me point this out before I ramble too much: I am a HUGE fan of Greek mythology, and always love seeing it appear in different forms of media!. Like many, Rick Riordan’s mythology based novels played a huge part in this love, and I see many similarities between those books and Lore. After reading the book, I saw many others compare this novel as a mash-up of Greek mythology and Hunger Games. In many ways, this is an apt comparison, and once again a very praiseworthy thing to have accomplished. Lore has a lot of elements of successful novels, but mixes them in a way that is mostly unique and fresh.
Like Hunger Games in many ways, this novel has its dark moments. I normally worry about some YA novels being too light for me, but thankfully this novel did not shy away from the dark side of life, and more importantly the dark side of Greco-Roman mythology. Mythology is steeped in murder, deceit, and rape, all of which are touched upon in this book. There is one conversation in the book between the main character, Lore, and one of the Greek divine figures, where the topic of divine wraith and unjust treatment is discussed in a very interesting and entertaining way.
Another point of accuracy that Bracken achieved in this book is her depiction of the gods and goddesses. Although these figures are not too much of a presence in the overall plot, when they did have screen time, I felt like every essence of their character was justified. I’ve spent a lot of time looking briefly at these figures (thank you, handy dandy Ancient Civilization major), so it’s always nice to see how authors bring them to life in their own stories.
***Very vague spoilers in next paragraph***
There were some moments in the novel that I wished were more of a surprise, as the moments would have been more impactful. I had a strong hunch to the answer one of the novel’s first main initial mysteries in the first third of the book, and was left without the shock value when my hunch was proven right in the final 100 pages or so. Likewise, I was convinced two characters were eventually going to have a romantic moment, despite their seemingly obvious differences, and was likewise unmoved when it did happen near the end of the novel.
***Spoilers end***
I can’t explain why, but for some reason parts of the story just didn’t grasp me as much, and I found myself skimming through portions. However, whenever the story needed my attention, it did a good job at maintaining it in moments of intensity and major plot points. I think it may have been due to me not feeling a connection with some of the characters, and thus feeling less attached to specific moments. The main character was written noticeably well, and I found myself feeling for her in moments of despair as well as victory, so Bracken made sure to excel in that respect!
Overall, Lore is a fresh and interesting take on Greek mythology, and has moments/concepts very reminiscent of other successful novels. It brought the Greek divine figures to life and humanized them in many ways in order to make them more approachable to readers. Thankfully, Bracken also makes sure a prior knowledge of Greek mythology is not essential to enjoy the novel, but those who do have familiarity will find themselves smiling at the numerous nods and references. Some characters felt underdeveloped, and some reveals felt too easily guessed, but overall these are nothing crippling for the story.