Beasts of Olympus: Beast Keeper
by Lucy Coats, illustrated by Brett Bean
Grosset & Dunlap
January 2015
The adventure begins when Pandemonius (called Demon for short,) the ten-year-old son of Greek God Pan, is unwillingly roped into a messy job as a stableboy caring for the mythical beasts of Olympus. While the story remains mostly true to the original mythology, plenty of humor and some modern slang is inserted, for example, when the hapless hero debates how to address his father Pan, “Your Godness? Your Holiness? Your Dadness?”
Scatalogical humor abounds as Demon copes with mountains of beast poo and flatulent Cattle of the Sun. Purposeful anachronisms such as robots and a computer-like machine made by Hephaestus, god of the forge, are presented as evidence of the Greek gods omniscient powers. Hercules is the villain in this tale as Demon works on doctoring up poor animals injured during Hercules Twelve Labors. Demon's magic ability to speak with animals comes in handy as he soothes cranky animals such as a bald Nemean lion, Stymphalian birds in need of new feathers and a Cretan bull that has lost his fire. Demon's biggest challenge is curing Hera's beheaded pet Hydra who requires some of Atalanta's magic apple. Energetic cartoon illustrations enhance the fast paced excitement. The book is appended with a glossary and pronunciation guide featuring all the major players in the Greek pantheon.
I received a free copy of this book.
This review originally appeared in School Library Journal.
Goddess Interrupted
by Aimee Carter
Harlequin Teen
March 2012
First line: "Calliope trudged through the sunny field as she ignored the babble of the redhead trailing behind her."
Kate Winters' adventures as the newest member of the immortal group of Greek Gods continues in this sequel to The Goddess Test.
Things heat up pretty quickly when Cronus, the Titan father of the original six Gods of the Council has reawakened. His daughter Hera/Calliope is eager to take advantage of his ancient evil powers to finally overthrow Kate once and for all.
One thing that really satisfied me about this book was that finally, the seemingly random renamings of the Greek Gods were explained. Why on earth was Hera called Calliope? And why did Zeus choose to call himself Walter, of all things? Answers were finally forthcoming in a way that at least seemed to make some kind of sense to me.
Henry a.k.a. Hades unfortunately remains as much as a cold fish as ever! If he was passionately interested in Kate... but just too shy, or perhaps too burnt out to try to love again, that I could totally buy. But, poor Kate moons after him, and he doesn't seem to return her feelings. I just want to slap Kate and say, "Girl! Sometimes he's just not into you!"
Okay, I admit it. I'm solidly Team James. What's not to like? Charming, funny, Kate's best friend, James a.k.a. Hermes is perfect for Kate! My main disappointment with the book is that it seems to be discouraging girls to regard the loyal best friend as a romantic choice, and instead encourages girls to throw themselves at the cold, distant, emotionally unavailable, Edward Cullenesque "bad boy." Ugh.
I enjoyed this book, even though I was on the fence about whether or not to continue reading the series after reading the first book which was only ho-hum to me. I wanted to like this series, I really did. And I feel that I've been more than fair - I've really tried to give this series a shot and stuck with it through the second book. But, I don't think I can keep up with it.
Compare to:
Underworld - Meg Cabot
Starcrossed - Josephine Angelini
Fury - Elizabeth Miles
Sweet Venom - Terra Lynn Childs
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
