City News

Lore by Alexandra Bracken takes place in modern day New York City.  Every 7 years there is an Agon, created for the Greek gods because of a past rebellion. In the Agon the gods of the world are transported back to Earth as mortals and are hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines who all want to kill a god and gain their power and immortality.  Seven years ago, Lore’s family was slaughtered in the last Agon. She vowed never to return back to that brutal hunt and pushed down the thought of seeking revenge on the one who killed her family.  But seven years has passed again and as the Agon begins, Lore finds that she is being sought out by two people, her old time friend Castor, who she thought was dead, and Athena, an original God who is now wounded. She needs Lore’s help to fight one of the new gods trying to slaughter every god and win the Agon to wreak havoc everywhere.  Lore finds herself and her friends drawn back into this brutal game, and uncovers secrets at every turn, in order to stop destruction from happening. 

Overall, I would say that this was an okay book. One aspect I did not like was that there is a heavy information load in the beginning. There are many Gods and their abilities, bloodlines, world building and characters introduced in the beginning of the novel all at once. Because it is thrown at you right away it gets very confusing even with a provided glossary of the bloodlines and each character's powers. I found myself having to stop and think about what was happening in the book many times which made the book especially confusing for the first 150 pages. The plot and the way the game works was really hard for me and my peers to understand. I read this book with my book club and we all were struggling to grapple how everything worked in the world presented in this book. After the first 150 pages though, the book got much better and more interesting because I wasn’t as confused as to what was going on.   

However, something I did love about the book was the little flashbacks we got to experience. Sprinkled throughout the book we got a couple of chapters which were flashbacks into the character's life in the past. I loved this because it helped me to understand the characters better and where they came from. It was also a nice break from the action going on in the book. 

I did like the book in general. Lore, the main character, is very easy to root for and I loved her personality of being very feisty. I also really adored all the other characters and I thought they all really grew and progressed throughout the story very nicely. I especially enjoyed the slow burn romance, which although predictable, did add to the fun of the whole novel and the journey. This book was also really nice because it was packed with actions and adventures, and there were many twists and revelations that left my jaw hanging open and forced me to put down the book to gawk at what just happened and I loved that feeling. 

I do have to note though, that I thought the ending was a bit of a let down and could have been more thorough and in depth. But other than that, I thought this was a really nice book and would recommend it to anyone who loves Greek mythology and is looking for an adventure to read. 

Checkout Lore from the Newport Beach Public Library.