Lore is an inventive and thrilling modernization of Greek mythos that overall left me satisfied with its conclusions. Following the titular character, Lore, as she lives her life in New York City, debating her next move as time moves her closer and closer to the next Agon. An ancient and cruel punishment designed by Zeus for nine gods that betrayed him long ago, and an opportunity for the hero bloodlines, people like Lore, if they survived long enough to seize the opportunity that is. This is an aspect of the novel that really shines throughout, the Greek mythos is complex, but not expected or implied, and the information is revealed in a way that it carefully balances those reader expectations and subverts them without becoming too convoluted or suspending willing disbelief. 

As much as the Agon is driving the events of this novel, Lore does not remain stagnant. Her emotions and the rawness of her feelings are ripe on the page, which is another strength Bracken displays throughout. Despite the briefness of certain moments (I do prefer a bit more romance personally), throughout the novel Bracken shows her mastery of character emotion as she played with my heartstrings. Lore's history and her family background, as well as the connection between her "past" and her "present" creates really intense emotions for her as she must finally face emotions she has not dealt with for the past seven years, Bracken not only handles those emotions but does a great job at putting Lore into the right mindset for where she might have been at the time of the events occurring. 

My biggest problem with this novel was the age of the characters. From the very beginning of the book it was implied that Lore was maybe young adult, early twenties at youngest, mid-twenties at most. I'm not marking this as a spoiler because it's in the first chapter but the first chapter establishes Lore in an underground fighting ring, she then eventually goes back to her brownstone that she has inherited with no questions asked. I mention this because later in the novel there is a flashback seven years that establishes Lore to be ten years old in the flashback. There is no other definitive age establishment that i could find within the text so this means that during the Agon and the events of the book, Lore and the majority of our main characters are meant to be seventeen years old. Not only do a lot of Lore's actions now feel a bit more mature than they should, but a great deal of the flashback's also feel greatly aged up as well. Perhaps this was an intentional character choice to show the effects of this type of life and the way that Lore was raised, but it pulled me out of the story on more than one occasion and ultimately brought the star rating down because of it. 

<i>Lore</i> by Alexandra Bracken uses the gods from Greek Mythology in a way I have never seen before. Every seven years the Agon happens. Nine of the Greek gods, as a punishment from Zeus, are made mortal one week every seven years. They are hunted by those who wish to take their place as a god. These mortals are descendants of Greek heroes chosen by Zeus himself.

This book started off so well! Bracken did a great job of immersing you into this world; explaining not only the past of the Agon, but also the past of the main character. Lore, short for Melora, grew up learning to fight alongside Castor Achilleos. She was trained to believe it was an honor to kill the gods and take their power. Although, that was never a possibility for Lore. First off, her family was small, compared to the many other families in the Agon; they had no one to ally with. Secondly, she's a woman and the Agon is very set in it's patriarchy. She would only be able to wound a god and allow their patriarch to take the power.

This all changes when Lore's family is murdered and she is the only one left in her bloodline. Her family was murdered in the last Agon by the new Ares (known as Wrath). Lore runs from the Agon, believing she can leave it behind. She was fairly successful, until Athena shows up at her door bloody and asking for help. Athena offers Lore something she desperately wants; something she is unable to turn down.

The friendship between the main characters was so much fun to read and it didn't feel forced. Their bond was formed so easily, learning to trust each other when it mattered most. Each character had a role to play, no one was just there to fill a void.

This story was amazing! I kept wanting to read more and more. There is suspense and new twists at every turn, but the ending felt so rushed. Bracken spent so much time building the ending up, only for it to be done in a few chapters. This was a disservice to the characters and the story. I felt myself thinking "This is it? It's over?" I am disappointed in the many questions left about the ending and why it had to happen that way.

The ending is the one reason I had to put this as 4 stars instead of 5. Up until the last 100 pages this book was perfect to me. I would have gladly read a 500+ page book if the ending would've been more fleshed out. I will definitely be reading this again, though.