The only thing I would’ve preferred is if the characters had been aged up slightly (putting the MC at 20 or 21 instead of 17). Loved it otherwise.

This is a super-fast paced book.  Maybe even a little too fast paced for my taste.  I also didn't care for the sections set in the past.  However, the characters are real and flawed.  They are honestly my favorite part of the book.  There are some crazy plot twists, and the book is never predicable.  The way the mythology influences the book is well thought out, and it makes the evens of Greek myths seem real. 

Will I read more by Alexandra Bracken?: Honestly, this was too quick for my taste, but it wasn't bad.  I won't seek her out, but I won't avoid her, either.

Who do I recommend this too?: People who like fast-paced books, lots of plot twists, violent books, urban fantasy, or fans of Greek mythology.

I really enjoyed this book. I will say the writing style was not my favorite and I would get lost in the middle of some scenes - but maybe I had been reading to fast. The twists kept coming and I didn’t see them from a mile away (and I like to think I’m pretty good at seeing plot twists in other books). Overall, the story was great and I loved seeing the depiction of the Greek gods through this book. It felt more accurate to the true myths of the gods and the story of Lore and her friends was captivating and something great to root for.

I’m a fairly slow reader, I couldn’t put this down! I read it in about 2 weeks which is extremely fast for me as I was planning a wedding and working full time. If you’re into Greek mythology and the Hunger Games trilogy I think this would be a great book for you. Though the subject matter is quite dark I don’t find it overwhelming. 

This book was an adventure! I enjoyed every second absorbing its story! I missed the Percy Jackson craze growing up and read two of the books and have found it hard to continue given its younger demographic writing style. I would say this book is definitely for those fans who grew up and want more adventure, more fighting, more gore, more realism, more magic.

Trigger warning: rape
 Lore was an interesting read to say the least booktok loves lore but it was hard for me to get invested until the last 100 or so pages the multiple twist were wonderful and it was more inclusive than other books I’ve read 

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. 

The Greek pantheon are still alive, and nine of them are being punished. Every seven years, during the Agon, the gods become mortal, and the surviving descendants of some of the most powerful Greek heroes have one week to kill them and thereby gain their power and immortality—but also their curse, their hunted existence. Only three of the original gods remain at the start of this year's Agon: Athena, Artemis, and Hermes. Lore is the last mortal descendant of the House of Perseus, but she left the hunter's life behind after her family—mother, father, and sisters—were murdered at the end of the last Agon. But when her childhood friend and training partner finds her, and Athena turns up, wounded, on her doorstep, Lore is dragged back into the world of her childhood: one of blood and violence and glory.

This felt like a slightly more adult version of Percy Jackson crossed with The Hunger Games, and while it was rather too violent for my taste, it was hard to put down. I'm a sucker for mythology (Greek and otherwise), and I really liked the little details Bracken added that were related to the myths but not essential for the main plot.

I am also a sucker for the theme of sacrifice, so I liked how that was tied in as well.

I loved a lot of the supporting characters: Miles, Van, and especially Castor.

Happy ending meter (no spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):

Happy! (kind of inexplicably so, tbh, but I'm not complaining)