Ratings81
Average rating3.5
The premise of this book sounds very intriguing and compelling. However, the execution of this book could have been better. The world is rich and complex, but most of it is left unshown, it needed more exposition. The information comes in clumps here and there, making it feel like the reader is continually behind on everything, and that would be fine, if the reader learnt that information with the characters, however, that is not the case. Moreover, there are some plot-holes that really do not make any sense, for example, gods are supposed to regain their powers after Agon, yet, they use them all the time DURING the Agon. And then these all-powerful gods are supposedly to so easily be killed by humans. Additionally, if the gods themselves hate each other so much and it is established that being killed by other god is permanent, why even involve humans? Gods could just kill each other and be done with all this, without having to do Agon for thousands of years. Why it takes them until now to understand that they can kill each other? It just makes no sense.
The characters are entirely unmemorable and the romance(s) are boring and mostly told rather than shown. Only one or two characters have very little growth and the rest, unfortunately, has none. The relationship between Lore and Castor is based almost entirely on their prior friendship as children, and so even though some of that friendship is shown, there's almost no connection to their adult interactions now so it reads like instant love coming out of nowhere. It is very hard to be invested in or really care about because there is no development in real time. A friendship with Iro is intriguing and could have had a lot of potential, but is barely covered.
For the whole book there is a mystery surrounding how Castor got his powers. It is revealed only at the very end, when it does not even matter anymore. Additionally, it is revealed in possibly the worst way – a dream.
Aside from two of the gods are also underused, others are mostly left in the background and hardly play any significant role, if any at all. The “villains / bad guys” are all one-dimensioned, being evil for evil's sake, no motivation, nothing. The “last villain” has been redeemed with no explanation, even if it is the whole reason Lore returned to Agon again.
No plot. No discernible story-line. No idea what the end-game was. No big surprises. No huge plot-twists that the reader could not see coming.