Review of The Goddess War: Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake

Review of Kendare Blake's The Goddess War: Mortal Gods

Release Date: October 14th, 2014

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

As ancient immortals are left reeling, a modern Athena and Hermes search the world for answers in Mortal Gods, the second Goddess War novel by Kendare Blake, acclaimed author of Anna Dressed in Blood.
 

Ares, god of war, is leading the other dying gods into battle. Which is just fine with Athena. She’s ready to wage a war of her own, and she’s never liked him anyway. If Athena is lucky, the winning gods will have their immortality restored. If not, at least she’ll have killed the bloody lot of them, and she and Hermes can die in peace.

Cassandra Weaver is a weapon of fate. The girl who kills gods. But all she wants is for the god she loved and lost to return to life. If she can’t have that, then the other gods will burn, starting with his murderer, Aphrodite.

The alliance between Cassandra and Athena is fragile. Cassandra suspects Athena lacks the will to truly kill her own family. And Athena fears that Cassandra's hate will get them all killed.

The war takes them across the globe, searching for lost gods, old enemies, and Achilles, the greatest warrior the world has ever seen. As the struggle escalates, Athena and Cassandra must find a way to work together. Because if they can’t, fates far worse than death await.

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It has been a year and a half since I picked up the Advance Copy of Antigoddess. A year and a half is a long time in between books. Although it is partially my fault I waited so long, seeing as how the sequel did come out in October (3 months ago)... well, and I did read the Advanced Copy of the first book. So I only had my self to blame when I had to catch up while reading to remember all the little things that happened in Book 1. Luckily, Blake has a way of writing that not only explains to you what is going on, but definitely helped to jog my memory on everything that already happened.

Book 2, Mortal Gods, in the Goddess War series, was similar and yet different to its predecessor in that it continued on introducing different Gods and what their ailments are, but it also gave us a hint at the cause of it. To explain for any of you readers who haven't picked up this series yet, each of the Greek Gods we meet is dying... slowly. They are no longer immortal and are at war to solve the reason they are dying. Each is dying in a different way. The Gods we met from Antigoddess were:

Athena (growing Owl feathers on and inside of her body, including inside of her veins, organs, mouth, skin, etc)
Hermes (losing all body fat and muscle, slowly withering away)
Poseidon (all of his body was turning into different sea life)
Aphrodite (going insane)
Demeter (her body is stretching and stretching until it covers the most of a Nevada desert)
Hera (turning into a Marble statue)
Apollo (no visible signs)

In Book 2, we meet a few more Gods:

Artemis (the animals she lives among are turning on her and she is being chased by a pack of rabid dogs)
Ares (all of his healed war wounds are breaking open and he is losing blood... lots of it)
Persephone (one side of her body is dead and the other is rotting)

Most of this book is spent as the Mortal Heroes prepare to wage war on what we the reader see as the Villains. We do get some action through the book, but most of the real drama doesn't happen until the last chapters of the book. There are some minor fight scenes between Athena & Ares, or when Ares wolves attack some of the Humans, but they are over quickly and all we are left with is the aftermath of days of healing and training.

I am a lover of all books about Greek Mythology. While I loved Antigoddess and enjoyed Mortal Gods, it left a lot to be desired. I hope the 3rd book picks up the action, because I need something to happen worth wild to feel like I've lost myself in the story.

If you enjoyed this book, pick up Aimee Carter's Goddess Test. I am going to read the final book in that series next... which is long over do.