Hello everyone!
Time for another book blog post, and I was so thrilled when I got the email from Lizzy Ford's camp with the attached ARC of the novellete I'll be talking about tonight. I've been waiting for that for what felt like ages, even though in realizy I know it wasn't haha!
I'm just super excited to learn more about these awesome characters.
Not to mention, it's all about being Greek, even when these particular Greeks are in our modern world right now, their gods are still around, and the whole world has basically gone to Hell in a handbasket since the last time we checked - and no, I don't think Hades would actually be happy about that. He always complains about too much traffic in the Underworld!
I will admit, I got that last line from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books, because let's be honest and say that they are one of the main reasons why Greek Mythology is as interesting as it is right now.
Back to the topic at hand, however, I'll stop babbling and actually start this review of Mercenary which, if you haven't figured it out yet, is about Niko.
Looking back on blogs I've already done about this topic, I should probably start linking them at the bottom of these reviews as we go along, because it's going to be a whole lot easier in the long run, so if you want to see what's already been said, just scroll down and check!
In the meantime, let's get to it.
In Niko's first background story in the Omega Beginnings, we learn about the young man who was raised by an abusive father and an alcoholic mother who didn't care about their son, and by the time he grew up he definitely knew how to survive on his own. Managing to join the coveted Gladiators Guild, he was recruited by politician Cleon to ... do his dirty work, so to speak. In the meantime, his girlfriend, Theodocia, was offered the job of High Priestess and guardian of the Queen of Greece, and was pregnant with his child which she did not want to abort, so the two parted ways.
So that's what happens BEFORE the story even begins, but in Theta Beginnings, the novelletes tell what happened at the point in time when the gods decided the world needed redecorating and unleashed holy war upon its denizens. In 'Silent Queen', last we saw of Theodocia, her son Tommy and the queen, Phoibe, they were in a helicopter going for the Queen's compound in DC.
At that same moment in time, Niko returns from overseas to the rather catastrophic situation in the US, and is immediately contacted by Cleon to come get him out of a sticky situation. Niko does exactly that, until his phone rings.
His son Tommy is on the other end of the line.
By this point, Niko had never met or seen the boy before, but immediately as they converse and Tommy explains his mother told him to call this number if anything happened to her, we see a paternal instinct spring to life in the man who otherwise declares himself not paternal at all, and he changes plans to go fetch his kid, leaving his boss to fend for himself.
***
Spoilers ahead: He does so in an admirable fashion - and with the scenes I absolutely love, meaning nice, action packed sequences which explain how badass he is as a fighter - and reaches the crashed helicopter from the first short story.
Joined soon after by Cleon and what's left of his men, the group must now hustle to the surface and find some way to the compound which won't result in any more deaths, only they're kind of hampered because someone's following Cleon and Niko has to fix this mess as well. He means to take Tommy and disappear afterwards, but is shocked to come back and find Theodocia has basically kicked the butts of everyone else there she seemed to think was a threat.
Niko manages to subdue her (as readers, we know this is probably the gift Thanatos gave her back in the first short story), and she seems shaken, while Tommy is quite content on calling him Daddy, no problem.
They head to the compound in the stolen vans after Niko makes the conscious decision to stay with Cleon to better keep Tommy safe, and they deliver the Queen to her guards safely. On the other hand, Theodocia goes off on some errand of her own, leaving Tommy with Niko, and so the story ends.
I think this might have been my favourite so far.
It has a lot to do with the fact that Niko is finally portrayed as a fighter and not just some hapless bodyguard/assassin who only does what he's asked to do. Much more tempered than in the first novella, it's so fun to watch him practically tearing through DC to get to his son. For a man who professes he really doesn't want anything to do with his kid, he sure knows how to confuse us haha!
And I just loved how badass he is. I have a soft spot for characters like that because more often than not, nowadays, they seem to be tempered down or censored so they don't affect the audience too much, but I've always held to the belief that there has to be someone in the motley crew who knows how to throw down when needed, and Niko is the man for that in this one.
It's a little confusing that Theodocia would suddenly decide to leave Tommy with Niko at the end of the novella despite previously vehemently trying to do the exact opposite, but I suppose it has to do with that curse she's now carrying. That's the only explanation I can think of.
Aside from that, though, I loved iko and Tommy's interactions, and I cannot WAIT to read more about them!
Third novella, here we come!
xx
*image not mine
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