Hello everyone!
I'm coming to you live from a VERY snowy country, because our Alps decided they can't keep out everything that Austria's been getting in the recent days, ergo it's a very good thing I haven't taken my winter tires off to exchange them for regular ones.
At least now I'm generally safe!
The roads aren't snowed in, but they ARE slick and freezing, which means driving is a nuisance if you have to go somewhere (like the grocery story or a pharmacy).
Thankfully, I have more than enough books to keep me occupied during this time, and if I ever ran out, I know all I have to do is turn to BookSirens and they'll have something new waiting for me, fresh and interesting.
This is what happened when I randomly stumbled over tonight's blog post topic. I hadn't been looking for the book, but I certainly wasn't going to turn it down once I saw it.
A. P. Mobley isn't an author I'm familiar with, but the topic she covered in the novella I picked up from her certainly is. Greek mythology just so happens to be my absolute favourite, after all!
So let's take a look at The Shield of Nike, shall we?
Because this is a YA series we're dipping our toes into, and also because it covers Greek mythology, I'll be linking Rick Riordan's works down below since he seems to be the definitive author on the topic if you want to start reading it, although there will be some others there, too.
That said, let's check out The Shield of Nike.
Valeria is in love with her best friend Greg, and he's been in love with her practically their whole lives, but the problem is that they'll be heading to different universities in the fall, at different ends of the country, which means why start something that might not have a long shelf life?
But just as they actually broach the topic, a freak storm descends over their city, including but not limited to earthquakes and golden arrows raining down from the sky.
Greg gets hit by said arrows, but Val gets hit by something bigger and rounder, knocking her out.
When she comes to, she realizes it was a shield which fell from the sky, and a disembodied voice of a woman tells her that she needs to harness the gifts she was given at birth if she wishes to save her friend.
Who's the woman, you ask, and what gifts?
The "woman" is Nike, goddess of speed, strength and victory, and she's Val's mother.
Oh yeah, Val was raised by a single father, by the by, as is usually the case with demigods.
The girl is actually in disbelief about all of this - even ignoring the fact she previously managed to lift and roll the car she and Greg had driven up in - but she does follow instructions and heads into town ... which is basically ruined.
Literally, it looks like the apocalypse rolled over it.
Coming to her home, Val realizes a monstrous two-headed dog ate her dad, so she taps into her speed and strength, using the shield and dagger gifted to her by Nike to eventually defeat him, then heads off across town to find Greg, who, according to her new-found mother, has been "taken".
I will find you, says Liam Neeson, voice-over, and I will kill you.
Ahem.
Not only does Val actually find Greg - held by Echidna, mother of monsters, who Zeus apparently sent onto Earth (why would he do that??) - but she finds that Hades seems to be taking a personal interest in her, and has animated the corpses of everyone who died during the storm, starting the new season of The Walking Dead and sending them all after Val.
After a lot of back and forth - and Val nearly dying from over-using her powers - she ends up rescuing Greg AND sending Mama Monster back to Tartarus, but she passes out and only wakes up after being healed by Apollo.
Apollo graciously explains that everything she's been through has been a test to see if she was worthy of coming to New Olympus and serving the gods as Zeus's enforcer, killing disobedient mortals. Greg can come along too, as a cupbearer. And oh, the storm and all the devastation? The Greek gods did that, because humans didn't worship them anymore and they decided to teach them a lesson. The remaining mortals will be gathered into cities and carefully monitored, made to return to the old ways - and old deities.
Val tells Apollo where he can stuff THAT, telling him no mortal should ever be forced to worship any deity, and Nike stands up to him to cover the kids' retreat as they speed off into the unknown.
The novella then ends with Apollo hunting with his sister Artemis before he receives a prophecy about some dark days ahead, days including war on the gods and a whole lot of bloodshed - the mortals are rising.
When the world is taken back, and monsters rule the trees, blood of a demigod will spill. Two mortals will rise, two from the Before, reborn from sacrifice. And when the sky is black and green, and the heavens cry, they will lead a war. A war on the gods.
This is a companion and sort of prequel to the War on the Gods series, which I'm now pretty excited to pick up. While Val was occasionally pretty annoying, at least in the beginning, she mellows out over the course of the novella and stands up not only for what she wants, but what she believes is right, too. The story is too short to explore more about her and about Greg, who is just there to be a supporting character and love interest, so I'm hopeful that we might see more of them in the main books.
Nike is an interesting choice for an introductory story, considering she isn't one of the Olympians and is a relatively minor deity in comparison, but that's what works for this story.
The Greek gods are described a lot more like dictators in this one so it should be interesting to read and see if all of them are like that - or if some might help the remaining humans at all.
The writing style of the story was perhaps a little rushed at several points, but given the length of the novella, that's to be expected. I did think that it would be a good idea to take a second look at some of the vocabulary used when describing Val's thoughts and words, and Nike's, because Nike sounds different through using different vocabulary (perhaps instead of maybe, that sort of thing) and when those words get repeated when Val thinks, it can be a bit confusing.
Overall, however, a fast, entertaining read, and I'm looking forward to picking up the first book in the series! Definitely recommended to any fans of Greek mythology or Percy Jackson.
Nike is an interesting choice for an introductory story, considering she isn't one of the Olympians and is a relatively minor deity in comparison, but that's what works for this story.
The Greek gods are described a lot more like dictators in this one so it should be interesting to read and see if all of them are like that - or if some might help the remaining humans at all.
The writing style of the story was perhaps a little rushed at several points, but given the length of the novella, that's to be expected. I did think that it would be a good idea to take a second look at some of the vocabulary used when describing Val's thoughts and words, and Nike's, because Nike sounds different through using different vocabulary (perhaps instead of maybe, that sort of thing) and when those words get repeated when Val thinks, it can be a bit confusing.
Overall, however, a fast, entertaining read, and I'm looking forward to picking up the first book in the series! Definitely recommended to any fans of Greek mythology or Percy Jackson.
xx
*image not mine
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