Review - The Goddess Legacy (Goddess Test #2.5) by Aimee Carter

Title: The Goddess Legacy

Author: Aimee Carter

Series: 2.5 (The Goddess Test, Goddess Interrupted)

Pages: 395

Published: July 31st 2012 by Harlequin Teen 

ISBN:  9780373210756

Source: Publisher via Netgalley

Description: For millennia we've caught only glimpses of the lives and loves of the gods and goddesses on Olympus. Now Aimée Carter pulls back the curtain on how they became the powerful, petty, loving and dangerous immortals that Kate Winters knows.  Calliope/Hera represented constancy and yet had a husband who never matched her faithfulness…. Ava/Aphrodite was the goddess of love and yet commitment was a totally different deal…. Persephone was urged to marry one man, yet longed for another….  James/Hermes loved to make trouble for others#151;but never knew true loss before….  Henry/Hades's solitary existence had grown too wearisome to continue. But meeting Kate Winters gave him a new hope…. 

I Give This ...

I really wavered back and forth on if I really wanted to read this.  I finally decided that the back story on all these characters might make the story make more sense overall.  

I think I was most impressed with how Carter managed to integrate the original myths and legends into the story.  We get a feel for it in the first two book, but it's really apparent here.  I've always had a soft spot for Greek mythology, and I wonder how much today's teen know about it.  If they haven't been exposed to it before, some of the interactions may come as quite a shock.  Carter does not change around the details about who has been with who.  I liked that.   

I also enjoyed how each story made me feel about certain characters.  I don't think I could have loved Henry anymore by the end of this book.  It's so odd to see Hades painted in this manor.  But, he's been the outcast his entire existence.  I didn't think much of  Hera/Calliope before this book.  But, I could really see how she came to view the world after all she has been through.  I truly despised Persephone by the end.  I know here is were the story defers a little from legend, but Persephone is portrayed as completely selfish.  She cares not one little bit about others, but only focused on her own happiness or misery.  I kept hoping that some part of her character might redeem herself at least a little.  It never happened.  

In the end, I'm extremely glad I read this.  The major gods and their actions made some more sense after this.  And, it makes me super excited for the final book in the series.