Goddess Interrupted (Goddess Test #2)

Cover Factor: Pretty sweet
Rating: PG-13 for closed-door sex and some violence
Coffee Beans: 1.5 (And only that high because I liked the cover)
Favorite line: Ha! None
Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for this honest review.

Publisher’s Summary:
Kate Winters has won immortality. But if she wants a life with Henry in the Underworld, she'll have to fight for it.
Becoming immortal wasn't supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of the Underworld, she's as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he's becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate's coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans.
As the other gods prepare for a war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld, Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to her future.
Henry's first wife, Persephone.

My Review:
“Oh, Kate!” Get over yourself, please.
I’m sorry to anyone who liked this book, but this review is going to be somewhat harsh, so, if you don’t want to be a witness to my forthcoming opinion, my feelings won’t be hurt if you mosey along.
I’ll wait.
…
Okay. Where do I begin?
Is it the fact that Kate is the WEAKEST female character I’ve seen in a YA book (yeah, I’ve seen plenty, but she’s near the top)? Is it the fact that….omg….I can’t even finish that sentence, there are just so many options to choose from.
Here’s my summary:
• A heavy-handed “theme” of, “It’s not your fault she got in trouble; she made her own decisions and these are the consequences” and while that is a positive theme, saying it (exactly like that, btw) five different times in the book makes me feel like you think I sit in the corner with a dunce hat on my head.
• Kate asking EVERYONE “Does he love me? I don’t think he loves me. I mean, he loves me, doesn’t he?” every two seconds is soooo tiresome! If your that insecure in your relationship, THEN MAYBE IT’S NOT THE RIGHT ONE FOR YOU. Let’s not even address the fact that this is her husband from the first book in the series (I think it’s called The Goddess Test?). Her insecurities voices every. Single. Moment was such a distraction from the plot. Which was trying to prevent Chronus from escaping his prison in Hades and Calliope
• Kate’s relationship with her “husband”. Talk about codependent in the worst way possible. Constantly think about what she did to make him mad, what she could do to make him like her more, pay attention to her, and whatever else she needed to feel validated. (Ugh!!)
• Oh wait, and then there’s the insecurities/jealousy regarding her husband’s ex-wife, Persephone, and the fact that Henry cheats on Kate with Persephone while they’re married. I guess I can see here why Kate would question if Henry really did love her. I mean, he normally treats her like she’s some obscure painting on the wall, but this really says, “Eh, I don’t really care.”
I like stories about Greek mythology and I kind of like Carter’s spin on it (although, I didn’t get all of it in Book 2, since most of it was set in Book 1 and I am now refusing to read it). So I guess it would be a “positive” that this book was loosely based on that. Kind of.
Anyway. That’s all I’m going to say. I know this is A LOT shorter of a review than I normally post, but anything else I would have to say would just be beating a dead horse, and I love horses. Dead or alive. So I refuse that.
Usual disclaimer: pick it up and read it for yourself. You may feel differently than I do. But I doubt it.
I really, really doubt it.

Originally posted at http://shelversanon.blogspot.com

I had such hopes for this book. I've already reviewed the first book in the series, The Goddess Test, and at the end of my review, I listed a few things that I hoped to see in the sequel, mainly growth from Kate and Henry.

I mean, after all, Titans! Titans are cool. The explanation given by Carter is a bit confusing, but I didn't care. The king's name is Cronos, so he has to be pretty awesome.

And he was awesome. Cronos was the coolest part of the entire book, amazing for his scarcity. He's locked deep in the heart of the Underworld but is able (through the help of a betrayer) to reach out via mysterious fog that can cause harm even to the gods and goddesses - Kate and Henry included. He's like the shark in Jaws, more terrifying because of the brief glimpses we're allowed.

~~~
"Cronos is still behind the gate," said Irene, "While he's awake, he can reach the corners of the Underworld most of us don't even know exist. Which is why the others kept him asleep all this time. But what you saw earlier was only a very small part of him, and if he were to fully escape, the damage would be catastrophic."

All of the blood drained from my face. "That-- that was only a piece?"

"Like a pinkie," said Dylan, wiggling his finger for emphasis.
~~~

Goosebumps, people. Life and death struggles, I love them!

What I didn't love so much? Oh, pretty much everything else, which saddens me greatly. I heard great things about this book. I fully expect other people to continue raving about this book. I wouldn't mind if they wandered on here and tried to convince me how wrong I am. But I just flat-out did not like this book.

More specifically, I wanted to push Kate under a bus. Repeatedly.

She was soooo needy. I understand feeling unsure of one's self, of feeling subpar, of feeling unwanted and second-best. I do. I also expected Kate to have all these feelings with Persephone's arrival so strongly emphasized in the summary on the back cover. Such emotions can be fun if done correctly, if balanced with other positive qualities and if we as readers are allowed to let those feelings simmer as we tend to other things.

Kate would not let them simmer. She whined and complained and sulked and cursed and moped and screwed things up royally. She was The Thing That Never Shut Up. Carter tried to give Kate balance by letting her be the one to lead the charge to defeat Cronos, to be the one to convince Persephone to help, etc. It just didn't work. Kate would have a moment of bravery and then collapse into a sniveling heap over Henry.

Oh, and Henry. That... that man. Uncommunicative is one thing, but freaking mimes can communicate better than that man. Grow a set and either hold her close or cut her loose, man!

I understand that the point was to build tension so that any possible resolution would bring relief. Cognitively, I get that. But about halfway through (if that), I was so done. The relationship was so incredibly dysfunctional beyond any bounds of normal. No one stepped in to smack Henry upside the head; instead, they all made excuses ("Aw, he's new at this." "He's just not good at expressing his feelings."). Kate was made to carry the burden. The initiative ALWAYS fell with her to a point that she came across as manipulative and Carter felt like she was purposely causing unrealistic misunderstandings to stretch the tension too thin.

I'm sure many readers will disagree with my assessment. Many already have in their own reviews. all I know is that I finished the book feeling disgruntled and disgusted. Nevertheless, I will probably read the inevitable sequel just to see what happens.

Points Added For: Cronos - he's the bomb; an interesting perspective on the Underworld and Hell.

Points Subtracted For: Kate's Bella-like ineptitude; a severe lack of communication; unrealistic and unbelievable tension; unpleasant relational dysfunction.

Good For Fans Of: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, all other books mentioned in my previous review (so says Amazon).

Notes For Parents: Language, adultery, sex (tasteful fade-to-black), extremely poor relationship models.

Let me just get this out before I say anything else: this series is addicting.

Now, having said that, I think Goddess Interrupted, or rather just this whole series is the type of books that people are either going to love or hate. If you’re really in to pick it apart, you can. You’ll find that it’s a really, really loose and watered-down version of mythology, and that a lot of scenes basically contradict the basics and the core of the Hades and Persephone myth.

But if you’ve enjoyed The Goddess Test, Goddess Interrupted will not disappoint. It picks up right after The Goddess Test ends, and follows Kate’s experiences becoming an Immortal, and deals with the problems that Calliope cause as a result of Hades and Kate in the first book. It’s definitely action-packed, and there are new things, new twists, new surprises thrown at you chapter by chapter.

Goddess Interrupted is addicting in the sense that there’s never a dull moment. Like I said, it’s very action-packed. Things keep happening. A problem will be resolved, and a new one will appear. Carter throws curve-ball after curve-ball at you, and the ending will leave you breathless. The way she does this – the long string of problems and semi-solutions – makes you really curious to know what happens next, and after finishing, you’ll want to know what happens in the next book; you’ll want to keep reading.

But like I said, you’re either going to hate it or love it. Or maybe you’ll be a little of both, like me.

One of the things I hated (yes, hated) in Goddess Interrupted was the slut shaming. I mean, okay, I get that Ava’s Aphrodite and Aphrodite’s the goddess of love. But does that automatically make it okay to label her as a slut?

And Persephone. Persephone had to marry Henry. Then Henry fell in love with her and, unfortunately, she didn’t feel the same for him. So she left him for Adonis. First, I just wanted to point out that – this happened in The Goddess Test – isn’t this kind of like what happened with Kate, Henry, and James? James liked Kate, but Kate didn’t feel the same for him so she rejected him for Henry.

So, apparently, it’s perfectly fine to leave one guy for another if you don’t love them, as long as you’re the main character. In that case, it’s perfectly fine. After all, you can’t control who you fall in love with. But it isn’t okay to leave one guy for another if you don’t love them, especially when it’s the main character’s future husband that you left. Because you’re supposed to not hurt him/fall in love with him/leave you/whatever Kate wants Persephone to do (I honestly don’t know), because then you’re thought of as a slut, a target, and a threat.

Uh… okay?

Kate automatically sees Persephone as a threat. Of course, she doesn’t seem to realize that Persephone’s the one that wanted to leave Henry, and that she’s perfectly happy where she is doing what she does and spending endless days with Adonis. And I just don’t get why Carter had to go throw in all this extra drama that really just wasn’t necessary in Goddess Interrupted. Not every single second book in a YA paranormal romance series needs some girl vs. girl drama over a boy. Focus on the mythology, and the whole brewing war against the Titans and I’ll be a happy reader.

Then there’s Henry. Clearly, I’m the minority when I say this, but to me Henry’s a bastard. A cold-hearted, confused, and a miserable bastard. He still has feelings for Persephone. And Kate. Both. M’kay. I get it. But then he has to go make Kate feel so hopeful – as if he doesn’t have any feelings for Persephone anymore. That whole touching scene towards the end was something that should’ve been done at the beginning. The very, very beginning, in which it was clear to anyone that Kate was feeling hurt.

I’m not saying that it’s entirely Henry’s fault and that Kate’s not acting way too co-dependent and whiny for her own good, but when she was looking for reassurance, he should’ve gave her some reassurance that his feelings were still there instead of running away and wallowing in his own self-pity. Because that made it seem like he was pushing her away – as if he didn’t care for her at all. Then he continues pushing her away, then pulling her back to his side only to push her away again.

And Kate lets him.

WHY? Kate is a co-dependent, clingy, and whiny goody-two-shoes. Henry’s a cold-hearted, miserable bastard. Their whole relationship has ‘doomed’ stamped all over it in large, bright red letters.

But despite all my raging and ranting, I did enjoy Goddess Interrupted. It’s fast paced, and there’s never a dull moment. I’ll admit, the wannabe cliffhanger ending was a total letdown for me, as I was expecting something a bit… more. I was expecting it to end in a bit more of a bang, and not the whimper it actually ended with. But it was okay. The action scenes were my favorite, and much better than the little-to-no action from The Goddess Test. We got to see a bit more of the other gods, though there’s much less of James and much more of Kate’s mom. There’s also some more of Pogo, too (he’ll always be my favorite character); curve-balls; semi-answers.

I’m more on the rant and rage side, but the bottom line is, some people are going to rant and rage at Kate and Henry. Others aren’t going to notice, and are going to love Goddess Interrupted. It all depends on the reader.

First of all, I should let you all know that I skipped The Goddess Hunt, one of those short stories that has proliferated since the advent of e-readers. From reading reviews on other blogs (like this one), I gather that it's from Henry's perspective, which would be cool, since he definitely lacked evident personality a bit in the first book, although I did enjoy The Goddess Test. However, $1.29 seems a bit steep for a story that I don't need to understand the plot of the other books.

Kate continues to search for more information about Henry, now her husband and soon-to-be co-ruler. He continues to play Mr. Mysterious and to not trust her with any information about himself or the life of an immortal. Her response is to act like a child. Despite her power, she doesn't seem to be able to do anything but throw tantrums; she could make people tell her what's going on, but she simply pouts and whines, rather than putting her feet down.

Her relationship with Henry is so awkward. I mean, they didn't know each other that well, but she's convinced she loves him. This does actually make some amount of sense, both because he's handsome, powerful and mysterious, and because if she didn't choose to stay with him he would have faded, which is pretty much the god equivalent of dying. Kate, being way too nice for her own good (ex. forgives her mom for lying to her all her life, forgives Ava for lying to her and being a jerk in the human world) would never let him fade, so the best solution is to convince herself that she loves him, even though he comes with crazy baggage.

I am not a patient person. At all. And even I think that Kate is absurdly impatient. She comes back and expects Henry to be magically different in like 2 days, all the while complaining about how long she's waited for him to love her like she loves him. Slow down, girl. You barely even know him; you don't know what love is. He and his ex were together for a thousand years. Sheesh!

Worse, she may be immortal, but I think she's weaker than she was in The Goddess Test. Aside from mooning over Henry, she wants to save everyone from Cronos, but, mostly, she really doesn't accomplish anything; at best, she delayed things for a while. At worst, she does something dumb, having been told otherwise (like how people never stay in the car in crime shows) and makes the situation even more difficult.

All of that said, I did really enjoy reading Goddess Interrupted, although maybe not as much as the first book. While I did want to shake some sense into Kate, a lot of sense, the story remains interesting and the writing enjoyable. Still, I hope that in the next book, Kate actually learns how to use her powers and focuses on improving herself and less on Henry, like everyone's been telling her.

That ending, though...yikes. Definitely a surprise, but also not one of my favorite plot lines. Oh well, I'll be reading the next book, that's for sure.