Review Detail

Review in 7 words: This book was confusing and a disappointment. I had quite big expectations for this book, but they weren't met.

The characters are disappointing and poorly developed, though readable, I guess. The writing style is not exciting and not really grabbing. Though the plot looked pretty good on the blurb, the romance was not exciting, and Kate didn't really take any real tests that I was looking forward to.

Kate is frustrating and poorly written. She has a self-centered personality, which makes no sense given that she passed the tests. I mean, she gets the deal of a lifetime handed to her, and she's all "no! I don't like dresses!" (SPOILER ALERT) and how is her mother a goddess but she's not? And who is the father, anyway? (END SPOILER)

Okay, so, subject change for a minute. Everyone knows that the concept of vampires has been: killed, butchered, examined, and sown back together in a kind of Frankestein shape (meaning that it is nothing like the original.) I have accepted that. I just never realised that someone would do that to Greek Mythology. I can forgive the few mythical errors in, say, Percy Jackson. As long as there aren't too many flaws, and the material is good. But Aimee Carter has completely killed the original awesome Greek mythology we all know and love (well, I do, at least).

Now, let us compare the original Greek mythology with the Goddess Test. I'll only do one example, but rest assured I could go on forever.

ORIGINAL: Hades was as active as the other gods, in that he was pursuing nymphs left, right and centre, which means he is NOT a virgin. He is the Guardian to the Underworld which is apparently a miserable place. He has an awesome helm of invisibility and a three-headed dog called Cerberus and Hades only follows his own rules. Demeter hates him for kidnapping her daughter Persephone, who also happens to be Hades' niece.
TGT: Hades is a love-sick, twenty-two year old-looking, virgin immortal, called Henry, with a ONE headed dog named Cerberus. His only powers seem to be teleporting, and he has all the romantic tact of a goldfish. The Underworld is a happy place where you can do whatever you want. He does what the council says is right. He's a virgin. Nothing wrong with being a virgin, but you're immortal, lived for thousands and thousands of years, and NOW is the time? Seriously? Demeter also wants to help him in any way she can.

The gods even take new names. Now I don't even know who is who! Demeter is now Diana, Hades is now Henry, then something something something something.

Is anyone noticing anything here? No? Okay, I'll tell you. Aimee has completely and utterly destroyed one of the oldest belief systems in the world.

Let me tell you for a fact Aimee, that there really WERE 12 gods, not 14. And they definitely WERE blood relatives. And you know what they definitely did NOT care about? Anger, envy, greed, pride, sloth, gluttony and lust. They were GODS. They didn't have to conform to some human notion of morality and sin. They didn't have to "test" humans to give them immortality. They didn't have to pass their decision through a "council", because they're GODS. And they can do whatever they want.

Anger: Ummm... but aren't there countless examples of Zeus or someone getting angry all the time?
Envy: What about when Hera was jealous of all the babies Zeus had with other lady friends
Greed: How about the time when Poseidon and Athena battled over Athens because they didn't want to share?
Pride: Has Aimee even GONE to Greece? The Parthenon, all those humongous statues?
Sloth & Gluttony: The gods just loved their feasts and could sit around for days.
Lust: Need I even explain? Pretty much all the gods did was run around having babies. And then there's also Aphrodite, who just happens to be the GODDESS OF LUST.

Onto the "tests". How do these Greek gods even care about the Catholic seven deadly sins? And for Zeus to say that "we don't accept lust" is totally not right. The first thing you know about Zeus is that he has NO RIGHT to say that. And don't you think when you are reading a book about being tested to be a god or goddess, you're kind of expecting something like; get the apple that is floating midair 100 metres up, or, steal an apple from the immortality tree, or, kill a hydra or SOMETHING.

I would like to ask why a man (i.e. Hercules) gets 12 tests that test his strength, cunning, killing power, speed and so on, while a lady (i.e. Kate) gets 7 tests that test her humility and morality. Is Aimee trying to send a message here?

Being coerced into a deal to save your mother should involve a few more hardships than wearing pretty dresses and living in a mansion. And I think immortality is worth a little more than not eating for, like, a day an giving away clothes that you didn't want anyway.

And even the way they were presented was terrible. Greed is measured in wanting pretty dresses that were FREE! And humility is measured in saying that the council is right when the alternative is to have your memory removed (that's another thing. The original Greek gods wouldn't have removed her memory. If she said they were wrong, they would have blasted her into oblivion.)

The ONE redeeming factor in this whole book (Kate's relationship with her mother and suffering at her having cancer) was also destroyed. I won't spoil anything, but if you have read the book, you know what I mean.

The ending was horrible. What a huge cop-out. Just... no other way to say it.

This book is written poorly, the tests are a huge disappointment, and Ms Carter seems either unwilling or unable to even Google these Greek myths and gods. If NONE of this bothers you, by all means, go and read this.