Review Detail

The Lost Portal is the companion to The Last Huntress. This time, the book is told from the perspective of Hadly Caldwell, and fleshing out her family history becomes an interesting subplot of the book. The 4 huntresses are being tormented by the Greek gods, who are invading their dreams after destroying the mirror realm. They are left with little choice but to help them if they ever want restful sleep again.
With the switch in perspective from Alice to Hadley and the new realm they create, it feels like it is gearing up for more books in the series. I would guess that Olivia and Soxie will get their own fleshed-out narratives as they deal with what the gods can do now.
The main aspects of book one that I liked were the romance between Alice and Colin/David and the huntresses using their powers in the mirror realm. Those aspects are barely around for the second book. David’s character is supposed to be their guide, and there is a lot of upheaval that could have been explored and been interesting, so it left me wanting more that it just wasn’t there. At the very end, there is a potential for Hadley to like someone, but it is underutilized. I see this book as the building block for book three, and that book 3 could potentially be more complex with character development and plot as the author builds these characters with us.
Overall, the author has a creative concept and a fresh twist to the Greek gods. I hope that if there are more books that there is an emphasis on character interactions and developing authentic personalities for each of them that are explored instead of highlighting one character at a time while the other main characters are backdropped. If the book is about their powers and the mirror world, I would also like a lot more time and interaction with that concept to develop the magic system and rules for how it operates.