The Good Counselor Chapter 5: Dong Too Bomb

pri0r:

[spoilers ahead]

Pri0r’s weekly review of @therkalexander’s previews of her latest novel, The Good Counselor.

Sorry for the late post, folks! I think it’s about time we discussed this chapter, don’t you agree?

This chapter is so good. I’m so in love with the way it’s written. I’m just going to dive in and start with the more technical stuff (this is a review after all, kids). I find the consistency in authorial voice to be extremely impressive. The tonal shift from the marital dynamic of Aidoneus and Persephone to Hera and Zeus is handled gracefully. Personally, I would find it difficult to maintain my voice if I went from the third-person perspective of Persephone to Hera, who are so different yet so alike in many ways. Easily one of the most difficult objectives in writing is finding, developing, and maintaining a consistent voice throughout your work, especially in pieces where the nature of the characters in question are varied. My kudos to the author on this.

I honestly don’t know how to feel about Hera yet. A part of me doesn’t like her, but I can’t tell if that’s entirely justified or just because modern studies of myth tend to vilify her in a few ways. I’m growing sympathetic to her, at the very least. I don’t blame her one bit for being upset about Zeus handing over the succession to Persephone and Hades. Imagine if Aidon did that to Persephone; she’d be fucking furious! She’d rain hell upon him, literally at that. Hera’s so used to Zeus’ bullshit that I find her reaction to be very calm!

I also caught an Easter egg about Hephaestus, I think! The line where Hera sees Zeus’ disgust and says that she’d only seen that face one but it affected him, I’m thinking that that might be an allusion to the time that Hera gave birth to Hephaestus and Zeus (or Hera depending on the myth) threw him off of Olympus. I was between this and the moment where Zeus found out about her treachery when she attempted the coup but I’d wager his reaction would be anger, thunderbolts and lightening and all of that fuckery. I also may be over-analyzing the text but, then again, I’m a literature major so isn’t that my job?

Hera has a lot of qualities that I enjoy. She knows herself, knows her husband, and understands that their dynamic is never going to change. She even makes a side note after having been calmed down that Zeus was too good at steadying her. If there’s anything I’m certain of, it’s that I don’t like Zeus. He does a lot of good, but even more damage. Honestly, i’m surprised that Hera even lets him near her no-no zone after he’s slept with half of the country. I know that gods don’t give and receive illnesses like humans do, but still, that’s gotta be the dirtiest dong in all of the Mediterranean. My only working theory is that his dick game is too bomb, which has to be the only reason why all of these women and goddesses still sleep with him despite his reputation and consequential wife. 

I’m so goddamn excited now that Alcmene has been mentioned. Zeus, you can shake your head at Hera all you want, but she’s got your divine bun in her oven. Heracles is going to shake up this landscape, I just know it. I don’t know (or think, based off of timelines) that we will see much of Heracles in The Good Counselor, if at all. This seems to be centered more on the lore of Orpheus and the conception of Aidon and Persephone’s firstborn. I could be wrong, though! I know just as much as the rest of you, and this is just a theory. Heracles does come around a few times, once because he wanted to borrow Hades’ dog and the other because Theseus made a really fucking stupid gamble on Pirithous. Also, we had a 70-year time jump at the beginning, which I expect doesn’t herald more time jumps for the rest of this story. Heracles will have to grow up first before he can engage in all of this, so my theory is that first we’ll see Orpheus and Euridice, then Heracles and Cerberus, then Pirithous’ attempt to “rescue” Persephone (so Heracles again to save Theseus), and then from the jump-off of Heracles to Theseus we are introduced to Helen of Sparta and thus the Trojan War. So get excited!! We have a lot to look forward to.

Now that we’ve seen more characters, who do YOU think everyone should be cast as? You should let @therkalexander and her producer @summerhelene know on Twitter! Who knows, maybe your idea will be implemented onto the black screen…

The Good Counselor is the continuation of Rachel Alexander’s Hades and Persephone series, and follows her first two publications: Receiver of Many and Destroyer of Light. You can catch weekly chapter previews up to the eighth chapter every Wednesday at midnight PST. Follow @therkalexander for more details!