Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1) in Cannonball Readers

Feb 25, 2021 Emmalita rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley, 2021-favorite, advanced-reader-copy, cbr13, romance, series

Katee Robert writes absolutely delightful candy. Her books are scorching hot and her sexual politics are good. She respectfully writes messy, complicated characters with scars (emotional and physical), but keeps it light enough not to be retraumatizing. I don’t become immersed in her worlds, but I do go back to them for escape and comfort.

I was introduced to her Wicked Villains stories, which recasts the villains of Disney movies as the actual good guys. They live in a divided city with Hades se Katee Robert writes absolutely delightful candy. Her books are scorching hot and her sexual politics are good. She respectfully writes messy, complicated characters with scars (emotional and physical), but keeps it light enough not to be retraumatizing. I don’t become immersed in her worlds, but I do go back to them for escape and comfort.

I was introduced to her Wicked Villains stories, which recasts the villains of Disney movies as the actual good guys. They live in a divided city with Hades sex club as their neutral territory. Neon Gods is in the same world, but a different city – Olympus. This is a retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth, but with a lot more sex and and Persephone has agency. You don’t have to know the myth to appreciate the story, but Robert works in a lot of elements that lovers of the mythology will appreciate.

If Olympus is ruled by the Thirteen, the Thirteen are ruled by Zeus. It’s a legacy role, one passed from parent to child, the bloodline stretching back to the first founding of the city. Our current Zeus has held his position for decades, ever since he took over at thirty. He’s somewhere north of sixty now. I suppose he’s attractive enough if one likes big barrel-chested white men with great boisterous laughs and beards gone winter-gray. He makes my skin crawl.

Persephone’s mother has arranged her marriage to Zeus, which would make her the next Hera. Zeus has had previous wives and there are whispers that their deaths were intentional. Persephone flees and is rescued by Hades. when she crosses the River Styx. She makes a deal that she hopes will keep her safe from Zeus and allow Hades to get revenge. The deal keeps them in proximity to each other and of course they catch feelings.

Neon Gods would be a great entry point for a new Katee Robert reader. It may share a universe with her Wicked Villains and Sabine Valley (a retelling of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with a lot less singing and dancing) series, but it is not dependent on them. It might be my favorite of Robert’s books. She balances the world building, relationships, and sexy times really well. Hades and Persephone are a nuanced grumpy/sunshine paring. They each understand the power of image and see the person beneath the mask. The ways they choose to be vulnerable gets pretty swoony.

I suspect this is going to be another addictive series from Robert. I’m already looking forward to how she’s going to retell Orpheus and Eurydice. Neon Gods is available June 1.

I received this as an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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May 30, 2021 Malin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-and-arcs, cbr13, all-my-books-2021, diverse-reads-2021, colour-coded-2021, 52-books-in-52-weeks-2021, new-releases-2021, cbr13-bingo

CBR13 Bingo: Mythic

This book was granted to me as an ARC through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Persephone Dimitriou is a society darling, living in the lap of luxury in a stylish highrise in the city of Olympus. Her mother is Demeter, head of one of the thirteen ruling houses and while she seems to care for her four daughters, she clearly cares for ambition and power all the more. Persephone puts on a sunny and glamorous front and counts the days until she turns twenty-five, when sh ...more

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Jun 07, 2021 Mythili rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Thanks to Emmalita for the rec (https://cannonballread.com/2021/03/ne...)

What was I saying about not reading Greek myth retellings? Clearly I just need to make sure that I'm reading the right ones.

This one is a right one.

This one is...HOT.

Look, I like read a lot of smutty smut smut PWP and now, purged of some of my inner judgement around what "counts" and "doesn't count" as "reading," I'm pretty happy to talk about it. And let me tell you, this is a seriously sexy book that doesn't pull a singl ...more

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Jul 31, 2021 Teresa rated it liked it

In this sexy version of the Greek myth, Olympus is a modern city. The gods live in high-rise towers while the poor live closer to the ground. Zeus still rules but is more of a ruthless CEO with gangster tendencies. There are thirteen rich houses scheming for power. Most of them bend to Zeus' will. The world thinks Hades is dead, killed by Zeus. In reality, Hades n rules over the city across the bridge. When Persephone's mother promises her hand in marriage to Zeus, she runs into the night. As Ze ...more

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Jan 16, 2024 Kira rated it liked it

This spicy retelling of Hades and Persephone sounded promising, but was a hard meh for me. There’s no real tension or buildup here — Hades and Persephone are about each other from the moment they meet — and the world-building veers from nonexistent to downright strange. (Are the gods… gods? Politicians? Neither? Both? Why does Olympus have Star Wars references?)

I’m giving it three stars because it’s a breezy read and Persephone wasn’t overly annoying, which is not nothing for this particular ge ...more

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Oct 04, 2022 Amanda rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, dystopian, romance-romance-romance, contemporary-romance

Spicy!

I don't think either of the leads were that strong, which is a bummer for a Hades/Persephone adaptation, but they certainly enjoyed boinking each other and I didn't hate reading about it. ...more

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