Final Thoughts on Goddess Test

[Angie, YA lovin mod!!]

Now that you are done what do you think? Would you recommend this book to others?

[Valivolant]

Well, I liked the book...It served its purpose well, which would be to entertain me/keep my mind off real life stuff. :)

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a distraction from this world.

[Amber at Fall Into Books]

I totally loved the book. I did a review of it awhile back at http://falln2books.blogspot.com

I think it's fantastic and unique. A completely original take on the Persephone and Hades myth. I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't some kind of mythology purist, haha.

[Ashley]

I loved this book. I loved Henry and felt so sad for him. This is my review:
I so loved this book. The emotions were real, and I love Henry! There were many twists and reveals that I wasn’t expecting, but thought it was cool. It was great to see the love story grow into something sweet. A really great story.

I do have to say that I was with Kate's feeling when she found out who some of the people were. But I don't want to say more in case I spoil it for others:-)

I would recommend this book to others! It was a fun read with a great romance! I gave it 5 stars!

[Azhia]

I loved it (: I cannot wait for the next one good thing it comes out this month. I felt so bad for Henry and James 3 Especially James I lked him alot :( The whole plot was just amazing

[Ziggy]

Overall I liked it. There were one or two plot twists that I didn't really like the direction of, but the story as a whole was entertaining and pretty well done. I did like the new take on the myth.

[Miss Bookiverse]

I was pretty disappointed by this book. Wasn't it marketed as "The Hunger Games meets Percy Jackson"? I expected a lot more action and real tests. I think I was the most disappointed by the tests, they were so silly and didn't seem to be a big part of the plot at all.

[Grace]

Kate was warned about the tests before hand - she just had to be herself. (She's very lucky that being annoying and whining isn't one of the deadly sins). In retrospect, you can see when and where Kate was being tested. As a reader, though, I felt cheated and lied to. There's a fine line between mystery and lies in a novel and I think the author crossed that line. What was supposed to add interest and suspense just came out feeling like a nasty trick. In other words, I didn't really like the book and I won't recommend it to any of my friends.

[Angie, YA lovin mod!!]

I am surprised to read others like James. I felt like his character wasn't really explored well. We see him three times... at school where he acts goofy, when he and Henry argue, and then at the very end. I will admit there is something mysterious about him and I would like to know more but this book didn't make me care about him one way or the other.

I felt the same way about Ava. Not character build up really. One minute she doesn't like Kate.. then she's trying to kill her and then Kate loves her and wants her in the mansion with her (though she barely knew her). And then Kate gives up her freedom and heads off to the mansion to save this girl???

My overall thoughts on the book was that it was OK. I guess the fact that really most of the book took place in the mansion and not actually in Olympus or the Underworld was kind of a bummer. Hopefully the next book takes place somewhere else. The book was more of a romance to me then paranormal.

I am curious what happens to the characters and that is good. I do want to know what in the world will Kate be doing now? Where can the story even go? I suppose we will have to do battle with Calliope. And maybe meet the other girls that died.

To like this book you just have to throw Greek mythology out the window and just accept that it is unrealistic.

[Whitney]

I agree that I also expected a Hunger Games meets Percy Jackson vibe from the book, so I was disappointed in that respect. However, looking back on the book, I'm not overly disappointed at the absence of tests requiring herculean feats, but I would have liked more integration of the mythology. It doesn't really pop up until the end--which I understand, as the author wants to leave the reader in the dark with the main character. But it made for an overly swift tie-up after a fairly uneventful six months (okay, five months).

My major frustration with the book was that I felt everyone was a little mopey. Kate continually mentioned various things being her "fault." Yes, she has had a huge burden on her shoulders throughout her teenage years because she's been responsible for caring for her sick mother. Nonetheless, it seemed over the top. She was ready to accept and even demand responsibility for things that couldn't rationally be considered her fault. She wanted to be a martyr too much, I guess. Then, at the very end of the novel, everyone else starts mentioning that various things were their fault, as well. I'm thinking specifically of Diana (Kate's mother; actually Demeter) and James's (Hermes) conversation before Kate marries Henry (Hades). The specific word "fault" just popped up so much that I noticed it.

I am interested in reading the next novel in the series, but that may not happen for a while. I enjoyed it, but I don't feel compelled to pick up the next one.

[Grace]

I think the biggest problem with the book was that it was intended to be a romance with a twist. The mythology element provided a pretext for supernatural things to happen - such as Ava's first resurrection and Kate's delivery from the Underworld. Anything mythological that didn't fit with the romance aspect was thrown to the wind. That's why we're left with a test based firmly on Christian principles being applied by beings whose behaviour in mythology in no way upheld those principles.

[Angie, YA lovin mod!!]

I agree this book was a total romance. Though after reading the author's answers to our reader's questions my mind changed on a lot of things. She answered pretty much why she picked the seven deadly sins:

As for the seven deadly sins, this was one of the very last details that fell into place. I went back and forth on what sort of test to put Kate through, and I initially balked at the idea of using the seven deadly sins because they do have such a religious connotation. And I don't personally believe those specific morals necessarily have anything to do with good character. However, they wound up fitting what I wanted to show - as cool as Kate rescuing orphans from burning buildings would've been, I wanted her to go through a test that discovered her true reactions to things that she would have to face as a goddess. In other words, it wound up being the best way to show the way the council judged her. After all, immortality would give her the physical strength, and they first needed to make sure she had the emotional and mental strength to handle it. And if you're going to make someone immortal, it's probably a good idea to make sure they aren't going to use their powers for evil. I also wanted to tie the test into something that most people would be at least passingly familiar with, though I wanted to work around the religious aspect in the sense that clearly this test was around long before the Catholic Church. As you can probably tell from my previous answers, religion was something I tried to be very careful about in the book.


I thought this was a good answer. I really enjoy reading an author's thoughts. It gives me a better insight to the book.

[Rachel]

I'm just going to say that I really didn't like this book. I wrote a review of this book so if anyone really wants to see what I think then they can read that.

[Angie, YA lovin mod!!]

If you post what you think here we can discuss it better! :)

[Rachel]

Well one thing I didn't like about it was how it didn't stick with the actual myths. I was a social studies major for a long time so this kind of thing is important to me. Also I found the plot to be kind of predictable but that is just me. I don't want to offend anyone. I'm apparently pretty picky.

[Michelle (Pink Polka Dot Books)]

I'm sorry I just couldnt finish this one :( I guess I had high expectations for it because the idea sounded cool to me, but then ehh it was just boring. I even made my librarian order this for me from a library far far away, and now I feel bad cause I only read half.

[Stormi (StormReads)]

I liked it well enough to recommend it to people and get the next book in the series. :)

[Angie, YA lovin mod!!]

I agree about the plot being too predictable. Has anyone read the short story that goes with the book?

[Jamie Leigh]

If you forget most of what you know about greek mythology, this book was decent. The story actually focuses more on the myths if you read the next short story, The Goddess Hunt, and the next book, Goddess Interrupted.

I was disappointed that the book didn't originally go the way the first few chapters indicated. I thought that the tests were so complex to the point that the girls were dying trying to complete them. Instead it turned out that someone was just killing them off before their trial period came to an end. Along with that, I was waiting for Kate to take these specific, announced tests, but half way through the book she says that she only has a few tests left. I literally yelled out, "When was the first one!" I thought I'd slept through or skipped the important parts of the book. That left me confused until the very end when the council listed what the tests were!

I just thought that the book would bave been more interesting if we had known what the tests were...and that they hadn't been based on other religous belifs. It just didn't match.

[Ann]

Great! I loved the story and characters. It just kept me reading on. Now I am looking for Goddess Interrupted.

[T.M.]

I have this book, borrowed from a friend. Currently reading Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver then on to The Goddess Test, can't wait!

[Dee]

I love greek mythology so I really liked this book. I do like Percy Jackson way better, but this was primarily a romance book so I took it for what it was. I like that there is a struggle with Henry and Kate's budding romance and we see this later in the sequel. I think it frustrated some people, but I think it makes the novel more realistic because real relationships are hard work and some people just suck at emotions. Unlike other YA romance books their relationship isn't perfect.