Welcome to the Short N’ Sweet Book Review! For the nine years that I’ve been reviewing books on this blog, I’ve written long, wordy reviews that, let’s be honest, not a lot of people are probably reading. This year I decided to shorten those reviews and get straight to the point – what is this book about, who wrote it, where you can find and a short review on what I loved, liked and maybe thought could be better.
Today’s review is a gorgeous graphic novel tackling a modern day tale of Hades and Persephone, an internet sensation, Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe!
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Experience the propulsive love story of two Greek gods—Hades and Persephone—brought to life with lavish artwork and an irresistible contemporary voice.
Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love—witness what the gods do after dark in this stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of mythology’s most well-known stories from creator Rachel Smythe.
Featuring a brand-new, exclusive short story, Smythe’s original Eisner-nominated web-comic Lore Olympus brings the Greek Pantheon into the modern age with this sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.
This volume collects episodes 1-25 of the #1 WEBTOON comic, Lore Olympus.
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Genre: Romance, Mythology Re-Telling, Graphic Novel
Pages: 384
Part of a Series?: First in a Series/Volume 1 of an extended online webtoon. This book is a printed version of Episodes 1-25, but online, Rachel is up to Episode 189 and counting…
Release Date: November 2nd, 2021
Publisher: Del Rey
Source: Owned Physical Copy
Find the Author: Website / Instagram / Twitter / GoodReads
FIND THE BOOK:
GoodReads / BookShop (support your local indie!) / IndieBound / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Audible / Book epository / Apple Books / Kobo / Google Play
You can read the WebToon in its entirely, up to the most current episode, here.
SHORT N’SWEET REVIEW
I think that for a long time, it’s been almost impossible to completely be unaware of the existence of Lore Olympus, especially when you’re a reader, a lover of any sort of romantic story AND a fan of Greek mythology. The beautiful artwork would appear randomly all over social media and I was always intrigued but never really made the move to consume it. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a great reader of comic books, graphic novels and the like. I love them – the artwork is beautiful and I love the stories – but I struggle to read them because I’m absolutely a speed reader and I’m not great at telling myself to slow down, appreciate the story in the limited words given and appreciate that the artwork is telling a good part of the story.
There’s been an increase in the retellings of Hades and Persephone and I can understand that. It’s an interesting story and has so much potential. I just read one a few weeks ago. I knew it was time that I sucked it up and read Lore Olympus. I decided to read a few episodes online before purchasing the books and after a few, I was intrigued enough to get my hands on Volume 1. I had the same issues I normally do with a graphic novel, which is not a reflection of the book at all, just merely my inability to SLOW DOWN.
Apart from that…I can see why everyone is talking about this. I can see why its such a popular webtoon and why the popularity continued when the first 25 episodes were released in print. First off, the biggest part of it, the artwork? It’s just absolutely gorgeous. I’m blown away on every page at how absolutely gorgeous it is, especially considering that there isn’t a ton of color either. But each page is just breathtaking and the story breathes life because of that artwork. There were plenty of pages that I would love to have just as piece of artwork and I can see why its inspired others to create artwork in that same world.
I also just love the story. I love a good romance, especially a romance as dark and romantic as Hades and Persephone. I’m really loving the modern day twist of it, with Olympus being a sort of modern day city and cell phones and current fashion – it’s fun and it makes the story more fun to read. I like the idea of this dark, but vulnerable Hades, capable of love and protectiveness. I love Persephone being this sweet, naïve, cinnamon roll, innocent and in need of protection. I love the characterization of the other gods and goddesses. I’m having a lot of fun with the story and will likely continue with the web comic since I don’t think I can wait til volume 2 comes out in spring – though I’ll definitely pick it up!
I will say one thing – there was an episode with Apollo and Persephone that I did not particularly like. It made me uncomfortable and I think there should have been a content warning with it and there was not. I was not mentally prepared for that scene and it made me feel fairly awful, honestly. I would say a content warning is needed, for sure.
RATING:
5 out of 5 Stars
