Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Lore Olympus: Volume One

A fun and fresh spin on the story of Persephone and Hades—I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did, but these characters are so on point, and the modern Olympus VS ancient mortal realm is a great concept for the setting. The art is absolutely gorgeous, which doesn’t hurt. Emphasizes consent, self-reflection and self-awareness, the importance of mental health and therapy, generational trauma, autonomy and choice, very modern and salient themes, without hitting you over the head with them. I’m reading this on WEBTOON, and sometimes the dialogue is riddled with misspellings or grammatical errors, but it’s easy to overlook.

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mythos97's review

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Lore Olympus is very Colleen Hoover coded. Whether that’s good or bad is up to whoever reads this. Although Colleen Hoover books have better pacing, and more coherent storylines that actually have endings. Meanwhile Lore Olympus has multiple storylines that go nowhere.

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jasbeingjas's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This has been on my list for so long and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. I can see myself zooming through the different volumes. I originally borrowed this from the library but I think I actually want the volumes for my library.

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bookishworm28's review

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At this point the series is finished on Webtoon and this is a review of it overall. Also this review contains a massive spoiler that I think people should know about before deciding to support Rachel Smythe.

As an older fan all I can say is don’t waste your money on it just go to your local library to read for free if you’re curious because soon that’ll be your only option as the series will be locked behind a paywall.

Anyways what doesn’t make the series worth spending a coin on it is that overall it’s just unsatisfying from plot endings to the romance. Due to a number of fans asking for more Persephone and Hades a bunch of sideplots and character development gets pushed aside A LOT. As for the romance even though it’s advertised as a slowburn it’s really not, like Hades falls in love with Persephone a couple panels into the start of the series during when she’s in distress and vulnerable btw which you’ll see a lot. After reading this series Hades is really into vulnerable women.

Then it’s hardly a Feminist Retelling as advertised since there are more instances of Women vs Women moments than there are of them supporting each other. They’re also usually fighting over a guy too or out right being petty because someone dares to be prettier.

Then don’t get me started on the Age Gap or the SA. Now I don’t usually mind them but Lore Olympus definitely did both so VERY wrong. Like for the age gap right from the beginning the fact that Persephone is too young for Hades is shoved into your face every single chapter to an uncomfortable degree. Also the SA is just a No and ultimately has the WORST ENDING. Warning Spoiler for the SA plot

All Apollo gets is Guilt and Community Service as his punishment…..The guilt he feels isn’t even genuine it’s being forced upon him by magic and during it all he can think about is how to make it stop. Not even thinking about how he can atone. Rachel really just wrote a rapist getting off easy. Also Persephone isn’t his only victim so like Wtf.

.Safe to say I threw out any LO merch and comics I have because of that.

In NO way shape or form am I supporting Rachel Smythe again.

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