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emily_mh's review
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
As with the first instalment, the strength of this book lay in Timms’ interpretation of figures from Greek mythology - this time, Hephaestus and Aphrodite. I hate the beauty standards and ableism present in their usual stories. Timms removes all of this and shows how gorgeous and soul-deep their connection is. The narrative here is essentially about two young lovers learning from their example, both in love and in life.
Unfortunately, I had the same problem with this novella as I did in the first: the world-building is just not there, which heavily reduces the quality of the story overall.
Another issue I had was that because we are following four different MCs in a novella that’s only 25 pages or so, we don’t get a good feel for any of them. Maria and George barely got any page time, yet they were supposed to be the characters who got development. The shallow MCs added to the feeling of hollowness the book had, which originated in the lack of world-building. Overall, I finished the book feeling like something big was missing from it.
Rep: ace MC who is a cane user with prosthetics, trans MCs, genderfluid SC
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Ableism, Transphobia, Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Suicide, and Sexism
Minor: Blood, Grief, Medical content, Death, Emotional abuse, Deadnaming, Abandonment, and Sexual content
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