Book Review Part 2: Neon Gods Katee Robert

When I was a little girl, I loved learning about Greek mythology. I found each greek god fascinating and was intrigued by their stories. Knowing that Neon Gods is about the story of Hades and Persephone, I knew I had to read it. 

Neon Gods by Katee Robert | Image by Overdrive

Neon Gods is a dark romance-fantasy novel that is based on the modern re-telling of the story of Hades and Persephone. Persephone Dimitirou is the daughter of Demeter and she is known to be a sunshine obedient daughter out of Demeter's four daughters. Persephone dreams of pursuing her freedom by leaving Olympus because of the political environment with the Thirteen houses. Little did Persephone know, in a turn of events, Demeter and Zeus pressure her into an engagement with leads her to flee to the underground lower city of Olympus by crossing the River Stynx. From there, Persephone meets Hades for the first time who she believes was a myth. Hades is the King of the Underworld and has been living quietly in the shadows for many years. When Persephone arrives, Hades realizes this is the perfect opportunity to carry out his revenge.

After reading the novel, I thought was book was average. When I started to read the book, the beginning captured my interest and I was excited to see where the story was headed. However, by the time I got to the middle of the novel, I began to lose interest since the plot is heavily filled with constant erotic scenes (literally, one after the other) — honestly, I wasn't thrilled with the idea that Persephone used sex to strike a deal with Hades and from that point on, I was disappointed with the novel as I knew where this was headed. That being said, I would have preferred it more if the novel had fewer smutty scenes and more events for Persephone and Hades to build up the chemistry they have with each other, which leads to the both of them falling in love. That said, the novel does contain very few romantic moments, which I thought were beautiful and heartwarming to read. As I approached the last couple of chapters of the book, this is where the novel piqued my interest again as the plot shifts back to focusing on the main story where Hades carries out his revenge and violates the treaty — this was more of a page-turner for me.

By the end of this novel, one of the things I enjoyed about it was how charming some of the characters are like Hades and Hermes; I found myself enjoying the relationship/friendship between Hermes and Dionysus. One thing that disappointed me with this novel thought was the lack of character development — from beginning to end, all the characters remain static. Since this novel is smutty, one of the themes I liked was reinforcing the concept of consent and safe sex. This is illustrated through Hades as he is constantly making sure that this is absolutely something that Persephone wants awaiting her approval before doing anything to her — he also makes sure that she is comfortable. Within the novel, the author touches on the subject of safe sex by ensuring we all do our parts to ensure sex is safe such as using contraptions like condoms and introducing the idea of birth control pills. Lastly, another theme the book touches on is the concept of power — contrasting between good and bad — and how people are willing to go to great lengths to gain more power. This is shown through Detemter's powers as she is willing to give Persephone away to Zeus for more power given the negative reputation that Zeus has. 

Overall, I thought the novel was average. For the most part, the characters were charming and the romantic moments that we do get to see between Hades and Persephone are heartwarming.