lore olympus: book 1 by Rachel Smythe

92th book of 2021

First book in the Lore Olympus series

Reading period: November 12th 2021

Summary

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.

Trigger Warning

Rape, sexual assault, toxic relationship, confinement

Rating

None

Review

I wanted to read this webtoon for a long time, as it’s about one of my favourite goddesses (and because there is Cerberus.) However, I’m not a fan of the digital way of reading it. So I was paying to have a physical format for this, and I couldn’t be happier than that as my dreams became a reality.

In this book, you only have the beginning of the relationship between Hades and Persephone, which is a little rocky. However, you have all the other gods and their capacity to compromise this romance. You also have an explanation of the past of Persephone, which defines her behaviour.

Each character has a colour, so it helps the reader to recognise them through the whole book. Also, even if you stop reading for a particular time, you don’t have any problem continuing the story character-wise.

They are a lot of trigger warnings and scenes that can be difficult to read. When I was reading the end, I was at the same time furious and sad.

I can’t wait to be next year to read the second book. But I don’t know if I will have the patience to wait for that long.

Liz.