The Curse of The Sphinx by Rae Wagner

[wingdawn]

I had high expectations going in and I wasn’t disappointed.

I won’t go much into the plot because I don’t want to spoil anything, but the general premise is this: Our protagonist, Hope, is a sphinx (it’s a genetic condition) in a world filled with demigods who hunt monsters like sphinx (-es? What’s the plural of sphinx???). Also there are these things called skia which I perceive as basically soul-sucking monsters. Hope’s mother is killed because spoilers and now Hope must survive on her own. Anything more will be spoiler-y.

Hope was great, I loved her. Her grief over the death of her mother was handled very well. The emotional trauma was given adequate coverage and was believable. I felt her grief and her confusion, which I think are pretty hard feelings to convey over paper. I absolutely loved how survival was her top priority and that her past experiences weren’t forgotten in favour of exploring her present life.

Athan’s character did seem a bit inconsistent to me at first; but he evened out quickly enough. I appreciated how he backed off as soon as Hope told him too. But I kept waiting for the inescapable explosion when the plot thing would be revealed!!!!! Because we, as readers, get to know the plot thing early on but the characters don’t. That kept me constantly on edge.

Nikki’s character fell a little flat for me. I wished she’d been developed a bit more and that there was more to her than bitchy-jealous-teenage-girl. I don’t fancy the villanisation of teenage girls without motives much.

I did have some problems regarding the world-building. I have so many questions regarding what exactly the view of the general public was on all mythological happenings. I think this could definitely be explored in further books.

I’ll definitely be continuing this series.

[And if you go the author’s site and sign up to her newsletter, you get the first book for free?? Great marketing strategy, I wish every author would do that]

Rating: 3/5