4 out of 4 stars
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Olympian Challenger by Astrid Arditi is an amazing story, filled with intrigue, and adventure. We start out with a girl named Hope. She, and all the teenagers in New York, get a mysterious invitation. Only certain teenagers can see what is written on this invitation, so most think that it is an invitation to a party. It isn’t. Then, when she tries to save someone who could read what was on the invitation, like she could, she’s mysteriously transported to Mount Olympus, where she learns that maybe all the myths she learned weren’t myths at all. There she is put through challenge after challenge, competing against friends and enemies.
When I read the description of this book I wasn’t sure I would love it as much as I did. But I loved it. Now, Greek Mythology is a big part of this book, and, being a fantasy and sci-fi lover, I should be able to say I read a lot of mythology, but I can’t. But, as I was saying, I didn’t think I would enjoy this book as much as I did because it just didn’t sound like my typical book because I just don’t find many mythology books that I seemed really interested in. But I absolutely loved the mythology in this book. It was filled with adventure and wit, divinities, and people who think they are gods. There were fantastical creatures, like mermaids, Furies, and other mythological creatures. Also, the abilities were so interesting, like lightning, or healing, or sweet talking (that actually was an ability), which were really unique since usually you see fire, water, wind, and earth.
The antagonist, Hope, wasn’t the kind of character I thought she was going to be. I thought that she would have wanted to be in the competition, no questions asked, that she would sacrifice anything to get in. But she didn’t want to be in that competition, but she was because she was courageous, strong, and compassionate. I really enjoyed reading from her point of view because when people shoved her down she got right back up, and she didn’t trade people to get what she wanted. She was resilient, and clever. She was selfless.
Also, a really great factor of the book was the mythology. First of all, it was accurate. From what I know of Greek mythology, which is just what I learned in school, the author was very accurate with the mythology, and how she wrote the gods was fantastic. They weren’t loving or caring. They were cruel, and had made the competition for their own enjoyment.They enjoyed the emotional pain the competitors felt, and torturing them, so that their worst fears were shown to them. Even though there were still some gods that couldn’t bare to see the bloodshed, that created relationships with the competitors, most enjoyed watching bloodshed and pain. I have never seen any author do that in any mythology I’ve read, but it is a risk. One that was totally worth it. Usually gods are nurturing and kind, and I loved that they weren’t.
Overall, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I loved the characters, the setting, the plot, everything. Although I’m sure there were some flaws, I really loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone. Especially fantasy lovers.
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Olympian Challenger
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