Book review – Lore Olympus (Spoiler Free)

“But I don’t want to be a dream. I want to be real.”

• Title: Lore Olympus: Volume One
• Author: Rachel Smythe
• Genre: Fantasy, Graphic novel
• Pages: 384 pages
• Publication date: November 2, 2021

Lore Olympus came to me in an unusual way: their fandom had taken over my Pinterest.

It actually started because of a game called Hades. Hades is one of my favorite indie video games, and I had looked up some funny memes of it on Pinterest. Soon enough, Greek myths were everywhere. It leaked into some Percy Jackson, but soon I got some funny ones focusing on Hades and Persephone. Eventually, I looked it up and realized it came from this series.

Lore Olympus is a modern take on the classic Hades and Persephone tale. Usually, the story either goes that he kidnapped her or that she casually wandered into the Underworld and decided to stay. In this story, Eros and Aphrodite got Persephone drunk at a party and put her in Hades’ car to “embarrass” them. All because Hades complimented Persephone over Aphrodite. However, that doesn’t exactly go as planned.

The art throughout this book is beautiful. I like how each god embodies a recognizable color. It helped to bring out the characters, their personalities, and their emotions. The modern look on Olympus and the Underworld was great to see as well. For example, the Underworld looks more like a dark futuristic sci-fi city than a burning inferno. It was a fresh take that I enjoyed.

The story itself sets up the main two (Persephone and Hades) and a few other characters’ storylines well. I felt like I understood where everyone was heading. Since it’s a comic book, there are, of course, many volumes to get the whole story. So, we only get to see the beginnings, but this book did a lot for the Greek classics. Poseidon and Zeus are set up to be terrible gods they’re legends to be. Hera is on a path to be much more developed than what she has classically been given. Artemis, now Persephone’s roommate, gets a great setup as a wonderful friend.

Two things stuck out to me though. One) The story reminds the reader that Persephone is ignorant and new to adulting often. (Her mother had locked her up away from the world for a long time). It repeated that a bit too much, seeming to almost validate the violence that happens to her. Two) Artemis seems to contradict herself at the end. I won’t say why because I don’t want to spoil it, but she seemed to ignore her own rule too much, which was odd.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, and I’m excited to see where volume two takes everyone. I’d recommend it.

Score: 8.5
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.33/5