The Eye of Zeus (Legends Of Olympus, #1) by Alane Adams
Release: April 7th 2020
Format: Ebook
Publisher: SparkPress
Source: Netgalley
Synopsis:
Meet Phoebe Katz, a twelve-year-old foster kid from New York City who’s been bounced around the system her entire life. Things happen around Phoebe, but it’s not like they’re her fault! But when a statue of Athena comes to life, Phoebe gets the stunning news she’s the daughter of Zeus, has a twin brother named Perseus―and was sent away from ancient Greece as a baby to stop a terrible prophecy that predicted she would one day destroy Olympus. Athena warns Phoebe to stay in hiding, but when the vengeful god Ares kidnaps her beloved social worker, Phoebe has no choice―she has to travel back to ancient Greece and rescue him!
There, Phoebe and her friends Angie and Damian discover a new prophecy, one that may fix everything. The catch: Phoebe has to collect talismans from six Greek monsters, including the fang from a nine-headed hydra, a talon from the Nemean lion, and a feather from the sphinx. No problem for a girl with the power to call up lightning bolts and change the weather! But can Phoebe collect them all and stop the prophecy before she destroys Olympus?
Eye of Zeus Review:
A BIG Thank You to Netgalley and Sparkpress Books for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of “The Eye of Zeus ” for my review.
Oh boy, I can just see the controversy surrounding this book on how it is a rip-off of Percy Jackson. Initially when you pick up this book, you feel like you are re-reading The Lightning Thief all over again. A teen in New York who realizes that they are a demi-god to the Greek mythology?
To be honest though, I really appreciate the author for trying to tell a middle grade adventure story surrounding the Greek mythology, without making it sound like it is copying off Percy Jackson. It seems like a difficult task to accomplish. I actually enjoyed reading this book for the most part! I thought she brought her own spin into the story-line and really enjoyed some of the plots. Also, I loved the characters. Phoebe is great as the protagonist! Damian, Angie and Phoebe make a great time, in addition to the charming Macario. Macario was written very well as one of those characters who I hated in the beginning but grew to like eventually. On a side note, even the illustrations are very nice and detailed and compliment the story very well!
While I really enjoyed the adventure elements, I felt the author could have written it better. My main problem with this story is how Phoebe instantly knew all the incantations and what to do without any prior training. If I just realized I had super powers, I would have trouble figuring out how to use it properly. Secondly, a lot of the battles that they fight for the 6 items seemed repetitious at times. Damian would be bait, while Angie would be on the side, and Phoebe would miraculously defeat the demons. I wished the author had spiced it up a bit and made the battles more different to one another.
And yes, perhaps the author could have also lowered the similarities as much as possible to not have it connected to the Percy Jackson novels. Leaving the Greek mythology aside, the setting need not have been in New York City nor have the protagonist parent/guardian kidnapped. This just made the book feel further connected to the Percy Jackson series.
Overall, despite its flaws, this is a fun book, and I am definitely interested to see how it continues!
