Official Review: Hera, Queen of Gods by T.D. Thomas
Posted: 27 Aug 2014, 21:07
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Hera, Queen of Gods" by T.D. Thomas.]
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Hera, Queen of Gods is an action packed YA adventure, a very long one, that many readers have enjoyed so far, from what I have seen of other reviewers' comments. In this story, several of the Greek gods, including Hera and Zeus, borrow bodies from teenagers to walk around as mortals, in order to locate and recover the three Fates who have been kidnapped. Unless the Fates are found soon, the universe will collapse into chaos, but the gods have very little information to go on as they arrive in their high-schooler bodies to begin their search.
If you like action, and find that characterization and scenery detract from the point of the story, you will love Hera, Queen of Gods. Right from the beginning there is really not much description of anything or anyone unless it is absolutely necessary to keep the action going. Inconveniences like serious injury and death are worked around easily, and the book sticks so close to the primary characters that they might as well not be surrounded by a whole town of ordinary mortals who might notice what is going on and get involved. The few mortals who do get involved die, or turn into demi-gods. And, since characterization is so sparse, the primary characters can do just about anything that is convenient to the action, with no regard for consistency. The maturity of the god-characters was also odd. The gods didn't come across as immortal, because they seemed too naive and inexperienced, more like 12yr-olds than adult immortals. The way their borrowed teenagers took off on their adventure, one could also forget they were supposed to be teenagers, because no parents or other adult authority figures ever really turned up to prevent these high-school 'teens' from acting completely autonomous. It might have been easier and more plausible to just let the gods borrow college students.
Just as characterization is kept absolutely minimal, the scenery for the entirety of this book is left blank unless it directly impacts the action, so much so that it is not very clear where the action is taking place, except in very vague terms. A fight in a room in their highschool apparently takes place in a room with lots of students around a few tables, because one of the boys involved gets backed up against a table, but no teachers or other supervisory adults seem to be present. Is this a study hall? a cafeteria? homeroom? I felt as if the whole story took place in a vast blankness in which objects, including furniture, trees and buildings, just appeared out of nowhere when the story required them.
I also had issues with details associated with the gods' body-borrowing. How did the gods know their own class schedules? They seemed not to know other things, for instance Hera did not know that the girl she was borrowing was on student council. I would have been fine with them not knowing any of their borrowed bodies' information, or with them knowing a lot more than they did, but as written these characters' knowledge of their mortal bodies was too inconsistent. And, what is a goth high school girl doing living by herself in their own apartment? Does she have a job and support herself? Do Justin's parents know he is off having deadly adventures? How do the rest of the gods' borrowed families manage to stay out of the picture?
However, while all of these gripes make this decidedly not a work of great literature, as an action-packed, pulp-fiction adventure this was not so terrible a book. The lack of descriptions was still problematic though, because it made the story very hard to get into. Throughout most of the book I was leaning towards a 1 star review for this book (on a 4 star scale anyway), but having ruminated on it a while, I'm giving this book 2 out of 4 stars. It wasn't a bad plot, and I did actually finish reading it, and for pulp-fiction it was not awful. But, I still feel that 2 stars is a tad bit generous, however much other reviewers honestly enjoyed this book. The story could have made for an excellent, enduring novel, but the way it was crafted, it was quite disappointing for me.
***
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If you like action, and find that characterization and scenery detract from the point of the story, you will love Hera, Queen of Gods. Right from the beginning there is really not much description of anything or anyone unless it is absolutely necessary to keep the action going. Inconveniences like serious injury and death are worked around easily, and the book sticks so close to the primary characters that they might as well not be surrounded by a whole town of ordinary mortals who might notice what is going on and get involved. The few mortals who do get involved die, or turn into demi-gods. And, since characterization is so sparse, the primary characters can do just about anything that is convenient to the action, with no regard for consistency. The maturity of the god-characters was also odd. The gods didn't come across as immortal, because they seemed too naive and inexperienced, more like 12yr-olds than adult immortals. The way their borrowed teenagers took off on their adventure, one could also forget they were supposed to be teenagers, because no parents or other adult authority figures ever really turned up to prevent these high-school 'teens' from acting completely autonomous. It might have been easier and more plausible to just let the gods borrow college students.
Just as characterization is kept absolutely minimal, the scenery for the entirety of this book is left blank unless it directly impacts the action, so much so that it is not very clear where the action is taking place, except in very vague terms. A fight in a room in their highschool apparently takes place in a room with lots of students around a few tables, because one of the boys involved gets backed up against a table, but no teachers or other supervisory adults seem to be present. Is this a study hall? a cafeteria? homeroom? I felt as if the whole story took place in a vast blankness in which objects, including furniture, trees and buildings, just appeared out of nowhere when the story required them.
I also had issues with details associated with the gods' body-borrowing. How did the gods know their own class schedules? They seemed not to know other things, for instance Hera did not know that the girl she was borrowing was on student council. I would have been fine with them not knowing any of their borrowed bodies' information, or with them knowing a lot more than they did, but as written these characters' knowledge of their mortal bodies was too inconsistent. And, what is a goth high school girl doing living by herself in their own apartment? Does she have a job and support herself? Do Justin's parents know he is off having deadly adventures? How do the rest of the gods' borrowed families manage to stay out of the picture?
However, while all of these gripes make this decidedly not a work of great literature, as an action-packed, pulp-fiction adventure this was not so terrible a book. The lack of descriptions was still problematic though, because it made the story very hard to get into. Throughout most of the book I was leaning towards a 1 star review for this book (on a 4 star scale anyway), but having ruminated on it a while, I'm giving this book 2 out of 4 stars. It wasn't a bad plot, and I did actually finish reading it, and for pulp-fiction it was not awful. But, I still feel that 2 stars is a tad bit generous, however much other reviewers honestly enjoyed this book. The story could have made for an excellent, enduring novel, but the way it was crafted, it was quite disappointing for me.
***
Buy "Hera, Queen of Gods" on Amazon