Review by heathermt74 -- Olympian Challenger

[heathermt74]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Olympian Challenger" by Astrid Arditi.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Olympian Challenger by Astrid Arditi is a coming of age story about a girl named Hope. She attends school on a scholarship, is on the swim team, and isn’t sociable because she takes care of her mother, Teresa, who suffers from dementia. One day before Hope leaves for school she receives a note. It is an invitation of some sort, but only part of the invitation is visible saying, (You are cordially invited…). This confuses Hope and with little time she tucks it away in her backpack temporarily forgotten. However, while she is waiting for the train to take her to school she takes the invitation out and the rest of the invitation is now fully visible.

The cryptic note states she is to embark on a journey, saying that (If your heart is true and your soul heroic, dare to face your fears and your most precious wish will be granted). It then follows with a threat of severe punishment if she were to speak about it and that she has until midnight. Hope is confused and even more so once she gets to school to find most of the 12th grade received the same invitation. She keeps the rest of the note to herself thinking she is crazy, especially since it states (If these words you can read, don’t breathe them to a soul). However, after doing a search online she finds a site dedicated to the strange invitation and in the message boards finds others who can read more than just the opening line. This means she is not crazy when she was hoping it was just a hallucination.

After school Hope comes home to find her mother having a bad episode and her neighbor Camille, who helps with Teresa, tells her she should go take a walk knowing that Hope’s fears and worry aggravate Teresa’s condition. She walks around aimlessly finally ending up at her thinking place and sits on a bench to stare at the river. She sees a boy who deliberately falls into the water and without thought rushes to save him. Unfortunately, she can’t find the boy and when she tries getting to the surface a strong wave hits her and she blacks out only to wake up in Mount Olympus.

So begins her adventure, a hero’s tournament staged by the gods of Olympus. Trained by heroes like Bellerophon, Ariadne, and Orestes, she goes through different quests to prove herself. She receives help and encouragement from new friends and an unlikely ally along the way. Each contender faces their own dilemma and trains hard trying to gain an edge, but Hope only wants to escape. It just doesn’t seem possible and slowly she comes to terms with the situation determined to win and heal her mother’s illness.

I thought the author set the tone of the story perfectly with Hope’s thoughts and feelings regarding her mother’s illness. You feel the worry and despair families face when dementia affects loved ones. However, once the author introduces the other characters on Mount Olympus she makes you feel empathy for the other contenders and some heroes. You find yourself pulling for not only Hope but the other contenders too. I especially loved Gabriel and although his story wasn’t like the others, the author wove his character with such feeling you couldn’t help but root for him. Amy was another character that you eventually came to understand even if she was a little rough around the edges. I enjoyed the backstories for the heroes prior to each quest. The author did a terrific job of hiding clues without making anything predictable.

This book is the first of a trilogy and it ends on a semi-cliffhanger. There is a small sense of completion, but you know the story isn’t over and you definitely want more. The writing style was superb and although the story is YA, I honestly think anyone who loves mythology will enjoy this book tremendously. It also has a little bit of romance that I hope will be expanded in the next installment. There weren’t any grammatical errors, therefore, I feel comfortable rating this book 4 out of 4 stars.

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Olympian Challenger
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[thaservices1]

Sounds like a good read. I enjoyed similar themed books in the YA genre like the Percy Jackson novels. Thank you for the detailed review.