Early Book Review: Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter

Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter is the sequel to the young adult novel The Goddess Test. It is scheduled for release on March 27 2012. In The Goddess Test, Kate Winters won immortality, which was supposed to be the hard part. Now she is returning to Henry's side, joining him in the Underworld, in order to take her place as Queen. However, it seems that she will have to fight to keep what she holds dear. Calliope is still holding a grudge and will stop at nothing to destroy Kate, even if it means destroying the world itself by releasing the King of the Titans. Kate is unsure of Henry's feelings, her abilities, and her place in the world but is still willing to risk everything to save Henry's life. She will even seek the help of Persephone, the one person that she feels might threaten her relationship with Henry.

First, I need to say that I adored The Goddess Test. I am a fan of retellings and twisting of mythology when done well. Goddess Interrupted had much potential, and met most of it. However, I need to admit that I was a little disappointed with it. The action scenes were great, I wish there were more of them. The big picture, the crisis, and the battles were all fantastic. I really liked getting some more back story on the complicated relationships between some of the characters.

However, in Goddess Interrupted my love for the impetuous Kate faded a little. She is still smart, and compassionate, and understanding. But she fell into the Bella trap. Those that read Twilight and disliked it, or read it and loved it but then slowly grew to dislike Bella will understand immediately. It seemed like Kate spent the majority of the book wondering what she had done wrong, what was wrong with her, and whether Henry loved her. It got to the point that I started skimming the introspections and sharing her insecurities about being loved and starting paying attention when three or more people were part of the scene. Then there was the cliffhanger ending. This is starting to become a pet peeve of mine because it seems to happen more and more often lately. I do not mind a hook that leaves me wanting to read the next book to find out what happens next, that is important to keep a series interesting. However, when I finish a book I do not like feeling like the last chapter of the book is missing.

So, you might think that I did not like Goddess Interrupted after those complaints, but that is not true. I liked it, but I just did not love it. I think part of my disappointment came from the fact that I had so much hope for this book, that reality simply fell short of my high expectations. I am glad that I read it, and if I have access to the galley of the next installment I will read it, but it will not be on my to buy list.