Summary:
In the idyllic town of New River, North Dakota, 16-year-old Ophelia Johnson and six other teens inherit the powers of the old gods—Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Artemis, Apollo, and Ares—and embark on a mission from the Vessel of Destiny to find the missing Fates, restore the Codex, and save the ancient world.
Still grieving the recent and mysterious death of her father, Ophelia begins to unravel the secrets woven into her family’s history as she and her friends plunge into the quest of a lifetime. Armed only with powers they don’t totally understand, Ophelia, Roman, Cassius, Olivia, Alessia, and Baxter are soon immersed in a mythical chess match upon which rests the fate of the universe. As they journey into a world of blood pacts and war, the diverse group members find more than they bargained for, and Ophelia discovers a family tie that might mean the ensuing chaos and destruction is her fault. Of Blood and Lightning is an upper YA contemporary fantasy (age 16-25) with a gripping and fresh twist on Greek mythology as the ancient pantheon of gods inhabit an ensemble of BIPOC and queer teenaged characters.
My Thoughts:
Of Blood and Lightning is a YA greek mythology-in-the-modern-world story, where teens have the powers of the greek gods and have to save the world from ending.
This was an interesting and good read! I love greek mythology, I love seeing it intertwined in the modern day, and I love a good fantasy meets modern world story. This definitely gives a similar vibe of Percy Jackson, but is also not similar at all – if that makes sense. Totally unique in it’s story and world, the transfer of powers, what’s at stake and who is in danger, and how they go about saving the world is super interesting! I really liked the concept of this story.
We follow Ophelia, an 18 year old girl who’s life has been turned upside down with the death of her father and having to move back to her old small town with her aunt and uncle. She is grieving and trying to get through life, and befriends a group of other teens who assimilate her into their group right away.
Things happen, powers are given, the world is in danger, and we must follow them in their journey to save the world, accept and learn their power, and also live as teens.
I enjoyed this story, and the characters we follow. Ophelia has been through so much, and I loved seeing her find a group of friends who help her heal. They all had their own struggles, and seemed to come together and lift each other up.
3 things I want to comment on as areas for improvements: These are not deal breakers, just things I noticed while reading.
The only thing I didn’t personally like was Ophelia and Rowan’s implied sex scene. I think this book is similar in age to Percy Jackson, except this part. It really threw me off, and made me wonder what age group this was supposed to be for. I initially was thinking my 11 year-old high reading level brother would be a great person for this, because he loved Percy Jackson, however once I read that in the story I crossed his age group off the list. The writing I think really fits in with that 11-13 year old age group, so if this was cut out then I think it would fit the vibe of the rest of the story. Personal opinion!
I do also think there was a lot of information (houses, people, etc.) that is got confusing at times, but not too much where I was completely lost. There was just a TON of info, and I think we needed a bit more about the most important bits to truly understand the whole web of people and places and info.
The writing was a bit choppy here and there, and chunks of time were glossed over or completely ignored to where we maybe needed another sentence or 2 transition to smooth things out. I feel like at times we went from talking to boom we are at a place to boom the action is over and boom we are back at headquarters recapping it. I think if the author/editor does another pass and adds a bit more info or transition, it would definitely smooth things out! It did not take too much away from the story, but I did notice it at times.
Overall, I enjoyed Of Blood and Lightning by Micki Janae and I am glad I was able to arc read it!
See what books I think are worthy of a re-read here.
