Gods and Monsters of the Greek Underworld. Excellent start to a new series.
This is the first book in a new Greek Mythology Romance series, from authors HP Mallory and JR Rain writing as Mallory Rain. As the genre would suggest, this series is set in the Greek underworld and is filled with angry, vengeful gods and goddesses. There are descriptive scenes of a sexual nature as well as of imprisonment.
Penelope is a 250 year old demigoddess, daughter of Aphrodite and currently stuck living on the mortal plane. When the woman she considers her sister (a mortal descendant of her human father’s family line) is killed and her soul taken by Ares, Penelope vows to head to the underworld and rescue her. If only it were that simple.
So begins Penelope’s journey through the various gates of the underworld, looking for Janie’s soul. She’s on a strict time limit and who knows how time passes in the underworld compared with the mortal plane.
Naturally, all does not go to plan. The underworld is bleak and unforgiving. Even a demigoddess can perish here. Her chances of surviving are not great, much less her chances of passing through all the gates in time.
I really enjoyed this book. The writing is good, the worldbuilding is interesting and I think this story has a lot of potential. The book ends on a cliffhanger and just makes me want to dive headfirst into book two.
Author’s Blurb
Why does Ares, the god of war, want me dead?
Cameras, makeup, hair, designer clothing…
In the mortal world, I am my beauty. No one sees beyond it. And it’s been that way for the last 250 years.
Day in and day out—the same. Until my sister, Janie, dies.
With my world newly shattered, I turn to the only person powerful enough to do something about it—my mother, the goddess Aphrodite… Who happens to be kind of a bitch.
Regardless, good ol’ Mom informs me that Janie’s soul has been captured by the most hated of the gods, Ares. And he’s keeping Janie hostage in the deepest level of the underworld, the Fifth Gate.
Determined to rescue Janie and with Aphrodite’s ‘blessing’, I travel to the First Gate, the entry point to the Underworld, a hellscape of exploding volcanoes, ashy air and death as far as the eye can see.
Yeah, it’s no Club Med.
Anyway, it’s here I meet the famed Adonis who, in case you were wondering, definitely lives up to his legendary hotness. Unfortunately for him, though, he’s playing sex slave to the power-hungry Queen Azhrea, the ruler of the First Gate (who incidentally insists he wear only a loincloth).
Man-thongs aside, it isn’t long before Azhrea’s army captures me and delivers me to General Adonis. Now imprisoned, I’m at his mercy. And although it seems like Adonis wants to help me, I’m not sure I can trust him because Azhrea’s influence might be too strong.
And even if I’m lucky enough to escape Azhrea and the First Gate, how am I supposed to survive the next four? Not to mention the final face-off with Ares, who wants my head on a silver platter, owing to the hatred he harbors for my mother.
What’s that old phrase about the ‘sins of the parent being visited on the children’?
Yeah, touché.
This newest entry in the world of Greek mythic romance will grip you with plenty of sexy gods, multiple POVs, a kick-ass heroine, magic, mystery and danger.
