I thought this was an okay read. It was an interesting mix of YA, apocalyptic, dark fantasy, and horror. While I’m not crazy about dark fantasy, I find it can be pretty depressing, the rest sounded really good to me. I was hoping this would be right up my alley instead I’m left thinking that it was just alright.

A bunch of old Sumerian gods have come Earth to start the end of days. However, one of the gods that was the key to these end of the world plans never showed up so the word is stuck in a constant apocalypse. Demi-gods and gods are running around eating humans just for the fun of it. Sixteen-year-olds Emelia Bareilles and Gillian Halkey have had enough and are ready to travel below to the land of the dead to finally end the way things are.

I love Greek and Roman mythology but the only thing I know about Sumerian mythology comes from the original Ghostbusters movie. Well Gozer and Zuul are not even real demi-god and gods so I actually know less than nothing. This apocalyptic idea seemed so different to the ones I normally read I had to give it a try. The apocalyptic world on earth actually reminded me a bit of Karen Marie Moning Fever series, except this book is with gods and demi gods many who are monster like. That does change quickly though since most of the book takes place as the girls are traveling the underworld.

I think when I saw the horror tag I expected this to be scary. I do understand the horror tag here but it’s more gory horror than scary horror. There are a lot of gross things and people dying. This is YA, the characters feel like 16 year-olds, but this might not be appropriate for kids under 14. I could see it becoming possible nightmare territory. I’m no expert on kids so this is a guess on my part.

This does have a light wlw storyline. The two girls are best friends and it’s clear one girl has stronger feelings we just don’t really know how the other feels. There are some mixed messages. But when it comes overall to the teeny tiny romance everything stays very G-rated.

This book was a bit depressing and gross at times. However, I do have to mention there were some nice girl-power moments near the end. Not everything is doom and gloom and it was nice to see these girls trying to take their power back. This is the kind of book I might remember just because it was so different. It didn’t really end up being for me personally, but I could see it working better for other readers.

I love YA post-apocalyptic books. This has an interesting subject with a not well-known Sumerian mythology angle and 2 kick-ass girl heroes. That being said this one didn't really do it for me.. could not really relate to the main characters and the writing was a bit chaotic for me. A lot needed to be said in a short space it seems. Descriptions were good though, but maybe the book was a bit too "young" for me to really get into it.

Apocalyptic fiction comes in many varieties today and there’s certainly no shortage of options, but apocalypse based on Sumerian mythology…now that’s bound to grab my attention. I’m interested in all mythology, but Sumeria seldom gets its time in the sun as it were, so for this I was willing to take a chance on an unknown author/unknown publishers and, more importantly, try to ignore the fact that it screamed YA. Because this slender volume managed to get very complimentary blurbs from respectable authors of proper adult fiction, I figured (hoped) maybe this would just be one of those stories where the protagonists are young, but the writing isn’t. Alas…this wasn’t it. This was very, very much YA. Two teenage girls, suddenly in love, and determined to travel the inevitably inhospitable Sumerian land of the dead to maybe, just maybe reset the world from the bizarre reality it’s been in for the last decade, since the Sumerian apocalypse set in. Told in the snarky sarcastic quippy style that seems to very a YA go to narration choice. The characters and dialogue are all very much age appropriate, 16 or so, and definitely no more. And while there is an inexplicably large adult audience out there for books deliberately written below their presupposed intellectual and maturity levels, I’m not it and I was unable to…get with it. The Sumerian angle was fun, the mythology and deities and rules…all very entertaining. But the story left a lot to be desired…too much Y, not enough A, that sort of thing. It was fun enough and short enough to entertain adequately, but not much more than that. Traditional YA audience (you know, teens and intellectually immature adults) would probably get so much more out of this. Otherwise, it’s just too…young. The publishers (going by their statement) are on a mission to put out feminist themed material and this qualifies. Girl power all the way, positive message and all that. So…very good. For teenage girls. Thanks Netgalley.