Bracken has done it again. Blending Greek Mythology with present day reality. Developing her characters while keeping the action moving. You'll love, hate, get frustrated, with Lore and Van, Castor and Mile's for starters. You'll be on the edge of your seat one minute and wanting to scream in frustration the next. A wild ride worth the stomach drops.

Lore is an action packed mythological adventure in a modern setting. The main character, Lore, gets caught up in a competition she thought she could leave behind. It was exciting from start to finish and rich in visual details. One thing that would have benefitted the book is more explicit details about the competition itself. Overall, though, it was a fun and unique book.

Fans of Rick Riot fan’s Percy Jackson series will love this book. Melora, a mortal, is involved with a battle between gods.

I am a huge fan of Alexandra Bracken. The Darkest Minds trilogy is one of my favorite series and everything else she wrote after that I loved. When I saw she was coming out with a book about mythology I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and when I saw it on NetGalley I hoped and prayed I could get approved for it, and I did! I was not disappointed. And y’all, the cover is beautiful.

Description
Lore runs away from her life with the gods after her family was slaughtered and she had no one else. She ends up in New York where she participates in sanctioned fights for money and lives with her friend Miles. Lore finds out the Agon, where the Greek gods become mortal, can be killed, and the murderer gets all their powers, will be held in New York. People she hasn’t seen in ages are back and drawing her back into the life she left. For her to be completely done with the god life forever she will have to take part in the Agon.

Thoughts
This book was intense and full of action. I had a hard time putting it down to get real-life things done. Bracken does such a great job merging our world with mythology. Her writing immerses you in the world she’s created.

I loved all the characters even the evil ones. Bracken writes characters that you love and can relate to so flawlessly. The twists and turns in this book really surprised me and caught me off guard. I can usually figure out what is about to happen, but this one threw me for a loop. I had all kinds of theories for why certain things were occurring, but of course, I was pretty much wrong about them all. This book will keep you on your toes for real. I’m so sad that this is a stand-alone. I would have loved to read a second book about these characters and this world.

Character Love
Lore- I loved Lore. She never once got on my nerves, as most mc’s do, and she was such a relatable character.

Miles- Miles was the perfect friend for Lore. There was no way to not like him. I loved that he stayed by Lore’s side and was super helpful.

Castor- I wasn’t too sure about Castor in the beginning, but it didn’t last long. There were a few times I wasn’t sure if he was trustworthy.

Van- I was not a fan of Van at first, but he definitely grew on me.

Iro- I really liked Iro a lot. I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of her though.

Conclusion
If you haven’t already read this book you should go out and get it asap. I read about half of the book and then listened to the rest. The audiobook was really good and the narrator did a great job portraying each character’s personality.

I really just couldn't get into this book. It's really chonky, which is fine if it is engaging but I found the style very complicated and it was hard off the bat to keep characters straight and understand the complicated modern world-building but with mythology. It's an interesting idea but I found it overly complicated.

Officially DNFing this one. I was really looking forward to this one but it just wasn't working for me. I really like Greek mythology but I think the mixture of that with modern times and a gladiator type setting just was too much. Many people out there seem to really have loved this book though so I'm in the minority and that's fine with me.

This had the potential to be great but was filled with violence and made me uncomfortable. I`m all for blood and guts but rape and pedophilia crosses the line.
I gave 3 stars because I did enjoy the premise of a Medusa retelling as well as the characters. I just think the plot was a little too much.

A fast-paced, original story that kept me turning the page! The world-building alone was immaculate, and then that twist! It has a Hunger Games vibe that was felt sort of nostalgic to read; I enjoyed that aspect. As a longtime fan of Greek mythology, that element was definitely my favorite part of the book. All in all, a very fun read!

Greek mythology-inspired, Lore is Percy Jackson meets Hunger Games in The Purge. To even the odds sort of speak, every seven years the Gods walk among humans as humans in a fight for power. The Aegon hunt is when the Greek God’s descendants have the chance to fight for a chance to be among the Gods. They kill a God and in return, they get their place and power. It’s a brutal world of survival of the strongest.

Alexandra Bracken did a good job with the plot of this story. Lore, our main protagonist has left this brutal world and does not want any part of it. Unfortunately, she is put in a very difficult situation and she has no choice but to join back in. The chaos and drama in this hunt makes it a good read. However, few of the scenes were predictable and it was easy for me to lose interest. When I was interested, the scene fell short. There was good build up but the climax just didn’t do it for me. I will admit that the fight scenes were pretty good and I love Lore and what she stands for.

As a whole, Lore would be a good read for younger readers who enjoy fantasy and Greek mythology. A bit of warning, there’s quite a bit of violence in this book.

It is always a joy to have a new Alexandra Bracken book! Her latest is Lore, which is a standalone fantasy novel that focuses on Greek mythology and is set in New York City (two of my favorite things). It's centered around an event called the Agon, in which the nine Greek gods are forced to become mortals every seven years and are hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines who can then kill them and gain their powers. For years, Lore Perseous has turned her back on that world and hidden herself away after the brutal deaths of her family. But when the next hunt comes to her city, two participants find her: her childhood friend Castor, whom she believed to be dead, and the wounded goddess Athena. She can't ignore either of them and from that moment, it's go go go. Because it's a standalone, the action starts immediately and the entire book had a high stakes feeling from start to finish.


I loved the way Bracken interpreted Greek mythology, pulling in the gods and the rival families (you can guess where Lore is from, right?) and gave it a modern twist by setting it in the present and NYC. From the beginning, Lore was a heroine who intrigued me. I wanted to know her backstory and everything that led her to this moment of joining the fight after years of isolation. I admired her courage and unwillingness to follow the rules dictated by the society she was a part of. The build up of her story completely paid off and the secondary characters who join her only built upon that. Friends from her past and present quickly played a huge role and I'm always a fan of watching unique individuals come together to form an unlikely crew (Bracken is so good at this!). Overall Lore was a super fun, well-written book with lots of twists and turns that kept me on my toes.


Do I recommend? Absolutely! It's out as of yesterday so definitely pick it up.

Ah, Lore, how I wanted to love you. Especially, with that cover, that cover is just *chef's kiss* And I absolutely love a good mythology retelling or reimaging, so this book should have been right up my alley, but instead this ended up being a huge miss for me.

The premise sounds wonderful and intriguing, but unfortunately, I didn't feel attached to any of the characters, and I care far more about character development than I do about anything else. So the fact that these characters felt very stereotypical and didn't keep me engaged with the story at all meant that no amount of plot was going to save this book for me. And to be honest, I didn’t feel that plot was that strong either.

As I am in the minority on this though, it is entirely possible that you might end up loving this one. It just wasn’t for me.

I can't. I can't with this book, it's so good! I've been talking about it to everyone who will listen from the second I started reading it, and it shouldn't be surprising to anyone who knows me but I found this to be probably one of my faves this year so far. Everyone's been throwing around the "Hunger Games but Greek mythology" tagline since it was published, but I don't think it's 100% accurate. There's too much to the Agon to consider it a trial like that, and the underlying factors here give me a very different vibe.

Lore is probably one of my favourite protagonists in years, though, someone who doesn't give up the fight just because she's outnumbered or outmanned. And honestly, we need more of that lately, there's way too big of a trend of female protags getting upset when they can't do One Thing and backing down. I'm not sure if this is going to be a series, and I honestly hope it isn't, but I'd take more of this cast if there's the writing desire there. Castor is pretty cool, and Miles and Evander played a way bigger role than I thought they would, or that I was expecting.

I'm definitely gonna go reread this at some point, probably with at least one of the people I talked into reading it while I was doing so myself. I was so interested in the concept that I didn't even realise I had the ARC and ended up buying a copy, if that says how much I loved this one. If I could give this higher than a 5/5 I would, I definitely recommend it if you're looking for a cool female lead adventure.

A solid 2.5 star read for me, I was hoping for more action and neat Greek mythology to be brought due to the description of Hunger games meeting mythology: however, it was clearly a YA trope and I'd adore more and quite an in-depth dive into mythological inter-personal drama and ancient lifestyle adapted to modern days.
Kudos to the marketing team, the promotion was excellent, however, some triggering subjects were explored and presented, and frankly, I was under the impression that the work itself will go in quite a different direction.
Overall an ok read, I guess I have to personally work on expectations I put towards works of fiction. It is very acceptable character development, world-building was a bit off for me, and thanks for not overkilling the work with romance.

Alex Bracken has another winner with LORE. Though it sometimes suffers with the authors tendency to write long, LORE is an ambitious and successful standalone fantasy and love letter to New York. The research and care built into the plot and love for mythology come across well. The best part, as always, are the characters. Bracken has a way of weaving you directly into the story and I connected with Lore instantly. This book is much different from much of her previous work, so I would go into it with that in mind so as not to have false expectations, but overall very enjoyable!

A battle to the death in seven days, all taking place in New York City.

Lore has distanced herself from the Greek Gods and the trials of the Agon. But this time she is brought back into the battle despite everything she did to stay hidden. Now, allied with a former friend and one of the last original Greek Gods, Lore must end the Agon for good.

The story moves at a steady pace with a gradual introduction of a wide cast of characters. The plot has many twists that will keep the readers engaged with a few expected betrayals along the way. Lore is an independent character that readers will root for and experience much of her emotional turmoil. The plot becomes cluttered towards the end that can become overwhelming for readers.

I couldn't put this book down once I started it. The description of this being Greek mythology meets the Hunger Games is definitely apt. There are duel timelines that help to fill in the back story which is done extremely well.

The evolution of the characters is written in an enthralling way that gets you completely invested in the quest. However, I do think that a prologue or epilogue that better describes the history of the Agon and it's purpose would have answered many questions.

This is definitely an amazing story and I would highly recommend.

This was a fast paced, well written retelling of greek mythology. I knew that I would like it from the fist page and I was not dissapointed!

Modern-day Greek mythology set in New York. Strong female protagonist with great fighting skills (almost too cliché). It was fast read, but it felt so incredibly long and drawn out.

(actual rating: 2.5/5)

For a book with a cover and synopsis like this one, I was really expecting something more engaging.

'Lore' is set in the modern-day world where The Hunger Games meets Greek mythology. Every seven years, there is an event called the Agon, where nine gods and goddesses lose their immortality and are hunted for a week by the descendants of Greek heroes, as punishment for their betrayal to Zeus. The nine families hunt to kill, and by doing so, gain the power of the being they've cut down.

Last Agon, Lore, the main character, lost everything she held dear. Ever since, she's decided to distance herself from that world and live her life free from the obsessive, cutthroat ways of the hunters. But blood calls to blood, and darkness is rising - and no one should count her out.

From the very beginning of the story, I was invested. The synopsis had already appealed to me, and the beginning of the story reeled me in. Lore was a, seemingly, great main character - strong in her resolve and even stronger with her fists.

But as the book progressed, things started to drag. I realized around 60% that I was just forcing myself to finish, I've come to the conclusion that this book has more gore than actual action, because while we're told that Lore spent years training for the Agon, and as a result, is very strong and good in battle, we don't really see much of that. There's a lot of build-up to the action scenes but there usually isn't a lot of action.

That being said, the big reveal at about three-quarters into the book isn't much of a reveal. There was a lot of foreshadowing of what was going to happen, and I found that I had been able to predict all of it, especially the betrayal of a certain character. Things start getting very convenient for the sake of wrapping up loose plotlines at the very end as well, which wasn't fun.

The characters overall were a bit bland to me. Lore herself does go through a bit of character development and growth, but for the most part, I was pretty indifferent to her story and couldn't really bring myself to care (she also has a strange obsession with NYC that had me cringing at times). I also felt that she was quite naive, although that is somewhat acknowledged in the book. Castor, Lore's childhood friend, fell extrememly flat for me. His defining character traits are that he a.) has Apollo's powers but doesn't remember how, and b.) he's nice. I actually liked Van (Castor's cousin) and Miles (Lore's friend), but I felt that there could have been more development for their characters.

Honestly speaking, I really didn't like the romance between Lore and Castor. Just like the characters themselves, the romance was pretty boring. At the very least, it isn't insta-love, but the slow-burn didn't feel like slow-burn, but rather, that it was being dragged out just for more page-time. I didn't feel any sort of chemistry between them either, which translated to me being more invested in the growing something between Van and Miles.

The passage of time was also quite confusing in this book. Lots of things happen, but it's written to seem like it happens all at once. At one point, I had been reading a part of the book, wondering how on earth the characters could go through all of that in three days, seemingly without sleeping, and then there was a line saying "five days had passed". It doesn't make much sense, and I would have been more inclined to ignore the issue all together if it hadn't interfered with the progression of the plot.

One of the best things about this book, however, is the world that Bracken has created for the story to take place. I loved the idea of the Greek gods and goddesses becoming mortal for a week and being hunted by the descendents of major Greek heroes. It was clear that a lot of research went into the making of this book, and I really appreciated that.

Overall, I found this book as something with a really good concept, but not necessarily good execution, and part of that may have been because of how much I had hyped it up for myself. It wasn't really for me, but I can definitely see a lot of people enjoying this. I would recommend this for anyone who is appealed to the idea "The Hunger Games but make it modern with Greek mythology".

“Lore.” He kept that same soft tone. “I was born knowing how to do three things— how to breathe, how to dream, and how to love you.”


Lore has tried to let go of all the demons from her past and move on, but it seems like her past is not done with her. When a friend she thought dead shows back up with a warning that she is being hunted, Lore finds herself flung back into the battle for godhood with the remaining gods of the Greek parthenon and their trained soldiers. This time though, the cycle may not leave anyone alive.

Lore was gritty and dark and dangerous, full of death, battles and horror and I loved every minute of this story! I will admit that I only had a vague notion of what the book was about, I basically picked it up without having read the synopsis since I like the author, so I went into the story blind. Lore was the modern day retelling-ish version of the Greek Gods that I didn't know I needed in my life. The story takes place over 7 days- 7 scary, intense and action packed days that made the story feel like it was flying, the pacing so fast and exciting/stressful. I also found the story surprisingly romantic (no I would not call this a romance, more a coming of age with a lot of battles and action) and full of hope and compassion, which seemed so odd in such a desperate pain filled story.

Overall I found this to be exciting and engaging, 100% unique and unlike anything I have read before. I also appreciated that this story wrapped up fully, making this a standalone read in a world full of long drawn out series. I fully recommend this for anyone who loves the myths of Greek Gods, action adventures that still are full of heart and a girl who is ready to battle for what is right.