BOOK THREE: Destined, Jessie Harrell (three and a half stars)
I’ve been fascinated by the story of Eros and Psyche since sixth grade, when our English and social studies classes did units on ancient Greece (which culminated with Greek Night, when we all had to do some presentation involving an aspect of ancient Greek culture; my group did a skit called Medusa’s Hair Salon). I’ve read a few books/short stories with this myth as a basis, and even attempted to write my own during NaNoWriMo a few years back.
Destined was not one of the best of the adaptations.
Oh, it was an easy read, and cute. I liked Psyche’s personality. She had enough moxie that it wasn’t grating and didn’t read like faux girl power. However, I didn’t like the POV change—Psyche’s chapters are in first person; Eros’s in third. It disrupted the flow for me.
If you’re looking for a light, fluffy reading of the story, by all means go with this one. But if you’re left dissatisfied by Destined, I’ll suggest one of my favorite retellings: Cupid by Julius Lester. I read it at the start of last year, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
BOOK TWO: Tempest Rising, Tracy Deebs (three and a half stars)
(Hi, still doing this!)
Mermaids were supposed to be the Next Hot Thing in the young adult genre after the vampire craze came to a head (remember how Stephenie Meyer was supposed to be writing that book about sirens?), but they were instead displaced by dystopian stories. (thank you, Hunger Games!)
Contrary to what the blurb on the book says, this is not a book that is only about a love story. Yes, it does play a part, but by and large it’s about Tempest coming into her own.
Simply judging by the ending, Tempest Rising is going to have a sequel. If it doesn’t, then the author’s just cruel. There’s some pretty interesting world building going on there, though. The story was okay, but the promise of another one has piqued my interest in it juuuust a little.
BOOK ONE: The Leftovers, Tom Perotta (three stars)
I think I first heard about this book in Entertainment Weekly or on NPR last summer, and had been eager to read it all year.
During my first year of high school, my dad got super-into the “audio drama” version of the Left Behind series, and he would play the CDs/tapes in his car whenever we went places. I hated listening to them partially because I found it to be boring and because frankly, the idea of the Rapture freaks me out. People just disappearing out of nowhere? Even if you do believe in God/a spiritual force, that is seriously kind of frightening. The Leftovers deals with the dread and horror of witnessing large swaths of the population disappearing, and some interpret it to be the Rapture—like the group the Guilty Remnant. Except, well, the faithful aren’t the only ones to vanish.
I wasn’t riveted by the story, but not so much that I got bored enough to completely abandon the book. It felt really slow to me, and just as the Guilty Remnant started to get really creepy, the book was over. I wanted more of that gloominess and fright and less of the character study that I felt the book really was.
