Review: Goddess by Josephine Angelini

Goddess

Author: Josephine Angelini

Release: May 28th 2013

Genre: Mythology, Fantasy, Romance, YA

#3 in the Starcrossed trilogy

Series: Starcrossed (#1), Dreamless (#2)

Plot:

After accidentally unleashing the gods from their captivity on Olympus, Helen must find a way to re-imprison them without starting a devastating war. But the gods are angry, and their thirst for blood already has a body count.

To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a diabolical Tyrant is lurking among them, which drives a wedge between the once-solid group of friends. As the gods use the Scions against one another, Lucas’s life hangs in the balance. Still unsure whether she loves him or Orion, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, for war is coming to her shores.

In Josephine Angelini’s compelling conclusion to the masterfully woven Starcrossed trilogy, a goddess must rise above it all to change a destiny that’s been written in the stars. With worlds built just as fast as they crumble, love and war collide in an all-out battle that will leave no question unanswered and no heart untouched.

Goodreads | B&N

Review:

Contains mild spoilers.

Oh man. What was this? Seriously, what.. what was this?

Plot

Mess. A big, fat, ugly mess. That's all I can say about this. What's plot? What's structure? Although, there was a plot, a phantom plot. It was always talked about, but nothing ever happened. There was talk about this big epic battle with the gods but I was at page 388 and there were less than 50 pages left and that huge battle still hadn't happened yet and I was growing more anxious by the second. And everything leading up to the "finale" was simply anti-climactic and meh. It took me more than usual to finish this and get through it. 

Romance

I'm talking about romance next because this annoyed the fuck out of me. The whole damn conflict between Lucas and Helen could have been avoided if ANY of them would have been able to do the SIMPLEST, FIRST GRADE MATHS. And then the fact that Helen and Lucas weren't cousins got pulled out at the end like the big reveal everyone with half a brain cell had already figured out at the end of book two. Not to mention that, as COUSINS, they couldn't EVER be together. Never. Because if COUSINS have children, there's at least a 98% chance the child is deformed, or goes insane or anything. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS ANGELINI. At least make them siblings or something, but ... cousins? Really? And you're expecting me to take their struggle, their "starcrossed love" seriously? Hell, no. Not to mention Helen could've just had a child with some other man and still be with Lucas. Of course, that wouldn't be the optimal solution, but if they really loved each other so much and wanted to be together so badly, WHY THE FUCK NOT. This... I wanted to barge into Angelini's house the whole time, bang the book over her head and set fire to everything in the perimeter I WAS SO ANGRY.

And then there's everyone else who gets their happy ending with their soulmates, even the second guy in the love triangle CONVENIENTLY finds another girl who loves him so so much. There's only one starcrossed love in here and that's Ariadne's. 

Which brings me the next point, which is that everything in this book, and I mean literally e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g is just so convenient. So Helen can suck up Lucas' and Orion's powers, and become the most powerful Scion, like, ever and they don't get any of hers? And then she's even more all special and she can bend the world to do her bidding basically, she can heal the dead and grant immortality and all that cool stuff y'know, oh and Helen is very very beautiful and aphRODITE'S favorite and she's so compassionate and brave and caring and loving about family + friends and OH isn't Helen suCH A NICE GIRL:

Characters

Nope. I am not buying that at fucking all, Angelini. Helen isn't that perfect. She's not. Why would you make a Mary Sue extraordinaire? It doesn't make sense. It made me want to cry I was so frustrated at Helen being  the epitome of perfection and all that other annoying stuff. Cringe cringe cringe only. The other characters weren't much better. Character development? What's that? Oh yeah right Angelini doesn't know either. I just asjajf WHY. The characters were all so shitty and unlikeable in their flawlessness. 

Writing

I'll say it was decent. Most of the time I was feeling like I was reading fanfiction, but it wasn't bad all around. There were some times where her writing was shitty, but I can deal. Things like, quote, "he played with both hands — not one hand picking and the other holding down strings — but with both hands so that it sounded..." blah blah though... now how is that supposed to work? Please fucking tell me I'd love to know. And that wasn't the only time Angelini tried to put something bizarre like that on my plate. It was ridiculous. 

World building

The only, and I mean it, the ONLY redeeming quality this book has. The half star. I liked the world of Nantucket and the little flashbacks of Helen's past lives and the memories and lessons she carried from them. And while she muddled some things up I am pretty fucking sure did not happen during the siege of Troy, I still enjoyed the story. It was nice. Although nothing groundbreaking to save this huge mess.

I liked Starcrossed and Dreamless was okay, but this... No. I'm 100% done.