Jasmine Mas

Have you ever read a book so ungood that it makes the other vaguely written romantasy books you've read look better by comparison?

Because, frankly, what this book did to its source mythology, and my patience, was so much more egregious than others of its ilk that I think I will simply look back and find them all endearingly awkward fruits of youthful inexperience. An entire genre has been elevated because I think I've finally learned how bad it can get!

Because I read Blood of Hercules by show more Jasmine Mas.

See what I did there, with the single line separated out from the paragraph, followed by another paragraph, using spacing to get that single line to land with extra weight? Writers do that all the time, when they want a particular phrase to have a little more emotional punch. It's a simple timing trick available because of the way humans read lines on a page.

But in The Blood of Hercules...

Nearly every line is separated out.

Single-sentence paragraphs abound.

Which dissolves the intended effect of the spacing.

Because the more you stack single line paragraphs together, the less any of them matter at all.

It all becomes a very stilted read.

Y'ALL. The whole book is like that! This is exactly the kind of thing that people mean when they say that romantasy is poorly written and, frankly, I can't even blame the author because any half-decent editor could and should have fixed it. Heck, I was fixing it in my head as I read it!

There are, of course, a few things that I can blame the author for. This is basically set up as the same story structure as most teen romantasies: underestimated (in this case, horribly abused) girl learns how to be violent. Except, this isn't a YA book. And there isn't much learning and the Academy sequences are just repetition of the same nonsensical torture for most of the middle third of the book. The sexy scenes aren't sexy. The vocabulary here is straight out of fanfic 1.0, including the infamous use of "fisting" when one means clenching a fist (and if you aren't familiar with what the word fisting actually means, I invite you to cautiously Google that, but definitely not while you're at work -- or just read Shelley Parker-Chan's fantastic She Who Became the Sun and you'll get it).

And, really, the use of Greek myth is just... what? This is a post-apocalyptic setting where gods and titans have returned, they use Greek names and references for the most part, they call themselves Spartans, they literally live on Corfu... but somehow they all speak and read in Latin? No matter how many times you use the phrase "Greco-Roman" (NOT A THING), these are not the same cultures! All of the "mythical inspired" worldbuilding seems similarly illogical. That name-dropping of Hercules on the back cover, for example? Spoiler alert: it's literally just her real name; nothing in the entire book has anything to do with Hercules except for one reference to Nemean lions. Also, their entire immortal race is concerned that they aren't having enough children, but they routinely force their children to slaughter each other in ritual massacres?

What!?!!

And yes, all the violence is front and center throughout. I invite you to peruse the front and back cover when next you are in a bookstore and ask yourself, does anything in the appearance of this book prepare you for a feast of severed body parts, eyeballs in boxes, broken protruding bones, or -- the dominant theme, if you'll forgive the pun -- psycho-stalker dark romance?

No? Looks like a bog standard romantasy? Huh, weird.

In fact, the marketing on this very dark dark romantasy has been bonkers. The marketing team has a lot to answer for. And, beyond that, the first person voice reads very young. I'm talking like, the main character thinks about her high school a lot, the one that she was literally in at the beginning of the book, that kind of young. The book is very prompt to remind you regularly that she's 19(!), but it feels fairly icky when her grown professors start to feel a certain kind of obsessive way about her. I know that dark romances intentionally throw things like informed consent out the window, but that's still gross.

I'm not sure that The Blood of Hercules has any kind of excuse for being the kind of book that is very much not suitable for a young audience but does everything to entice that audience to pick it up anyway. As I said, marketing has much to answer for but also... age up your protagonists properly if you're going to write this kind of book, friends!

I know that I am not usually so harsh in my reviews, but I really feel that BoH is highlighting an unfortunate trend of disguising dark and violent romance with pretty, teen-friendly covers. While there are content warnings in the front matter, they are far enough in that only folks already in possession of the book are likely to see them. I know they say that you can't judge a book by it's cover, but... that's literally the point of a cover, to give the reader a hint about what kind of book this is. The publishers of BoH have failed in that task.

Probably the most frustrating thing about all of this is that this book could have been really great. The premise had so much potential! Greek gods return and usher in the apocalypse! Amazing! But when we rush books to print, package them to fit trends they aren't part of, and don't pay editors enough to do their jobs, this is the execution we get. It's a shame. show less

I was originally thinking “I really enjoy the writing style of this author…” and then remembered it’s the same author as the last book I read, which explains why I enjoyed the writing style.

This book (is amazing) is really different from Book 1 — this was so much better. Book 1, like, lays out and gives you an idea of the characters and then Book 2 puts all those characters into motion — if you lost interest in Book 1, you’ve missed out on Book 2 (and I can relate to that show more because I’ve experienced it in books I’ve read).

Alexis mentions and prays to “god” a lot in this book and mentions a preacher a lot — I found that disturbing/upsetting. I am very curious in rereading this in Book format and seeing how “god” is spelt — I’ve noticed some authors writing “god” instead of “God” and, as an atheist with religious trauma, I very much appreciate it.

I’m not sure I want to own a novel that has “God” in it but I am interested in rereading this one. show less

Oh kay so...we went from the shifter realm where it was like the army against some monsters to now we are in the Fae realm and so many things happen right away! There's prisons and torture and then some forced Death Race meets Hunger Games type BS from the evil queen. Our main dudes totally are crushing hard on our little alpha and her BFF is there for moral support. The ending left me hella surprised and ready for the next book right away (thank all the gods that I discovered this series show more after all three are out or I wouldn't last through all the cliffhangers and excitement!)


It's so well written and the world building it absolute chef's kiss. 100/10 recommend show less

Finally! I've stumbled upon a romantasy gem that has completely captivated me: "Blood of Hercules"! To say I loved it feels like a profound understatement. The narrators were absolutely phenomenal, elevating this already amazing book to another level! I found myself desperately savoring every single detail of Alexis's world, its fascinating characters, and the intricate setting. Now that it's over, the wait for the second book feels like an agonizing eternity!

From the very first page, I was show more utterly enthralled by Alexis's sharp, hilariously self-aware perspective. Thrust headfirst into the brutal reality of the Spartan war academy, her journey is a relentless battle for survival and a grueling test of her worth in a fiercely patriarchal society. My heart ached for the constant threats she faced, the battles against having her spirit broken, yet I couldn't help but laugh out loud at her relatable, self-deprecating inner monologue show less