Have a Hot Time, Hades!

Recommended by Gwendolyn Baltera

In a casual, conversational, snarky voice, Hades tells his side of the story, in which his baby brother Zeus is a "myth-o-maniac" braggart and liar. He introduces readers to the Titans and the Olympians, and tells of how the "godlings" came to live on Mount Olympus.

This was a fun read. Much like Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams' Goddess Girls and Heroes in Training series, Kate McMullan takes well know Greek mythology and fractures it into tween friendly novels. This is probably for a slightly older audience than Goddess Girls or Heroes in Training though. There's a bit more violence and less focus on friendship and family.

In Have a Hot Time, Hades! we find out that Zeus has been lying about how he came to be the ruler of the Gods. It didn't happen like he said at all. But that's okay, Hades is on a mission to correct Zeus' lies. To do so, he's writing books featuring the truth of the story. Have a Hot Time, Hades! is the first novel (written with the help of ghost writers of course) but it's only show more one of a million myths Zeus has butchered so be prepared for a lot of reading.

There were some interesting revelations. I liked the reasoning behind the Olympic Games (the Titans and Gods played a bunch of games to determine who should be the ruler of Mount Olympus) and I enjoyed Mother Earth/Gaia or Granny as she's known to Hades telling everyone off - and Hades logic to get out of being in trouble (they're her grandkids and grannies are supposed to like their grandkids). Plus I love a good chicken joke.

“I’m Thalia!” said a third. “Muse of Comedy. Here’s a good one. Why did the chicken cross the road?” “To be sacrificed to the gods, of course,” Hera said. “Wrong!” said Thalia. “To get to the other side!” All the other Muses cracked up.

McMullan, Kate. Have a Hot Time, Hades! (Myth-O-Mania Book 1) (p. 48). Capstone Press. Kindle Edition.

Overall, fun read - 3 stars for me. 4 stars for target audience. show less

My kids can't get enough Greek mythology, and I think this is a great series for kids that aren't quite ready for Percy Jackson yet.

This was a cute take on Greek myths. Hades gets a book with the current version of all the greek myths in it and finds that Zues' myth-o-mania (lying) has gotten totally out of control. No one knows the real story of how the gods beat the titans. This is Hades version of events regarding the beatin of the titans. It's extremely funny and there is definitely some education of language development and vocabulary snuck in here. Not sure if I will be reading the rest yet.

This was a cute take on Greek myths. Hades gets a book with the current version of all the greek myths in it and finds that Zues' myth-o-mania (lying) has gotten totally out of control. No one knows the real story of how the gods beat the titans. This is Hades version of events regarding the beatin of the titans. It's extremely funny and there is definitely some education of language development and vocabulary snuck in here. Not sure if I will be reading the rest yet.

This was a cute take on Greek myths. Hades gets a book with the current version of all the greek myths in it and finds that Zues' myth-o-mania (lying) has gotten totally out of control. No one knows the real story of how the gods beat the titans. This is Hades version of events regarding the beatin of the titans. It's extremely funny and there is definitely some education of language development and vocabulary snuck in here. Not sure if I will be reading the rest yet.

This was a cute take on Greek myths. Hades gets a book with the current version of all the greek myths in it and finds that Zues' myth-o-mania (lying) has gotten totally out of control. No one knows the real story of how the gods beat the titans. This is Hades version of events regarding the beatin of the titans. It's extremely funny and there is definitely some education of language development and vocabulary snuck in here. Not sure if I will be reading the rest yet.