Lore Olympus: Volume Three

A goddess beginning her time as an eternal maiden and the king of the underworld have a complicated relationship and they’ve just met, what’s going to happen next? Oh, and things aren’t what they seem. Lore Olympus Volume Three by Rachel Smythe finds the two protagonists once again finding themselves together this time thanks to the machinations of Hera whose plans of everyone else including Persephone and Hades.

Covering episodes #50-75 of the webcomic finds Hades and Persephone combatting the gossip by different means, mainly by doing things that are toxic to themselves or hiding away from the truth as well as staying away from one another. However, when Hera selects Persephone as Olympus’ representative for an intern exchange show more program with the Underworld, things once again are complicated between the two protagonists. Yet Smythe begins branching out the story with subplots featuring Eros, Minthe, and planting the seeds for others as the series while slowly pulling away layers of the protagonists’ stories including a mysterious event in the past. The art’s quality is excellent and Smythe shaping of the story is engaging, dominated by character-driven narrative but with a mix of worldbuilding and humor.

Lore Olympus Volume Three by Rachel Smythe continues the quality storytelling that she had established earlier and that the story is about to expand in a natural way that makes the reader want to know what is going to happen next. show less

Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus: Volume Three continues her retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone, collecting episodes 50-75 of the comic that originally appeared on WEBTOON. In these stories, Hades shows Persephone around the Underworld as part of her internship, including a look at the library of souls and Acheron, the beachhead between the Mortal Realm and Hades’ kingdom. Meanwhile, Hera tries to sus out Zeus’ perspective on Apollo following her vision about Apollo and Persephone. Zeus dismisses her concerns, caring more about Apollo’s reputation and its possible blowback on the Olympians. Naturally, this exposes his own hypocrisy as Zeus carries on an affair. Flashbacks show how Artemis invited Kore to live with her and show more Hestia. She thinks of this after Persephone suggested there was more to Artemis’ twin, Apollo, than Artemis realized. These flashbacks also show how Kore became Persephone, meaning “bringer of death” (episode 63). Meanwhile, some bonding time with Eros allows Persephone to finally discuss events with a sympathetic listener. After decompressing, Persephone hangs out with Eros and meets the rest of his family, including his siblings – Mania, Philautia, Pragma, Ludus, Philia, Agape, and Storge – and his mother, Aphrodite, who is partially responsible for introducing her to Hades in the first place.

Smythe continues to demonstrate her creativity in retelling Greek mythology. Not only does she begin exploring more of the Greek pantheon, she discusses their alternate names – like Hades originally being Aidoneus (chapter 63) – and their often complicated relationships. Smythe’s portrayal of the mortal realm as Bronze Age while the gods of Olympus have modern amenities extends to flashbacks: Psyche must tell Aphrodite how she met Eros. Her flashback appears as black-figure ceramic art such as was in use in Athens from the sixth century BCE onward, which is genius and part of Smythe’s wonderfully clever imagination. Like the other trade editions collecting Lore Olympus, Smythe includes a bonus episode for this book. This hardcover edition is a great way for fans to add the WEBTOON to their physical bookshelf to revisit these stories and share with friends. show less

We get a little lost in the weeds as the creator just has the characters talk and talk -- in an engaging way, mind you -- with many digressions and only a smidge of forward progress.

It's hard to remember all the characters without a cast list or convenient, frequent mention of their names, so I feel I'm losing some subtleties in the short appearances and many developments amongst the vast and sometimes too-similar-looking ensemble.

Still a fun soap opera though . . . even when it gets heavy.

I write this as a huge/longtime fan of Hades and Persephone (and mythology in general) I am not a fan, or hater of this webcomic. I think some of the criticism this series has gotten is warranted, but not all of the hate. I honestly enjoyed some of the twists that the author made to the mythologies she incorporated into this work (plenty of Greek mythology references and side stories tied to those) and some of the panels and images are absolutely gorgeous and visual treats.

That said, the translation of webcomic to paper is not entirely successful and some of the pages don't look great and/or are hard to read, and the anatomy is really wonky in some places. All in all, this won't suit everyone, but I find it entertaining and creative in show more some parts. show less

I think the design and pictures in this book is just stunning. This book also was just super compeling. I loved how the consequnces of book 1 and the assult that occured kept hacing consquences as the sereies went one. It was very quick read and i am just really fond of the characters and excited to to be caught up on this series!!

Although I absolutely loved this installment, I think this is the first time reading the book form of Lore Olympus where I felt like reading the online comic was a better experience. I am a fast-passer so I am all caught up beyond the print volumes, and I purchased the volumes bc I prefer print to a computer screen . . . but I think the online panels are a better experience. It makes sense since the comic is optimized to be viewed within the WebToon's app/website. Anyway - if you have never read Lore Olympus online and enjoyed the first two books, I absolutely recommend Volume Three! And I'll be buying all the volumes I'm just noticing the flow has changed.

CWs: Persephone experiences PTSD from her SA, she speaks about her feelings in show more regard to it. show less

This one had to be my favorite for sure. I like how this story is progressing a lot. I'm also so happy that Kore finally talked to someone about Apollo (that bastard). I also like her and Hades's relationship and I can't wait for them to finally be together. I also enjoy seeing the other Gods and learning about their stories.