Worlds Unlike Our Own

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Synopsis: A year after saving the powers of Olympus by defeating Nyx, the Goddess of darkness, Daphne is haunted by still-looming threats, her complicated feelings for the god Apollo, and the promise she made to the Olympian gods that she would help them again when they called upon her. When their command comes, it is deceptively simple: secure herself a spot as one of Queen Helen’s guards.

A war is coming, and all of Sparta must be prepared. 

In the midst of a treaty summit among the monarchs of Greece, Daphne and Helen uncover a plot of betrayal – and soon, a battle begins. As the kingdoms of Greece clash on the shores of Troy and the gods choose sides, Daphne must use her wits, her training, and her precarious relationship with Apollo to find a way to keep her queen safe, stop the war, and uncover the true reason the gods led her to Troy. But the gods are keeping more than one secret, and Daphne will be forced to decide how far she is willing to go to save those she loves – and whose side she’s on in a war that is prophesized to be the downfall of her people.

Review:

A year after the events of Daughter of Sparta, Daphne has earned the respect of her fellow Spartans following her quest, but she knows the threat is far from gone, not to forget the promise she made to the Olympians to help when they call. And soon enough, they do call, and their command is to win the upcoming contest to select a new guard for Queen Helen. But the planned treaty summit involving all the kings of Greece and representatives from Troy is a plot designed to incite a war that has even the gods choosing sides and Daphne must find a way to keep Helen safe in the midst of all these schemes – even if it involves betraying Sparta and her own family.

When it comes to the Trojan War, I’ve always found myself supporting the Greeks, but this retelling weaves an intriguing version of events that had me on the side of the Trojans. The motivations behind the war and even a reasonable explanation for Helen going to Troy of her own free will was a new twist on a familiar tale and I was excited to see how it would all unfold and where Daphne’s oath to gods would ultimately lead her. The beginning of this book was a little slow for me, but it was a good refresher on the events so far before the real action started. There were plenty of battle scenes and action packed moments, not to mention a multitude of twists and turns that made this book nearly impossible to put down.

I really liked the portrayal of the characters. Daphne has grown quite a bit since the beginning of the series and her arc is turning into quite an interesting one. Helen in particular was a great addition and I loved reading about her friendship with Daphne. It was also really nice to see that Helen had a voice in this story where in other retellings she is often just the character that is the cause of the war and is then very much relegated to the background.

The one complaint I have about this instalment was that there simply wasn’t enough of Daphne and Apollo, which was one of my favourite things about the first book. I get that this is meant to be something of a slow burn, but with all the build up and given the length of this book, there really wasn’t any reason to not further their plot line at least a little. Also, the will-they, won’t-they is kind of driving me crazy.

Blood of Troy has raised the stakes higher than ever and after that nail-biting ending, I can’t wait to see what the finale will hold. Given that this book closes with the ending (albeit a very different one) of the Trojan War, the next book is probably going to be based on the Odyssey and with the multitude of myths that contains, I’m sure it’ll be an exciting read. This series continues to be a retelling of Greek mythology that completely turns the myths on its head, but this instalment was definitely much better written and I felt, had more depth than simply inserting Daphne into the places of various heroes and their stories. Highly recommended!

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Other reviews in this series:

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