Review: Ungodly

Author: Kendare Blake
Series: Goddess War, #3
Released: September 22nd 2015
Publisher: Tor Teen
Length: 368 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: Amazon

As ancient immortals are left reeling, a modern Athena and Hermes search the world for answers in the final Goddess War novel by the acclaimed author of Anna Dressed in Blood

For the Goddess of Wisdom, what Athena didn’t know could fill a book. That’s what Ares said.

So she was wrong about some things. So the assault on Olympus left them beaten and scattered and possibly dead. So they have to fight the Fates themselves, who, it turns out, are the source of the gods’ illness. And sure, Athena is stuck in the underworld, holding the body of the only hero she has ever loved.

But Hermes is still topside, trying to power up Andie and Henry before he runs out of time and dies, or the Fates arrive to eat their faces.

And Cassandra is up there somewhere too. On a quest for death. With the god of death.

Just because things haven’t gone exactly according to plan, it doesn't mean they’ve lost. They’ve only mostly lost. And there’s a big difference. 

Those of us who’ve been waiting for Ungodly with bated breath knew right from the start that this would not be a lighthearted conclusion. Greek gods come and do as they please and they tend to leave nothing but blood in their wake. So when you put those gods in the hands of someone like Kendare Blake, an author known for her talent in writing blood and gore, a bloody battle is pretty much what you’re going to get.

Our heroes, separated in battle, find themselves in three different places, fighting different fights. Hermes, Andy and Henry don’t know whether Athena and Cassandra survived. Athena herself is in Underworld, half crazed by Odysseus’s death. And Cassandra is just a ball of murderous rage, ready to kill all the gods, friends and foes alike. They each have their own adventures and trials, and it’s not until the second half that they collide.

Like in the two previous installments, I found Athena to be the most interesting character by far. This time she faces tremendous loss, more than she can bear, and she approaches it like she approaches everything, with no regard for her own safety. Her adventure in the Underworld is my favorite part of this book and her romance with a certain not-quite-mortal the thing that warmed my heart the most. A few more complex characters were added in this final installment, and several unlikely allies showed us a different side.

Characterization isn’t the only thing that Kendare Blake does extraordinarily well. Her descriptions are beautiful and precise and she doesn’t shy away from anything, no matter how bloody or painful it may be. With one goddess coughing up feathers, another’s skin stretched out for miles in the desert, and an emaciated god who keeps eating enormous amounts of food to no avail, there’s plenty of imagery to keep us occupied and grossed out.

The most important part of this trilogy and especially its final installment is the deep emotional impact it has on the reader. Kendare doesn’t always make it easy to sympathize with the gods, but she gives us just enough to become invested in their fates. The conflicting emotions we feel for them, our struggle between love and hate, is reflected perfectly in the characters of those few humans around them.

Now that it’s over, I’m going to miss the Antigoddess trilogy very much, but I am even now excited for Kendare Blake’s next project. She has the most amazing ideas and she truly knows how to carry them out. You really can’t go wrong by choosing one of her books.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.