Blood of Hercules
Villains of Lore #1
By: Jasmine Mas
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Publication date: Aug. 1, 2021
Genre: New Adult Fantasy Romance
Rating
Step into the Coliseum at the Spartan War Academy where monsters are made, immortality is won, and even a god can die…
Alexis Hert isn’t a hero, and she certainly isn’t a god. All she’s ever been is a survivor.
But the Fates disagree.
When a blood test leads to her admittance at the Spartan War Academy, she’ll have to do more than merely survive.
Alexis will have to claim her birthright: immortality.
But immortality is a privilege, one earned in the crucible of the academy, where the heroes are villains and classrooms battlegrounds. While gladiators Achilles and Patro, her demanding mentors, hone her into a warrior, Augustus and Kharon, her professors and the brooding heirs to the underworld, haunt her steps and her thoughts.
Because where there are gods, there are bound to be monsters, and there is more than one hunting Alexis…
My thoughts…
Alexis is not one of those “pick me” kind of female characters. You know, the ones that are just so bad ass and awesome for no rhyme or reason. In fact, Alexis is in the foster system, and is placed in an abusive home. Covered in scars, starved, and honestly, may as well be homeless, Alexis navigates high school. However, all of this changes when she pricks her finger in order to turn in her test for school. You see, her blood doesn’t come out red like everyone else’s. Which immediately sends everyone into high alert that there is a mutt (Greek God/Human hybrid) in their midst that should not be there. Alexis is whisked away and sent to the crucible to either die, or live and become an immortal. This story follows her journey in the crucible.
I will say that I did have a hard time getting into this at first. There was just something not fully clicking for me. However, once Alexis enters the Spartan War Academy, I started to get my bearings and really started to enjoy the story. You see, during her schooling, which lasts months, they spend 2 week increments going to classes, being tested, and sometimes running the crucible (a deadly gauntlet). During all of this, they are not allowed to sleep, eat, or drink anything. So, some of the story telling is disjointed and jumps around because Alexis, herself, is mentally struggling with the lack of sleep and food. However, it’s these rare out of pocket moments of delirium that had be entertained.
This story also has moments where we follow other characters in the book that play a large roll in Alexis’ story. It was interesting getting inside their heads to get a better understanding of them as a character. Now, I’m not going to say that I fully understand them, because I don’t. They are a bit twisted in the head and definitely schemed their way into certain things, which was less than admirable. Even still, their level of possessiveness was a delicious thing to read.
While this doesn’t necessarily end on a cliffhanger, Alexis’ story is only just beginning. Things are still developing, her world with the Spartans is only just starting, and there’s so much we don’t know about who she is at her core. All we saw was sleep deprived and starved Alexis trying to survive. I’m interested to see how she fares when she’s gotten sleep and is fed.
