Because You Love to Hate Me edited by Ameriie

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Publication date: 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 339
My rating: 3 stars
Ages: 16+

What is it about some villains that make them so intriguing? How did villains become villains? What is it that the villains really want? Through 13 different short stories we find the answers.

Each short story in this collection was inspired by a question asked by a book blogger, who then includes commentary after that story.

I had two favorite stories: "The Sea Witch" by Marissa Meyer, which shows how the sea witch who provides the Little Mermaid with legs came to be the sea witch. The other was "Beautiful Venom" by Cindy Pon. Pon takes the Greek myth about Medusa and transplants it into China in one of the best ways possible. I think the reason I liked both of these stories so much is that it really does show how these familiar villains became who they are. In the case of Meyer's story, the sea witch was an outcast who thought she found love only to be heartbroken. In "Beautiful Venom," Pon focused more on the part of the Medusa story that we tend to glaze over.

I was a little disappointed in some of the stories because I was expecting all of them to be like the ones I mentioned above—the origin stories of villains. Which did happen in some of the stories, but a lot of them turned the villains into heroes.

I did like the commentary from the bloggers; in fact, some times those where my favorite parts.

One of the stories does use the f-word repeatedly.

*I do not receive compensation from Amazon.

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

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Publication date: 2016
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 384
My rating: 4.5 stars
Ages: 12+
Series: The Trials of Apollo

After angering Zeus, again, Apollo lands in New York as a completely mortal teenage boy. Immediately enslaved by Meg, a young demi-god, Apollo and Meg head to Camp Half-Blood for safety. Apollo hopes that he can just hang out until Zeus is ready to reinstate his godhood, but campers have started disappearing, all lines of communication have stopped working, and the Oracle is still missing.

I have come to the point where I will preorder Riordan's books because I know I'm going to like them. This first book in a new series did not disappoint. It is highly amusing, especially since it's told in first-person from Apollo's point of view. Apollo's ego is probably only exceeded by Narcissus's.

Though I usually suffer from "series fatigue" (not wanting to read a book that is the beginning of a series because then I feel obligated to read the rest of the series), I never feel that way with Riordan's books. This is probably because most of the books in a his series have an ending, for that story line at least. I also like how they are all connected in some way, with "Easter eggs" for those who have read his other books.

I think that this book would be best read after having read Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus, just because it gives a nice background to the events leading up to this. However, Oracle could be read without doing that.

I think this is a great way to introduce younger kids to mythology.

No language and no sex.

*I do not receive compensation from Amazon.

The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

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Publication date: 2015
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 491
My rating: 4 stars
Ages:13+
Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

Magnus Chase has been living on his own on the streets of Boston since his mother died two years ago. But on his sixteenth birthday, everything changes. He dies. Waking up in Valhalla, Magnus starts to learn that the truth about the mysteries of his family, his mother's death, and his uncle's obsession. Now, he needs to go against the odds to find the mythical Sword of Summer, to prevent the world from ending.

This review may be a little biased, because I think that I am going to like nearly everything that Riordan writes, and I have been waiting for this book for over a year. Coming off of his last series, The Heroes of Olympus, Riordan introduces a new hero and a new set of gods. With the attention turned to the Norse gods, there is so much more to learn and love.

Unlike Greek myths, I don't know much about Norse mythology, though lately I have been more interested in it. I mean, mostly what I know comes from the Thor movies, and I don't think they are very accurate. So that was fun, reading and learning more about the Norse gods and the Nine Worlds, etc. I think that's something that I really like about Riordan, is that he's introducing younger readers to things that they probably don't know a lot about and probably won't learn about in school. Magnus is a funny and sympathetic protagonist, along with his friends. And the writing is quick and witty. There are some little references that readers won't understand unless they have read the Percy Jackson and Olympus books, but nothing completely integral to the story.

No swearing or sexual situations.

*I do not receive compensation from Amazon.