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Gaslighters – a review of Tears of a Marigold by S.D. Huston

by with No Comment Fantasy

This may be a bit of a highlight. This post marks me reviewing an entire series by an Indie Author! As I strive to read more Indie books, I take victories where I find them while striving to make each one bigger than the next.

And this time around, the victory was pretty solid.

To save the worlds, magical and mundane, one of three sisters whom are fractured parts of the Morrigan must lose their soul. When Marigold, Rose and Lily all reunite this will spell out the end of the world. And the worst part of it is that the man destined to do it once he gains his powers back is the husband of Marigold, the one who saved her from death. She must choose between her new family and her old family’s best interests to decide the fate of all things living while her sisters fight to save her from the man she loves.

As usual, character was the strongest suit with this novel. Huston knows what makes each of them tick and makes each of them so different even in the most subtle ways. From the heart of Marigold to the resolve of Lily and the brains of Rose, each grew so far beyond that when it came to their arcs, decision making. and more.

The character that truly shined in this novel was the villain. Kronos was a villain that, in Huston’s interpretation, was a manipulative charmer that at times truly disgusted me. It is very rare for a villain to make me emote, feel and want to tear my own skin off. And Kronos absolutely achieved that. This was further enhanced by the relationship he had with our protagonist and how often Marigold was gaslit in their time together. He was very compelling and a threat even in his weakest moments because of that cursed silver tongue.

Now one thing I was a little less fond of this time was worldbuilding. I still enjoyed the way that Greek and Roman mythology met, though it was less prevalent in this installment. What made me a bit uncomfortable and confused was the specifics of one thing within the magic system. For gods to gain magical strength it involves sexual acts. Now this wasn’t described in detail and was faded to black a lot of the time, but still the fact that it happened unsettled me especially when done between certain people. While it does kind of make sense considering mythology and stuff, it doesn’t change the fact that it weirded by prudent self out. Especially with this being the instance it was introduced as far as my memory served.

The plotlines the sisters followed were once again imperially compelling. And this time it really tested the previously introduced Lily and Rose. You could really feel the stakes with how personal they got, saving their beloveds and the world. I love when plotlines get this personal and test the characters. Especially when what tests them is the traits that defines them. Rose’s brains being tested as she plans to infiltrate her sister’s prison, Lily’s strength and physical will being tested and Marigold’s heart being tested between what is right and what’s best for her beloved. These characters couldn’t be tested in more perfect ways. I can’t say the same for the Morrigan and I still don’t know the connections between the two plots aside from their souls being the same.

This still marks a very solid end to the series thanks to such great characters driving the plot.

Tears of a Marigold gets a score of 4/5. You had the Gaslighter and the Girlbosses present, what can I say?

Memes aside, it’s yet again time to review a series.

Blood of the Lily – 4/5, a beautifully done retelling of a hidden favourite fairytale.

Soul of a Rose – 4/5, Irish and Greek mythology collide in the best ways here especially.

Tears of a Marigold – 4/5, the characters steal the show. Every single one. of them.

Characters with depth, a well-thought collision of mythologies, retellings of tale you’ve never even heard of… no more Beauty and the Beasts and Cinderellas when S.D. Huston is on your shelf! And even then the tales are so different from their sources it becomes so refreshing. Combine that with a cast of characters that stray from cliches and really make you feel, and you get Clash of Goddesses.

Clash of Goddesses gets a score of 4/5. This one is a keeper.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Ten Spoonfuls of PSAs – a review of Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods by Rick Riordan

by with No Comment Fantasy

This review will be very different considering I can’t really critique narrative values of myths. I feel like a lot of the content talk will either be me hating on or praising the Greek Gods.

Regardless, Percy Jackson was the series that got me seriously considering writing my own books. I loved it to no end as a 10 year old, binged the whole series in half a year. Thanks to my Year 5 teacher for sparking the fandom inside our classroom!

Anyway, everybody’s favourite son of Poseidon is telling us a new set of stories. This time, he’s exposing the Greek Gods, from the tale of creation to every last Olympian on a throne. And of course, it’s in Young Adult jargon. Though it was published in 2014. So… millennial jargon? American millennial jargon.

I’m just going to get my overall thoughts about the Greek gods first. A lot of them would be arrested in modern society. When I first read Percy Jackson I really liked Zeus, but his godly portrayal is disgusting! The king of the gods was a rapist. And a major player. And heavily tempered. All I read in the books initially was that he had a temper. This makes me look at a lot of the content that the gods do very differently and it makes me question the morals of ancient Greek society.

Leading off of that, I’m surprised this book was still appropriate for it’s age group of 10+. There were some dark things being mentioned, but they were done in a way that was appropriate. Somehow. Maybe it’s just because it’s been years since I read the original Percy Jackson series. Regardless, I didn’t gasp out loud too much. I’d call that age group appropriate.

That being said, you could tell this was for their age group because there was a PSA on every five pages about not cheating on your partners, not having a relative as a partner, and condoning underage drinking. In literally every scene that contains it. This was one aspect that felt first off, very distracting, and secondly, out of character for our narrator, Percy. Especially to the ridiculous extents that they went to, like saying wine is only drunk by middle aged people. They can hope! I may not drink alcohol much, but I wouldn’t be such a buzzkill for those that do.

Let’s talk more about Percy’s voice. This honestly had some very mixed results with some questionable executions. It is fair that Percy makes a lot of modern references to put the Greek gods into a more relatable perspective. My main issue was how some of them pulled me out of the story. For one, there was the constant comparison of saying Mt. Olympus was an apartment complex? That was one of the worser ones that added nothing to the way each god’s story was told. Some of the others made absolute sense, like setting up the dinner date scene for when Uranus died. But a few really had me question a lot of things.

One of the most enjoyable parts of this read was how Percy’s voice and comparisons humanised the gods. Throughout this I imagined the tales of the Greek gods working just as well as a modern drama series, probably on the Game of Thrones side with the war and bloodshed still going on. These gods were put down as much as they were glorified and it showed them as true of colours as any well written character. The wordings worked wonders too, able to take a mature concept to a younger audience without degrading the stories themselves. For the right moments, Riordan was able to write something serious and beautiful despite the narrator typically not being that way. And it felt natural.

Speaking of realism, what I really appreciated was the moments of ambiguity that related to changing views in classical society and a lack of sources. Having taken history and classics in high school, I approve highly of this. And the way this was explained felt organic to the world, with Percy implying the issues with word of mouth.

I think I reviewed that okay? It’s harder to review something without a typical narrative when that’s your strongest point of study in the writing craft. Hope this review suffices.

Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods gets a score of 4/5. Those PSAs were so frequent and corny that they need to become memes, but the rest of it was literature.

Yours in writing

Amy