Hera, Queen of Gods by T.D. Thomas [Review]

Hera, Queen of Gods (Goddess Unbound #1) by T.D. Thomas
Format: ebook
Source: provided for review
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: August 11, 2013

Goddess Unbound
1. Hera, Queen of Gods - Kindle
2. Hera, Queen of Mortals

T.D. Thomas
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Hera couldn't care less what the other gods think, even when it's about her. And it often is. Frankly, Hera couldn't care less about anything, except doing her duty as queen - protecting order and defending the mortal world against any threats. But when the Fates go missing, Hera and a handful of other gods must temporarily become mortal to search the human world for the missing goddesses.

Hera finds that mortality begins to change her. It's not just the loss of her divine powers. She expected that. It's deeper somehow. It's affecting how she thinks, how she feels, what's important to her. And it gets much worse after she meets Justin, who defies every prejudice she once had about mortals. At the worst possible time, and despite all her efforts, Hera's black-and-white world starts to unravel.

Torn between who she's becoming and who she needs to be in order to fulfill her duty, Hera must survive a horde of murderous creatures sent to exploit her new weakness. In the end, only Hera can stop a traitorous plot conceived by a secret alliance of ancient and new enemies, a plot that threatens to destroy not only the order Hera is sworn to protect, but all of existence itself.

My Thoughts on Hera, Queen of Gods: I'm really enjoying the "mortal gods" glut of books I've been going through lately.They take the mythology I'm so used to and turn it on its side. What can I say? I like that!

This time around, we get several of the high rollers of Greek mythology forced to take mortal bodies to find out what happened to the Fates. The world building is pretty darn solid and the limitations that the gods are under in their mortal bodies makes the danger all too real. The changes they begin to experience as they spend more time than normal as mortals is steady and brings about some surprises as the book progresses.

Now, I've never been the biggest fan of Hera. But... BUT this book had me looking at her in a whole new light. She's strong and she's a leader and she's been putting up with a heck of a lot from Zeus through the ages. Seriously, dude, keep it in your pants. Not all the ladies need your special brand of god-lovin'. The fact that he proclaims to love Hera and yet continues to mess around with others says a lot about him. The fact that she knows about his messing and she chooses to ignore it so that there's no power struggle on Olympus says a lot about her.

Honestly, as Justin's feelings become more and more known and Hera continues to cling to this idea that she couldn't ever love him because the fate of the world is resting on her shoulders, I began to get a little mad at her. Yeah, I get why she's saying it and I get what she means but... she deserves SO MUCH MORE than Zeus is willing to give. Justin's there and he LIKES her even when she's pushing at him. Just go with it, man. Just go with it.

Big things happen. There's collateral damage, treachery, heartache, and danger. Sacrifices are made. The worlds stand on the brink of war and Hera's caught between what she wants and what she must do. Good thing she's strong and can hold her own, huh?

Book 2 should be VERY interesting.