The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter

The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter
The Goddess Test #1
Release Date: September 16, 2011 (UK)
Publisher: MIRA Ink
Source: Publisher
Rating: Enjoyable

It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess. - Goodreads

I was really excited to read Aimee Carter’s The Goddess Test when I first heard that it was a retelling of the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone. I was expecting a fantastic retelling with Greece’s ultimate bad boy (next to Ares, anyway) at the centre. Unfortunately, The Goddess Test didn’t live up to my expectations.

The Goddess Test isn’t really a retelling of the myth; it’s more of a continuation of Hades’ story. Definitely not what I was expecting, but I didn’t mind that. It was Hades and his new love interest that I was more excited to read about.

Kate moves to a new town with her dying mother, and meets various people along with the mysterious Henry (Hades) who offers to keep Kate’s mother alive if Kate will live with him for the next six months in his mansion. Kate agrees, and then the story starts to unfold.

The first one hundred pages or so were very dull. The whole introduction to the town adn people in it seemed very rushed, and it skimmed over the relationship building that took place between Kate and her new best friends. James seems to fall for Kate particularly fast, even though it actually took a few weeks for him to feel this way (which is still totally fast, but I’m trying to prove a point here!). Very little actually happens in this introduction, which may be why it was so bland.

Once Kate makes the deal with Henry, things start to pick up. A new mystery is introduced to the plot, and this makes things very interesting! This is when I started to really enjoy the novel. However, despite there being slightly more action and mystery, there still wasn’t enough of it. Even in the climax of the novel, the action is minimal and is over before you know it even happened.

Kate has to go through a series of tests, which intrigued me. The reader isn’t told what these tests are until the very end, and I enjoyed trying to figure it out. The big reveal is finally made in the last few pages, which I loved. I really enjoyed the ending of this novel.

Kate was a very boring protagonist. She often jumped into things without a second thought, always putting others before herself. Not that selflessness is a bad thing, but I wanted her to have flaws. I don’t have too much to say about her to be honest.

I was really looking forward to reading about Henry, but was left a little disappointed. He had his badass moments, but for the most part he was rather sensitive. I was expecting a bad boy here! Something else that I found to be very silly – and unintentionally hilarious – was that Henry was a virgin. Making any Greek god a virgin, in my opinion, it ridiculous and I found this to be a very strange decision. I did like Henry as a love interest for Kate, even if their relationship did feel a little bit rushed despite them taking quite some time to get together.  

That said, I did enjoy reading this book. The side characters were the best part, for me, as I loved Calliope and Ella and Ava. I also loved the glossary of Greek gods that was included at the end of the novel. Overall, The Goddess Test was an enjoyable enough read, but it certainly had its flaws – unlike the main protagonist – which meant that it could never be a favourite read of mine. I will be reading the next book in the series to see where this goes, as I am genuinely interested.