Review: The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter - Megan

Synopsis from Goodreads

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 that 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 suceeds, she'll become Henry's future bride and a goddess.

If any of you have previously read my review for Arcadia Awakens then yous will already know that I absolutely love Greek mythology so when I heard about this book I pushed it right to the top of my TBR pile expecting to be finally satisfied with a YA interpretation of the Hades and Persephone story - unfortunately, I was let down, once again.

The entire story lacked in substance. While the premise was somewhat original I couldn't help but notice that it was nothing but predictable, although the element of surprise did manage to appear at one or two points in the plot. The characterisation was weakly structured, there was nothing unique about these characters that persuaded me to care for them.

Kate's personality was paper thin, apart from her admirable devotion to her dying mother and her daughter-turned-carer past, we know pretty much nothing about her. All she was capable of doing was question everything and completely disregard Henry and co.'s warning about how her life was in danger. She gradually became one of those all-about-the-love-interest girls which totally put me off her character. I couldn't connect with her, I just couldn't.

Henry was no different in the paper-thin-personality department, he was your typical checklist personality YA male. Mysterious? Check. Looks to die for? Check. Hot/cold attitude? Check. Perfect-boyfriend-at-the-end? Check. Despite this, I found myself to be strangely drawn to Henry for reasons unknown. Maybe it was the gentleman-like behaviour? The milky/moonlight-coloured eyes? I don't know, but what I do know is that I wouldn't mind living with him for six months a year.

Even though the book is called The Goddess Test  there was no actual testing occuring. I mean, the tests were done so subtly I eventually began to question the fact if Kate was actually being tested but the last few chapters reassures us that there are tests taking place. I rather liked the idea for the tests though, which was also one of the plot surprises I refered to earlier.

With less than 300 pages to work with, I felt that the plot and characters had no space to develop especially with the story moving at a fast pace. Each scene was described accordingly but without any real depth to it so our understanding of the plot was limited. I also couldn't help but notice the political correctness that was briefly featured regarding jealously, kidnapping and slut-shaming.

Despite these flaws, I will give the second book a try purely out of curiosty because there are some unexplained aspects of this book yet to be revealed. Plus, the premise sounds more interesting and Persephone makes an appearance so I'm hoping that I won't be disappointed any furthur.

Rating: 2/5 stars