After picking Oh My Gods by Alexandra Shepard up at the Scholastic Blogger’s Book Feast event, I had to read it right away. The author gave a talk and I felt so inspired that I wanted to see the book she’d created after years of working on her novel as well as her 9-5.
Oh My Gods (2019), Alexandra Sheppard
Themes: Young Adult, Retelling, Contemporary
Reading Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
3.75 STAR
Thank you very much to the lovely people of Scholastic UK for allowing me to take home a copy of this amazing novel from their event in February.
This book is written for teenagers, with a main character who is still at school and pre-ALevels. With this in mind, I’m not going to be reviewing it from the perspective of a critic, but from an enjoyability factor. Because I can see that for teenagers this book will allow them to really empathise with the characters and the language used. Not to mention it makes me feel old and out of date with phrases and slang that is used, I’ve certainly learnt a thing or two.
This story follows half mortal Helen, daughter of Zeus, thrown into a house with Gods whilst trying to live an ordinary life. Told through Helen’s narrative and letters to her mum, this story really sees a birds eye view of Helen’s hectic life living with the Gods. As someone who has always been interested by mythology, this was right up my street and I loved seeing a different perspective of the Greek Gods.
Getting to know each of the main God characters, Zeus, Aphrodite, Eros and Apollo, as more human-like was interesting. They are having to blend in to live on Earth and not reveal their abilities. It makes for quite a comical read and I really enjoyed the take Alexandra Sheppard had on this, you can tell she loves the mythology herself too.
The dynamic of this and initial plot was simple and clear and I really liked that. It was fairly obvious the direction the plot was taking, but I enjoyed that this allowed us to spend more time with the characters and seeing how Helen lives her life. I’m interested to know if we will see more in this world because I still have questions about Helen and her half mortal status.
If you’re a fan of Greek mythology, or any kind of mythology for that matter, then this is a book for you. Join Helen as she adjusts to having a family that isn’t quite so ordinary. This is a book I wish I’d have in my teen years.
Interesting, now just to get the teens I know off their electrical equipment and in a situation where they would choose to pick up a book like this.
They’ll love it, I hope you succeed!
Considering to get this for myself. I love a good mythology retelling. Thanks for the recommendation, Beth! Lovely review.
You’re very welcome!
I’m so torn because I love Greek mythology but I feel like this book just might be a bit too young for me, and this is coming from someone who loved The Percy Jackson series!
It is certainly written for a younger audience, but I’d say similar to the first Percy Jackson book. I loved the Greek Mythology in it, which totally won it over for me.
Sounds adorable, I just added it to my TBR list!
Yay, I hope you enjoy it!