Book Review: Goddess

I bought Starcrossed, the first in Josephine Angelini’s trilogy, mainly because I loved the cover art so much. It also sounded like quite a good story. Once I started reading it, I quickly became hooked. I did fall ever-so-slightly in love with the hero, Lucas, and I loved the way the relationship between him and Helen was set up. It was the ultimate forbidden love and based on Paris and Helen of Troy no less. The concept was different to anything I’d ever read before: offspring of Gods and mortals, or scions, divided into four houses, tormented by the Furies so that they were driven to kill one another on sight. I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn’t wait to read the others.

Goddess is the conclusion to the trilogy. It was released back in May and though I must confess I hadn’t enjoyed the second installment, Dreamless, as much, I was still eager to find out how the series would wrap up.


I’m not sure what my expectations for this book were. It’s been almost a year since I read Dreamless and to be honest, I didn’t recall all that much of the plot. So when I started reading chapter one of Goddess I was instantly confused by what was going on. It picks up right where Dreamless left off and I found myself furiously trying to remember what happened. I understand (and even appreciate) that a recap of the action would have taken up vital words and perhaps been a bit boring, but a small one to refresh the memory would have been good, considering there was almost a year between the publication of both books and people don’t necessarily read all three back-to-back anyway.

Maybe it was because I had to jog  my memory, but it took me a while  to get in to Goddess. It’s the most action-packed of the three novels and delves us deep into Greek epic and mythology. Angelini has created a clever plot, re-staging the Battle of Troy in present-day Nantucket. I would never have imagined from reading Starcrossed that this is where events would end up, but it does make sense when one considers the over-arching plot.

I must confess that I have never been a fan of Greek epic and I think this tempered my enjoyment of Goddess somewhat. The main appeal of Starcrossed for me was the romance between Lucas and Helen. It swept me up in it and I expected the trilogy to be more Romeo & Juliet than The Iliad. The love story does still play an important part and the resolution to it is satisfying, but the main focus of Goddess is the battle of the Gods and the scions, and Helen’s fight to save those she loves. While many YA books boast similar themes, I don’t think any have handled them in quite such an epic scale as Angelini has here. Goddess certainly doesn’t pull any punches. It is surprisingly violent and bloody and there were moments that left me surprised. Moreover, the ending is not a straightforward happy-ever-after. The main plot is resolved but there are still threats and potential unhappiness lurking in the distant future, which gives Angelini the potential to write more if she wishes. It also makes it a bit more realistic, after all, there isn’t really such a thing as a fairytale ending in real life.

Helen is an interesting heroine. She fights her own battles (as much as she is able) and she ultimately saves the day, which makes her a good role model for teenage girls. She’s not perfect either, despite being beautiful and powerful and clever. Her plans backfire and she doesn’t always see clearly how her actions are affecting those around her. In many ways she’s like a normal teenage girl and I think they should be able to relate to her.

Lucas and Orion don’t really develop much in this book, although there is a nice scene near the beginning where Orion opens up about his parents. Two new love stories emerge over the course of Goddess, both of which seem a little too rushed and out-of-the-blue for me. I feel they needed to be established earlier; I did find Cassandra’s romance sweet, but I felt I needed to have known Andy longer and know more about her to really invest in her love for Hector.

All in all, Goddess is an epic conclusion to the trilogy. I enjoyed it better than Dreamless, but Starcrossed is still my favourite of the three. If you like Greek tragedies or even stories with a lot of action, then Goddess may be the book for you. I would recommend reading it directly after Dreamless, however, so that you are not left confused by the initial chapters. Angelini’s writing keeps you engaged and she certainly knows how to weave a plot and keep you guessing. The resolution to the conflict is a clever twist indeed. I look forward to seeing what she turns her hand to next.