Even a Goddess Can't Escape Troy

No one is more petulant and used to getting their way than the Greek Gods. When a prophecy tells of a group of Scions or demigods overthrowing the gods, they can't stand to let that happen. But all Helen wants is to protect the ones she loves. In the stunning conclusion to Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed series, Goddess, the gods finally get a taste of their own medicine.

While the four houses of Scions have always remained divided and bitter, but their battle to find Atlantis and become immortal has reached new levels of violence. The prophecy of the Tyrant who will be their undoing has got everyone scared, even the gods. But Helen, Lucan, Orion and the other Scions know the house division is not something they can stand by and let happen anymore. They must come together in order to keep from repeating the same story over and over again. 

The Fates have recycled the story of Helen of Troy since it first began with the intention of changing the ending. When that doesn't happen, the story begins again in new Scions, hoping they will finally be the ones to overthrow their parents, the Greek Gods. Helen and the others are the next in line for those roles, but they refuse to let the cycle continue and let the gods win again. Instead, their teamwork and refusal to bow down to history might be the one thing that can change it. As the first Scions to bring all four houses together, they finally have a chance, but fighting a battle with the gods means great stakes and great consequences if they lose. They aren't willing to risk each other or their loved ones, but in a battle this great, that seems to be the only solution.

I have to say, this was a really fabulous series. And one of the most amazing character transformations had to be Helen. I always liked her, but the Helen by the end of the trilogy was so strong and powerful, yet not corrupted by her awe inspiring power. As the Scion who seemed to be more powerful than even she understood, it would have been all too easy to fall corrupt, but she never lost sight of those who mattered- her family and friends. And there is nothing more important to Helen than protecting innocent mortals who don't deserve to die as casualties of an ancient war they know nothing about. She was a fabulous leading lady, and I really enjoyed reading about her journey. 

This final book is very, very myth heavy. It delves heavily into historical and mythological stories, such as those of Helen of Troy all the way to Lancelot and Guinevere. Personally, I loved the historical flashbacks Helen experienced as she dreamt, but I can see where they might bog the story down for an unfamiliar reader. Still, they made the plot development so much more than just the story of a couple of kids in Nantucket. Instead, it became this large, almost mythological experience all on its own. I am sad to see the end of this great series, but I loved living through it over the past couple of years. I hope Angelini is writing furiously as we speak with an equally amazing new series, because I need something of hers to look forward to!

Angelini is a Goddess

When we read Starcrossed, we knew Josephine Angelini was a Goddess. Everyone I have convinced to read that first book of this trilogy was a) totally in love with the story and characters and b) totally devastated they needed to wait a whole year for the next book! Now that the second book, Dreamless, is here, you are going to feel the same way. Dreamless will leave you breathless, leave your heart pounding and leave you wanting MORE!


Helen is the Descender. She can go into the Underworld and is the only hope for the Scions to find a way to defeat the Furies. The Furies' curse leaves all Scions with an uncontrollable rage to murder anyone with a blood debt, even if their blood debt was protecting the very family member who is now overcome by the Furies and wants to kill them. It is a never-ending cycle that keeps the houses divided and families torn apart. Helen is the only hope, but every night as she descends, she loses a little bit of herself in the Underworld.


As Helen wanders around aimlessly, she feels her mission is hopeless, but when she encounters Orion, everything changes. Orion is another Scion, one she should be trying to kill, thanks to the Furies, but in the Underworld, all Scion curses and powers are suspended. Orion is undoubtedly an attractive young Scion, but Helen still can't get Lucas out of her mind. After she found out she and Lucas were cousins, she has tried to move on, but she just can't stop the feeling of happiness and joy when she is with him. But with her mission at hand, Helen puts aside her own desires to stop the Furies, with Orion at her side. Night after night, they descend and get a little bit closer to the solution, but their time is running out. Helen is dying as a result of her descending and she is caught between two impossible and beautiful loves: one who is a cousin and is forbidden to her despite her love for him, and one who she can only be with in the Underworld without wanting to kill. Can she stop the Furies AND sort out the terror in her heart?


Oh this was SUCH a good follow up to SUCH a good first novel that Josephine Angelini is my new favorite author. There are a lot of authors I love and follow, but Angelini will now be one of the select few I use to define my favorite reading experiences (and that is a limited crowd!). She has a way of spinning a masterful web of a story and leaving you to crave more and more and more. Her characters are amazing and so real and complicated you will find yourself wanting to know them for real (despite fully acknowledging that they are fictional and that would of course make you a crazy person). Sometimes I think it is easier to write an amazing break out novel than it is to write a follow up novel that lives up to the greatness of the first. But Angelini has accomplished that goal in spades. She will leave you remembering the greatness of Starcrossed while loving Dreamless even more!


The best part of this series is there is one more book to go (but maybe if we beg and plead there will be more than just one more to go!). This is an amazing series for anyone, adult or young adult, who loves Greek mythology or just needs some epic storytelling in their lives. It is one of the best trilogies I have found in a LONG time and I am so glad I found this author and this trilogy. If you need some summer reading to keep you going out on that beach or anywhere, for that matter, pick up this series. You will be thanking me later!

Don't Miss the next Big Trilogy!

Sometimes you read a book and just know it is going to be huge. It happened for me with HarryPotter, Twilight, Hunger Games, and a few others. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, you just know this book is going to be big. When my cousin recommended Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini, I picked it up because she has never led me astray. Then I read it and knew... just knew... it would be huge! You will be seeing more of this trilogy. Mark my words! Once this trilogy picks up steam, it is going to be as big as the others!

Helen's mom left her and Jerry, Helen's dad, when she was young. When she left, she took every picture and keepsake they had from her, but she left behind some memories. Helen tries to be normal, but on a small island like Nantucket with odd strength and speed like she has, that takes some effort. Lucky for Helen, her good friend Claire keeps her straight. But when a new family comes to the island, Helen wants to kill Lucas, one of the sons. She has never met him before, has no idea who he is, but she can't suppress the blind rage and drive for murder she is filled with every time she sees him. After she tries to kill him in the hallway and is sent home, she is sure she has gone crazy, especially when she sees three creepy ladies egging her rage on every time she sees Lucas.

When Lucas saves her from a fall when Helen (in a blind panic, running for her life) learned she could fly and fainted mid-air, something stops the voices of the three ladies. She and Lucas lie on the beach, bones mending, and they realize they don't want to kill each other anymore. He tells her the Furies have gone, and it must be because he saved her life. It is then that Helen learns the true nature of her strengths, which are because she is a demigod. Of the four houses of demigods, there was only supposed to be one left, Thebes, Lucas's family's house, but Helen is from a different house. Lucas's family explains there is an ancient pact the Gods struck after the Trojan War, that said the Four Houses must never join together, nor should there ever be only one house. If so, a war with the Gods would be struck. Some from the House of Thebes want to kill Helen, as the end of the other three houses will allow them to raise Atlantis and become immortal, but Lucas's family wants to keep her safe in order to stop the war. Unfortunately for Helen and Lucas, their lvoe for one another will also start a war, by bringing the two houses together. It seems Lucas and Helen are star-crossed lovers- doomed to live apart, doomed to love one another forever. But are they really?

Oh Good God(dess)es. This book just rocked. It gave me the same feeling I got from my beloved Harry Potter, and Twilight, and Hunger Games. I just loved everything about it. Lucas was simply irresistible. He was beautiful, deeply devoted, and protective. Helen was headstrong, loyal, and funny. The supporting characters, every last one of them, were fantastic. There wasn't a single piece of this story I didn't like... well except for the end... I didn't want it to end! And trust me, neither will you!

The story is about 500 pgs, which might be intimidating for your less skilled readers, but the story is tight enough and exciting enough to hold the attention of most kids. The content is appropriate for a wide range of kids, and the love scenes are very innocent. This is a great book for those kids (and adults) who love those epic trilogies and have been lost without a new one. They might want to kill someone when they realize they have to wait a whole year for the next book, but they will still love you for recommending such a great story! Don't wait- pick up Starcrossed NOW! You need Helen and Lucas in your life!