SKEPTICAL STACIA IS A LITTLE LESS SKEPTICAL TODAY. 
 "Bitch," she said. "That was my favorite dagger." 
 She had a favorite dagger? Seriously? And she thought that I was a freak. 
 3.5 stars. Welcome to Mythos Academy ... Warrior Academy. Oh sure, there are all kinds of mythical races present, but let's get real here : all I could see was a story about who could kick ass the most. 
 This is like House of Night without the raging diarrhea. Meaning : this book still has the fun adventures, but you're less likely to want to slap the hell out of each and every character. Honestly, I was sort of expecting something similar to the Covenant series because of the mythology, but this really wasn't the same thing at all. Gwen reminds me a little of Claire from Morganville Vamps (starts off klutzy and unsure of herself, but you can tell she's going to gain her footing as the series proceeds), and the relationship with Gwen and her grandmother reminded me a lot of Zoey and Grandma Redbird from HoN. 
 So okay, we had the insecure lead and the all-too-gorgeous male counterpart, which is pretty stereotypical for the genre, but what can I say? Even I have days when I don't mind the stereotypes. Yes, I can picture your mouths dropping open in shock at that statement coming from me. If a book hooks me, it just does, regardless of how often I've bashed the stereotypes in previous books. Call me a sucker for hot guys who can fight and love to save the damsel in distress, but Logan was pretty swoon-worthy every time he came to Gwen's aid. Cliched, maybe. But it was awfully cute. 
 "I think so." Logan stared at me, and a smile pulled up his lips. "But maybe you should give me mouth-to-mouth, just to make sure." 
 I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Do you ever think about anything besides sex?" 
 His smile widened. "Not when you're around, Gypsy girl." 
 Also, I felt like a lot of Gwen's insecurities mirrored real feelings that many of us would have had at that age. Random side note : the signing of the mattresses thing...I KNEW THIS GUY. No joke. I had a friend who did this. Not that you needed to know this info about me, but an ex of mine and I went and hooked up on that guy's bed and signed HIS mattress. Because I'm craaaazy like that. 
 The TENSION (oh-no-he-didn't) issue at the end of the book has me wanting to run out and grab the next book (or just download it because I'm far too lazy to run anywhere). For people who've read the series : (view spoiler)[am I wrong in guessing that Logan could be Loki's champion, or am I way off? (hide spoiler)] It's been a while since I've wanted to read book 2 of a series right away. Usually, I don't do this. 
 The few minor issues : 
 I didn't mind the cliches this time, but there were a LOT more of them than I'd normally like. Fortunately, the story itself made up for some of this. 
 Friends of mine have mentioned this author's repetitive nature with mundane details. Since this is the first book I've read, I can't confirm that this will keep happening, but I did notice a few details/scenes which were repeated unnecessarily more than once. 
 While the second half of the book was completely awesome, it took me a few chapters to wade past some dull scenes and silly drama. However, given the direction of the second half of the book, I feel like this series has potential to bring it in later books the way that VA did. 
 Overall, I'm excited to have found a new author and series to vibe on!