I love mythology, always have. I grew up reading the Greek myths (among others) so the synopsis for this book immediately grabbed me. So did the book. I read it in 2 sittings and stayed up late to finish it. 
 It's action packed, with hardly a breath for Nikki or the reader. Nikki is a pretty standard UF lead female - something of a loner and an outsider, independent, resourceful, impulsive. She's not as kick-ass as some but over the course of the book that changes. To the best of her knowledge she's just your garden variety human being, and she, like most humans, never knew that the ancient gods were real or that there were living descendants. When she discovers that she is an immortal, descended from Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting, the wilderness and animals, she has trouble accepting it. Gradually she accepts the knowledge, and in a desperate bid to protect both herself and her adoptive sister from newfound enemies, she learns how to fight and to fight dirty. 
 There's quite a lot of dirty tactics in this book in fact, and some moderately graphic violence, including torture. Nikki has to adapt and learn to cope with how both sets of immortals behave. It's a dark book, but if you are familiar with the original Greek myths, or pretty much any mythology, you know that is standard. It's the rare mythological deity who plays nicely, says please, and never hits someone. It's a dark book but there's also hope, humor and some likable characters. It's a largish cast and a few were short-changed in terms of development but maybe Black will rectify that in future books. 
 Most of the characters are varying shades of gray when it comes to morality, especially the "good guys", the Liberi Deorum, whom Nikki ends up working with. They are violent, willing to torture, quick to distrust and slow to forgive. The leader, Anderson, comes off as manic depressive or maybe schizoid. He ends up being neither; he's not quite what he seems though he readily admits to being tyrannical. 
 So, what about the bad guys, the Olympians? They are less well developed, more clearly the bad guys, the black hats if you will. Again, I'm hoping that in future books Black will develop them more and explore the individual characters. 
 I enjoyed this book and I am definitely looking forward to reading more in the series. It's a solid urban fantasy story with enjoyable, interesting characters, a backdrop of different world mythologies, lots of action and decent character development. 
 This paperback was received from the publisher for review. Review first appeared at Bea's Book Nook - http://beasbooknook.blogspot.com/2011...