Dying and warring Gods of Olympus done young adult style 
 Here we are back again in Mortal Gods with Athena, Cass, Hermes, Odysseus and the rest of the gang, with a few new additions. It's been a scant few months since the climactic ending of Antigoddess (view spoiler)[and the deaths of ....well if you don't know then you shouldn't be reading as parts of this review would likely be spoilers for book 1. (hide spoiler)] 
 Athena what you do, you do so well 
 Whether it's do something right or do something wrong - this gal doesn't do things by halves. I like Athena - to me she is the ultimate star of the show. While the books so far really have seemed to center around both Athena and Cass. This time around I was so much more interested in Athena (likely because Cass annoyed the snot out of me). Athena has her failings as it seems the book tries to make abundantly clear that "gods" have just as many flaws as an average person, but their mistakes just tend to impact people way more. I love the struggles that we see Athena go through in trying to lead this motley group of humans and gods against the other set of gods. I adore how stubborn and strong (or even bull headed at times) she can be on some fronts but then also how vulnerable she can be in others. One particular scene with her and Hermes tweaked my heartstrings so much. While I can't say I was entirely too happy with some of the choices she makes regarding her and Odysseus I can see where she's coming from but still hey I'm not going to agree with her on her reasoning. Seize what you want I say! 
 Sometimes you just wanna smack that pouty look off someone's face 
 Who? Why Cass I tell you! (view spoiler)[Suffice to say the loss of her love Aidan (even though she hates him also) and the acquiring of her original memories have (hide spoiler)]turned Cass into this bitter anger ball. Just reading her scenes sometimes was like a trip to the dentist to have a sour tooth pulled that leaves this nasty abscess behind that you can't treat with anything! Did she annoy me that much - yeah, she did, she really did. I'm quite sure that was the exact intention and response the author was trying to get out of me. And it worked, oh boy did it work. Cass only has one thing on her mind really and that's revenge. In a way she is almost unrecognizable to me from the original character I knew and liked in the first book. I'm one of those readers that has a really hard time enjoying a book if I'm not enjoying reading a specific character - but luckily Cass is not the only point of view that we read from, and not everything centers around her part of the storyline. So my rating is unfortunately a direct reflection of mostly Cass. - This was still a great book and I definitely plan on reading the next one - but I can't get over how annoyed I was most of the time and I personally don't like to be annoyed for the bulk of a reading experience. 
 More Hermes, Odysseus and party please! 
 I really enjoyed the snippets of Hermes and Odysseus I got this time around so much so that I wish there could have been more from them. I'm thinking that we might see much more of Hermes taking the spot light in the next book but that also might be wishful thinking on my part. I found myself ultimately only really caring about Athena, Hermes and Odysseus in this book and I know some of that is because I didn't like Cass' attitude in Mortal Gods but I also felt like I needed more of a presence from the other secondary characters. They were so very second fiddle that I couldn't bring myself to care much about them. 
 Why do second books cliff hang me so? 
 I'm not a fan of the second book cliffhangers. Indeed you could say I hate them. Rarely are they ever done in a way that leaves me "wanting" more. Do I want to continue reading - yes. But am I left with a feeling of dissatisfaction? - even more so yes. It is really something I see mostly in young adult books and perhaps its part of the reason why more and more lately I find myself only reading the first book in a YA series. I am not a patient person. I think there must surely be a way to avoid cliffhangers at the end of series novels. 
 You can smack me now for my whining - cause I still enjoyed it 
 Overall, this was a very enjoyable read and fast paced to book. The two major issued I pointed out are purely my own and I think many others might not have a problem at all. So don't judge on the rating because I did literally still devour this book in a day and look forward to seeing what happens next. The writing flowed great from scene to scene without any lulls so I rarely put the book down. I adore Blake's storytelling and her ability to make me really connect with some of her characters and her imagery continues to be top notch.