Anyway, I picked up Hestia the Invisible on Monday night, because Booksamillion had one copy out early. I just started The Enemy series (which will be part of my December set of reviews), so I ended up reading that first book instead of Hestia's, but today I zipped through hers.
Hestia is now my favorite Goddess Girls character. If you have ever been shy or are still shy, you will love her. She's very relatable and endearing. Her art is just adorable. I love the "tomato red" (mentioned in the book) of her chiton, her big eyes, her hair, her freckles and that sweet expression. She's just darling.
Anyway, Hestia is very shy. She sewed hoods on all her chitons and uses them to hide from teachers wanting to call on people or from any sort of attention really. She's called to MOA in 3rd grade because she got the idea to make public hearths in every city, so there was always a fire burning for families to come relight theirs. But ever since she's joined the school, she's blended into the background, not wanting any attention. She works in the kitchen during her third period class to help make lunch. She's an amazing cook and she's actually the mind behind a lot of MOA's favorite recipes. Not that they know it, of course.
So the basic plot of the book is that there's a contest for a Service to Humankind award. Each contestant has to come up with a symbol and sign up to take part. Hestia hems and haws for awhile, before finally realizing a flame is her symbol. She's surprised when she makes the Top 11 and is in a mural, alongside some of the bigger MOA names.
While this is going on, Hestia has made a list of things she wants to do to be less invisible. Pheme joins her at lunch and ends up wanting to interview her, which in true Pheme style, ends up with some inaccuracies. Some work in Hestia's favor, but others she's upset by, because she thinks they hurt her two favorite kitchen workers, Ms. Okto (the eight-handed one) and Ms. Xena (short for Xenarthra, the one with the anteater snout).
Hestia does a good job being more visible though. She takes the hoods off her chitons. She gets to know several people, including Asca (Ascalabus), the godboy of lizardry, who will likely end up her crush in future books. (Ascalabus is a very minor character in myth who was changed into a lizard by Demeter.)
Hestia is also tasked with creating the dessert for the banquet where the winner of the contest will be announced. So she's struggling with figuring out ways to apologize to the kitchen ladies (who aren't actually mad), trying to deal with her newfound visibility, trying to come up with a new recipe, and just plain trying to figure herself out.
It's a good book that's almost entirely enjoyable. One of my only issues was that Aphrodite said something pretty mean and it's never resolved. She just becomes one of Hestia's friends and loans her a gold chiton for the banquet. And Hestia never confronts Pheme about the exaggerations in her story. It's just kind of accepted that Pheme exaggerates and no one does anything about it. Sigh.
But yes, Hestia just toppled Persephone out of my #1 spot.
Calliope, star of book 19, is mentioned a couple times, so she's already in school, but hasn't been for long. Echo is not mentioned. I love all these newbies, but I'm also hoping we get new books for Persephone and Artemis soon. They've only had 2 to Aphrodite and Athena's 3.
Okay, I'm wrapping up reviews for the night. I will likely add some more tomorrow from the November book reviews I did for my LJ, but I want this Hestia review to be the first thing people see for the moment.
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