Artemis the Brave is #4 and the first of the longer books, though still shorter than the subsequent offerings. She spends the story dealing with her first crush. I'm not a big fan of "the tomboy gets a crush for the first time and bumbles through it" stories. Especially when said crush is very obviously a complete ass like Orion is. Everyone knows it except Artemis. Everyone tells her so, but she has to learn the hard way. Artemis is my least favorite of the four main girls. She's a slob and as a dog owner, I have to say she lets her dogs run around way too out of control. I'm also rarely interested in the athletic characters. Not my cup of nectar.
The most interesting thing about Artemis is her design. She's black. So is her twin, Apollo, obviously. It took me awhile to get used to this change, as Apollo and Artemis are definitely not black in the mythology. One of her epithets is "white-browed." They're two of the only Olympians that I see clearly in my mind as being blondes with Apollo being tan and Artemis very pale (like moonlight). Considering they went blonde for Aphrodite (who is "golden" by epithet) and due to a lack of diversity, I can see why this change was made, especially because most people don't consider the gods the same way I do, but it's still a bit jarring.
Hanson's art is often quite awesome. I look forward to new book covers as well as new stories every few months. The cover on the 6th book is the only one that I really have mixed feelings about and we'll discuss that next post.
The fifth book is Athena the Wise. Zeus tasks her with watching over the new mortal MOA student, Heracles. Athena quickly figures out that Heracles' twelve labors are the work of her dad, who wants to put flashy mortal deeds in his new temple decor and needs some inspiration. Athena and Heracles develop a mutual crush, which I find a bit odd, considering there are other heroes I link her more to. I can deal with the virgin goddesses having these harmless little crushes. It doesn't change their futures any. (Besides, what's the first rule of Goddess Girls? *points to previous post* Exactly.) Athena is a more interesting character in this book than in her first, and she was pretty interesting there. In this one, we also have the story of Arachne, and Athena struggles with controlling her anger and what she might have done in all aspects of that situation. (Whatever. Arachne deserved it.)
Athena firmly places herself as my second favorite of the main cast. I just love Persephone best, even though she barely does anything. Can't help it. Love her.
I'm looking forward to writing the next review. We're going to meet some...OTHER GODDESSES. I wish we'd come across these girls more often.
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