Synopsis:
Artemis, goddess of the hunt, has lived with heartache for the last fifteen hundred years, believing her only love is dead. That’s what her father—Zeus, king of the gods—told her. After recent events brought the truth to light, Artemis must gather the courage to face her lost love again.
Evangelos, former god of messengers, was content living in the mortal world until he discovered he has a daughter and her mother is Artemis. When the goddess shows up at his place of employment with tales of renewing his god status, he’s skeptical. Zeus wouldn’t reverse the curse out of the goodness of his heart. There is always a catch. The god king wants something in return.
When Artemis explains she has to hunt down her stepmother, Hera, in order to get Evan back into Zeus’s good graces, Evan demands to accompany her. However, the journey turns out to be a test that could bring them closer together or tear them apart forever.
Review:
Artemis’s Hunt is a nice addition to the Sons of War series–I enjoyed discovering the background story of Ashlynn’s parents, Artemis and Evangelos, and seeing them finally(!) get their HEA…only 1500 years after they should have had it.
Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, played a role in book two (Ashes of War) as her only daughter struggled to prove her mate’s innocence. As Ash tried to save Ty, she also discovered a secret that Zeus had managed to hide from her and her mother for her entire life–that her father, Evangelos, was actually alive and living on earth among mortals.
Evangelos was pretty bitter when Ash found him in the last book, because he had been lead to believe that Artemis had been behind his banishment from Olympus. Ty helped him “get his head out of his butt” in that book, but when this novella begins he’s still not sure how to go about reconnecting with his former lover–or if it’s even a possibility.
Artemis is still reeling from finding out Evan’s alive, but is immediately willing to do whatever she can to get his god status reinstated, She agrees to the task that Zeus gives her–deliver a message to Hera, the “Queen of Mean” (thank you, Scholastic books!) who hates her guts because Zeus had an affair with her mother. (But really, who hasn’t Zeus had an affair with? Is it even worth the level of anger she has to maintain because the guy can’t keep it in his godly pants? But I digress…) Evan, of course, finds out and joins her on her mission.
This is a novella, so it’s pretty short–not necessarily a problem, except that Ash and Ty join the quest as well and take some of the narrative away from the main couple. I did enjoy seeing them so soon again after Ashes, but I would have liked the story to stay focused on Artemis and Evan more, since it was finally their story. It’s not a huge issue, but worth mentioning.
The quest itself isn’t all that long or difficult either–again, a novella; and it’s a story that doesn’t really do anything to help Ty and his brothers with their main quest–but it does make for an entertaining read nonetheless. I liked seeing Artemis and Evan get to their HEA; it was definitely long deserved.
The series narrator did another great job here–his male voices, especially for the dragons, are delicious!
Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B-
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.