Join the Agon with Lore by Alexandra Bracken

Hello everyone!

Welcome to our inaugural book review  post. We are so excited to start this journey and what  better way to do it than to start off with a bang? LORE by Alexandra Bracken was just published this past week and both of us fell deeply in love with this book when we received advanced copies through NetGalley. 

“Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality.

Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family’s sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt’s promises of eternal glory. For years she’s pushed away any thought of revenge against the man—now a god—responsible for their deaths.

Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods.
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The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore’s decision to bind her fate to Athena’s and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost—and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.”​ (Official synopsis)

For this first post, and please bear with us, we are going to give you both of our mini reviews and then a special treat! Alexandra Bracken was so lovely and took time out of her busy schedule to answer some of our questions. So we beg you, literally beg you, to stick with us until the end because you don’t want to miss some of these answers! 

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Ashli: This novel couldn’t have come to me at a better time. My boyfriend is a huge mythology nerd and I ended up getting hooked on a podcast called “Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby”. Then Disney gave permission for me to read a book based on Greek mythology? It was fate. 
LORE definitely didn’t disappoint me one bit. I actually was in tears at points as the character's lives were changing and evolving. Alex’s writing pulled me straight in and made me care about these characters. Especially Miles, who I immediately pictured as Eric Andre who was on 2 Broke Girls and Don’t Trust the B- in Apartment 23. I wanted to just swaddle him and protect him/ his comic relief from the Gods and hunters who could murder him in a heartbeat. 
While reading, I was definitely disappointed that there was no Hades or Persephone. But there also isn’t that much in Greek Mythology on them; at least compared to the other deities that Alex could choose from. So for the ones that Alex did choose to have participating in the Agon, I was quite impressed with the modern, yet true to myth, treatment taken to these characters. It’s rare that I like the portrayal of historical (mythological or not) characters as I am such a stickler for keeping them close to actuality. Therefore, I thank you Alex for not ruining the deities for me! You actually made me like certain ones more than I did before; considering I cried over one particular scene which I won't spoil but comes at the end of one of the Parts. 
I will admit to taking the quiz (http://www.alexandrabracken.com/lore) and I am apparently from the House of Theseus; an intelligent hunter with a penchant for old-fashioned things and a love of history. This definitely sounds about right for me as a history nerd with a museum studies/ archival degree. What House do you belong to and do you agree with it? 
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Erin: For me, this novel is reminiscent of The Hunger Games, but Greek gods style. And the minute I saw that cover I was in love. This is a fast paced read but it’s so much more than that. From the beginning chapters I was stunned at how flawless the execution of the plot was. This could easily get muddled and with many gods/ goddesses at play it’s complicated . 
Then there’s the relationships between Lore and Castor. I loved that it wasn’t a typical “girl swoons over boy” romance.
I remember racing towards the ending thinking it can’t possibly end. I couldn’t believe it was a standalone (I want more!) but it was a finite ending that was satisfying without it being a perfectly wrapped up end. It was a bloody plot twist path to get to the end and I loved every minute.
My only issue I found with the book was needing a bit more in terms of answers at the end. What was Zeus’ plan all along? Is it supposed to be an open ending so I decide what I think the answer is? Maybe I missed the memo there?
😂
This really was such a stunning book. I think it’s going to do amazingly well and can’t wait to hear what everyone else thinks.

INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDRA BRACKEN

BT&W: What was the biggest switch for you in the writing process between your previous works like The Darkest Minds and working on Lore? 

AB: You know, there actually wasn’t a big switch since I approach all of my books the same way, starting with developing the main character. But the hardest thing to wrap my head around was how to make this story a satisfying standalone. I’d written standalones before with my debut and The Darkest Legacy, but The Darkest Legacy was obviously building on an established world and characters, which meant most readers already had some background knowledge of the world and emotional investment going into the story. With LORE, I had to figure out the balance between making the story and characters feel big enough to intrigue the reader and keeping the story tidy enough to wrap up all of its many threads.

BT&W: What were the top reasons for choosing the particular Gods and Goddesses that you decided to work with for the Agon? 
    
AB: When I was trying to decide which gods would be trapped in the Agon, I went back and really looked at their essences and weighed how likely they’d be to push back against Zeus and the loss of their prominence. For example, while I know a lot of readers love Hades (and Persephone), it didn’t make sense to me for him to be involved, because I imagined he’d still have some sort of role to play in maintaining the Underworld, even after the other gods receded to their divine realm. 
I settled on the three original gods (OGs as I lovingly call them) left in the Agon pretty quickly—it made sense to me that the goddess of strategy, the goddess of the hunt, and the clever trickster of the gods would be the ones most capable of sticking it out over the centuries.   


BT&W: How did you come up with the idea for the Agon in the first place?

AB: The Agon was inspired by the many hunts of Greek mythology, as well as the agons that took place in Ancient Greece. An agon was any sort of gathering/struggle/competition, usually athletic, though it could also represent the struggle between a protagonist and antagonist in literature, too. (“agon” forms the root of the word agony and, as you may have noticed, protagonist and antagonist!)
There are also some pretty gnarly punishments dished out in Greek mythology, both to humans and gods, and the irony of the gods being published this way seemed to fit right in with those stories.  


BT&W: Which God or Goddess do you connect with the most and why? 

AB: I really loved Athena growing up—she was my favorite by far. As I got older, I started feeling this discomfort around her that I couldn’t quite articulate until later, in college, when I read essays that talked about how the image and stories of Athena were used to further patriarchal ideals in Ancient Greece. In a way, she kind of reminds me of how we used to think of a “strong female character,” which was basically a female-identifying character who adopted traditionally “masculine” traits and roles. It was really interesting to explore that on the page in this story. Now that I’m older, I connect a little more with Artemis who just wants to be left alone with her animals and run through forests bathed in moonlight.

BT&W: Miles and Athena are so adorable with their little odd connection… where did that come from when you were writing? Did you know it was going to be there or did the characters surprise you with it? 

AB: I did know I wanted to play with their dynamic going into the first draft, actually! Lore notes in the book that Miles is super likeable and easy to get along with, so it felt natural to have that extend to even a god. Gods were known to choose their mortal favorites, and he showed her a kind of awe and deference that the others didn’t--and, as an outsider to the Agon, he isn’t one of her enemies, so to speak.
Miles plays the important role of “audience stand-in” across the story, asking the important questions on the reader’s behalf, but I also needed him to help me break tension in certain scenes, as well as ground the story with some warmth and humor. I really loved their dynamic, though every time I picture them together Miles has a face like the gritted teeth emoji, haha.


BT&W: We love that Lore is first and foremost a badass girl and Castor is such a soft sweet boy. This is something that is usually reversed in many YA novels, especially ones in the Disney catalogue. Was this a conscious decision on your behalf when you were writing this novel? 

AB: Definitely. They come from a very rigid, patriarchal society, and I didn’t want Castor to play into it. Rather, I wanted to use both him and Van to help demonstrate how damaging and cruel toxic masculinity can also be to boys, and really anyone who doesn’t fit those strict ideals. One of my absolute favorite things about the book is the dynamic between young Lore and Cas; it was such a joy to imagine all of the various little adventures they went on in the city and the way Cas would gently steer them out of big trouble.


BT&W: How do you describe your own writing process? Pantser, Plotter, or mixture? How did that come into play with writing this particular novel?

AB: I’m more plotter than pantser, though that didn’t save me from some major revisions with this book over the past year. In general, I like to have the big beats of the story figured out and leave myself room on a scene level to explore and play around. My problem with drafting this time was that I didn’t nail down the right motivation for the antagonist from the start, which led me down a number of plot rabbit holes until I found the right story.


BT&W: What surprised you the most during the writing process for Lore?

AB: Hmmm… is it weird to say that I had no idea, even after living there for six years, that Manhattan has almost no proper alleyways in it? I set SO. MANY. SCENES. in alleyways as a way to keep certain action and conversations away from streets (where they would be visible to enemy hunters) and had to go back and rework all of them.


BT&W: How did you know this story was a standalone, do you feel like you’re completely done with that world?

AB: This is a totally unsatisfying answer, but I just… knew. It felt right, and sometimes I do make calls like that using my gut. But it made sense, too, because so many of the epic poems and mythological stories were (or felt) self-contained in the same way. 
I feel really content with where the story ends and I’m genuinely not sure how I would continue it even if I really wanted to! I’d love to maybe do some short stories or novellas set in the past or in the more extended world, though. 


BT&W: What was the hardest scene to write for Lore?

AB: Definitely the scenes around the climax of the book, largely because of my aforementioned antagonist problem! I had to keep certain pieces and beats while adjusting for motivation and also doing some science-y research. I won’t say more, though, because spoilers!


BT&W: What would be your dream piece of work that you haven’t written yet? 

AB: Honestly, it was LORE for the longest time. I’d been dying to write something connected to Greek mythology for years and years but I knew I didn’t necessarily want to write a retelling. I need to figure out my next dream work!


BT&W: What Taylor Swift song(s) best related to Lore as a theme song?

AB: I listened to the Lover album a lot while revising, and the two that really come to mind are The Archer and It’s Nice to Have a Friend, which is my official Lore and Cas theme song.


BT&W: What flavour of tea would you say works best for Lore as a book or Lore as a character?

AB: They actually have a special tea they drink in the book they call nektar, which uses thyme (an herb with connections to Greek mythology and courage in ancient times), ginger, a little lemon, and honey for sweetness. If I were participating in the Agon, though, I’d definitely drink a strong black tea to stay awake during the Agon’s many sleepless nights.  


BT&W: Because our blog also dives into the lives of our animal friends, what is the best Tenny story that you can think of to share with our readers? Bonus points if it involves books or something that he does while you are writing/ reading! 

AB: Tennyson is a funny, strong-willed guy, and he’s a little too smart for his own good! His vet thinks he doesn’t realize he’s a dog, but he’s been that way his whole life—he’s never had any interest in playing with other dogs and seems just totally aghast at their adorable puppy behavior sometimes. You can really see every thought play out in those eyes! My favorite Tenny thing happened when he was a puppy. I bell trained him (meaning he would ring a bell to go out and do his business) and he quickly realized he could abuse the system to go out anytime he wanted, even if it was just to sniff around. It coincided with his “nature boy” phase in which he would go out and gather leaves and sticks to bring inside for some mysterious reason. Maybe he was a bird in his past life??


BT&W: What book would you recommend to someone for after they’ve finished reading Lore? 

AB: Definitely CIRCE by Madeline Miller, but also A SONG OF WRAITHS AND RUIN by Roseanne A. Brown and AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir, both of which also use folklore in a glorious way and feature competitions that totally riveted me. 

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