„Lore“ is about - in the own words of the book - the Agon: „For seven days, every seven years, the gods walk on earth as mortals. If you can kill one, you become a new god and take their power and immortality, but you‘ll be hunted in the next Agon as well“. Lore hasn‘t participated in the Agon for around seven years - since her family was brutally murdered by other hunters. Her family is one of „the nine bloodlines descended from ancient heroes chosen to hunt“ the nine gods that are punished. Originally named Melora, Lore is the last one left from the House of Perseus.
Now, „there are only four bloodlines participating in the Agon. The others have died out.“
But then Athene comes barely alive to Lore’s door and asks for her help. As Athene promises to kill her family‘s murderer, Lore makes a blood oath to bind herself to Athene. If Athene dies in the Agon, Lore will too.
Lore‘s deal with Athene results in a quest through New York City and Lore battling to stay alive - never quite finding out what the true meaning behind her destiny is and also leaving the reader guessing.
I loved „Lore“ so so much. Not only the book but also the main character. Lore is independent, powerful, fierce - and she makes mistakes. She is only human and since the day her family got brutally slaughtered she has this anger inside of her that she tries to suppress. But Lore was born for the Agon and once she was the one who was determined to become a legend, a hero. She was the one who damned all who acted too weak, too cowardly.
The only important person at Lore‘s side was her then-friend Castor from the Hous of Achillies. They had trained together because the instructors thought they fitted well - the girl and the sick one. Lore always believed that Castor died in the last Agon but suddenly he is back again - and something about him seems different.
I honestly expected the book to be kind of difficult to understand because of all the family trees, the map of New York City and - especially - the instructions left by Zeus about the Agon. But, as it turned out, everything got very well explained and I could remember the names of the houses, gods and hunters well.
However, be prepared to some breath-taking surprises and cliff-hangers at the end of the chapters.
