Graphic Novel Review – Lore Olympus

4.5 stars

From Goodreads:

Experience the propulsive love story of two Greek gods—Hades and Persephone—brought to life with lavish artwork and an irresistible contemporary voice.

Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love—witness what the gods do after dark in this stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of mythology’s most well-known stories from creator Rachel Smythe. Featuring a brand-new, exclusive short story, Smythe’s original Eisner-nominated web-comic Lore Olympus brings the Greek Pantheon into the modern age with this sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.

This volume collects episodes 1-25 of the #1 WEBTOON comic, Lore Olympus.

My Thoughts

Content warning: There is an incidence of cooresion and sexual assault (I can give page numbers if requested).

This is such a fantastic take on the Hades and Persephone story so far. I really enjoyed the modernization of the characters while still keeping the mythology clearly in mind. I liked the imagining of the world of Olympus and how they relate to eachother, the bars and restaurants depicted and how the characters mingle through them. I also really loved how it established the interpersonal relationships between the characters and how they relate to their mythology too. I think you could go into this not knowing much Greek mythology and quickly establish the main players, their powers and associations.

My only down side is I do feel this section cut rather abruptly leaving little resolution. I understand this was a webtoon but I feel in conversion to the graphic novel format it could have left off as a stronger point in the story. My version has an exclusive deleted scene and I feel this gave so much more context to the story that others might miss.

The art work is just stunning so stylized and with a gorgeous colour palate. I loved that each deity had their own palette but how they complimented, contrasted and mixed with eachother. The style is just gorgeous which makes it and even better read.

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