The Goddess Hunt

Title: The Goddess Hunt

Author: Aimée Carter

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Publish Date:  01 March 2012

Pages: 71

ISBN: 978-1-42683-415-8

Source: Bought

Genre: Young Adult, romance, mythology

Series: The Goddess Test

Other books in series: The Goddess Test, Goddess Interrupted, The Goddess Legacy (July 2012)

A vacation in Greece sounds like the perfect way for Kate Winters to spend her first sabbatical away from the Underworld...until she gets caught up in an immortal feud going back millennia. Castor and Pollux have been on the run from Zeus and Hades' wrath for centuries, hiding from the gods who hunt them. The last person they trust is Kate, the new Queen of the Underworld. Nevertheless, she is determined to help their cause. But when it comes to dealing with immortals, Kate still has a lot to learn....

What did Kate Winters do during her first six months away from Henry?  This story starts out telling us some history of Castor and Pollux who are on the run from Zeus.  Castor and Pollux are twin sons of Zeus who were tricked by him.  One is mortal, the other is immortal.  The twins couldn’t picture spending eternity without each other and when Castor dies and goes to The Underworld, Pollux rescues him, which angered not only Zeus, but Hades, the God of the Underworld. 

                                                       

Fast forward to today.  Kate Winters has won immortality in The Goddess Test.   According to her agreement with Henry, she spends six months in The Underworld with him and gets to spend the other six months away from doing whatever she pleases.  During her first six months away, she spends the summer with James in Greece.  Things happen there that she doesn’t expect.  First off, James getting “lost” and finding Castor and Pollux, who have been on the run for centuries.  The last person that they want to trust is Kate, the Queen of the Underworld.  What happens when Henry (Hades) finds out that James and Kate has found Castor and Pollux?

I really like The Goddess Test series , but I wasn’t as excited about reading this novella and I’m not sure why.  Maybe because I had Goddess Interrupted to keep me busy at the same time.  Like Henry, I think that I really didn’t care what Kate did on her six months off and found it hard to believe that this would be an interesting story.  I was wrong.  This story drew me in like the other books in the series.  Carter never ceases to amaze me with her writing.  Not only is it grammatically correct, but the way she creates these characters that are ancient is astounding and I wasn't disappointed in this novella.  You would expect them not to use the same vernacular and grammar as those characters of today and she writes this flawlessly.

The cover shows a female, who is the same one on the other covers in the series, Kate Winters.  She is looking through a forest of some sort.  The font of the title is the same that is used for the other books in the series as well.  The consistency throughout the books is good to see.  I think that having her in the forest is appropriate for this novella because a lot of the story happens there.

 

• Kate Winters.  She is the main character.  Even though this is her time away from Henry and he has told her that she can do whatever she pleases and he cannot stop her, she is faithful to the vows that she made as Henry’s wife.  She shows some of her true character when dealing with Castor and Pollux.

• Henry.  Ah, Henry.  Every story that I read about him, I like him more and more.  Yes, he is angry and Castor and Pollux.  Nobody has ever escaped The Underworld before and this has upset him because that is his realm and he doesn’t want others to follow.  Having chased them for centuries, his patience is wearing thin.

• Castor and Pollux.  The twins of Zeus.  Zeus, being the master tricker that he is, made one of his sons mortal and the other immortal.  When Castor dies, Zeus makes a deal with Pollux where one day Castor can be immortal and the next he will spend in The Underworld and Pollux would get the same deal.  Pollux takes the deal because he thinks that means that he would get to spend eternity with his brother.  What he didn’t know was that he would never see him because their days would alternate.  Pollux really cares for Castor. He couldn’t see living without him and rescues him from The Underworld.  They are running and in hiding so Zeus and Hades do not find them and punish them for what they have done, which is outsmart Zeus.  At first, Pollux seems very abrasive.  I wouldn’t expect any less from someone who was betrayed by his father.  Castor is very polite and charming.

• Cerebus.  He is guardian and a dog of The Underworld.  Pollux punches him in the nose when he rescues Castor.  He comes again to the forest and encounters Pollux and Castor again.  You just have to  love dogs.  

 

• James.  James has been slowing going from the “like” to “did not like” side.  At first, he seems to really care about Kate and what happens to her.  After reading his history and the things that he has done, I’m beginning to like him less and less.  He was always there to fight with his brothers against the threats in Goddess Interrupted without question, but his heart wasn’t in it.  He tries to get Kate to go against her vows to Henry.  He finds Castor and Pollux when he knows that this will cause problems for them.

• The other Gods and Goddesses in this novella. Yeah, they have rules that they have to uphold, but they seem heartless when they do it.  Some of them surprise me, but for the most part they are prideful and cold.