Genre: Young Adult (Fantasy/Mytholgy)
Date Published: July 12, 2016
Publisher: Self
For as long as she can remember, seventeen-year-old Princess Andromeda has done what was expected of her. She consented to a political marriage to a hateful older man. She became a quiet, obedient housewife. After her husband’s death, she agreed to be united in yet another political marriage for the sake of her country’s stability.
However, when the Greek goddess of the sea disrupts this second wedding ceremony, jealous of the pomp of the celebration, she places a curse on Andromeda and her home: either sacrifice the princess to a sea beast or let the creature destroy her country. A visit to the Oracle reveals that Andromeda needs four ancient weapons of the Greek gods to fight off the beast and the goddess who controls it.
Now Andromeda must find the strength and the cunning to do what she has never done before — to fight for her own life — while keeping the well-meaning “hero” Perseus out of her way.
The city of Delphi is nestled on top of one of the peaks of Mt. Parnassus in Greece. In ancient times, it was though of as a holy place for the god Apollo. According to myth, Apollo battled a giant serpent at this spot, and when he killed it, he cast it down into the earth. It was on this spot that the Greeks built their temple. An older woman chosen for her "blameless life" acted as the Oracle, a person who was thought to be able to connect with Apollo during a special ceremony once a month. She would deliver her prophecies, which often had to be translated by priests into something that made sense.
Some scientists believe that the prophetic fits of the Oracle had a natural explanation. At the site where the Oracle's private chambers once stood, a crack has been found in the earth, along with traces of a natural gas called ethylene.This gas has been known to cause a "high" in people exposed to it. This is what many believed was the real source of the Oracle's visions.
In "Andromeda," the heroine gets the chance to experience this process herself. But is the resulting vision really from the gods, or just a side-effect of getting a lung-full of hallucinogenic gas?
Click here to read my review of Andromeda!
Her debut series, the “God-Haunted Saga” will focus on mythology set in ancient Greece. Though Meg has not gotten the chance to go to Greece herself, she’s spent countless hours pouring over books and maps. And since all her knowledge of the place, history and culture is coming from reading books, she’s pretty certain she’s pronouncing every Greek term incorrectly.
She was raised in Florida and currently resides in Tennessee with her husband, son, and extremely fluffy cat. When she’s not working at her full-time job as a journalist or wrangling her toddler, she’s usually spending way too much time playing Sims.
To learn more about Meg Trotter and her books, visit her blog.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.
Greek mythology does fascinate.
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