Rating: 4 / 5
I received DAUGHTER OF SPARTA by Claire M. Andrews in my YA Once Upon a Book Club box. This is a book I didn’t know much about, but the synopsis had me intrigued!
DAUGHTER OF SPARTA follows Daphne, a young woman who has trained her whole life in the hopes of becoming a warrior, breaking the standard gender roles expected by the people of Sparta. When she finally has an opportunity to show her worth, she unexpectedly runs into Artemis and learns that her brother’s life is being held as collateral until Daphne does what Artemis demands.
Daphne has no choice but to help the gods to recover their fading powers by finding and retrieving the items which have been stolen from Mount Olympus. She strikes out on her epic quest, aided by Apollo.
I didn’t know much about this book going into it, but I wound up really enjoying it. I am really enjoying seeing so many familiar (and less familiar) myths being retold putting strong female characters in the lead. Daphne has always been an outsider in her society, made worse by her wanting to take on a typical ‘male role’ by becoming a warrior. I really liked her determination to prove everyone wrong, even if that does get sidetracked by Artemis’ quest.
I enjoyed the way the author brought different mythological figures into the story and kept things at a brisk pace as well. There is a bit of a love triangle or at least some conflicting feelings on Daphne’s part, but that was kept at a relative minimum as the romance aspects aren’t presented as central to the story. Overall this was a really fun adventure story and I will look forward to seeing where it goes in book two wen that comes out!
This was another book that I likely would not have picked up without this subscription, but I’m glad Once Upon a Book Club put this on my TBR shelf. Use my code DGREADS10 for 10% off your order if you’re interested in giving this box a try!
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