Story well written and great narration

Story well written and great narration.

I am voluntarily reviewing a copy I received free from the author.

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Love it

amazing story, very unique and I loved the mythology aspects. the narrators do an excellent job bringing it to life!

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1 person found this helpful

Review

If I were to base my judgement off this story alone, it would have easily been a 5 star book. There was so much about this story I absolutely adored. I thought it was so unique twisting the story of Thetis and Achilles to this of Serena. There was so much that I really enjoyed about the story alone. But there was just too many other issues I had with the book to fully give this a 5 star review.

One of my issues was the editing. It happened more in the beginning of the book but my goodness was it frustrating. I really enjoyed the prologue about the story of Thetis and the Gods of Olympus but it was told way too many times. I couldn’t believe how many times this was told over and over again. In the beginning it happened right after the other! Then the one scene that really sticks out in my mind it the first scene between Serena and Tristan. What she is wearing changes in a couple of paragraphs and what she is wearing is so unrealistic, I just couldn’t let it go. Then there was the scene with Aeris and I’m wondering why. It was supposed to be so traumatizing (which honestly, yeah… it should have been) but it was like it never happened. What was the point of it then? Then there were random point of view changes within the chapters and it left me wondering why even name who they were supposed to be then. There were just so many writing and editing choices that really made it hard to look past.

Serena’s character I really enjoyed. She was portrayed as the unknowing goddess very well. I was kind of surprised that she knew so little of Greek mythology that she didn’t even know who Apollo and Artemis were? I understand why her Mother would want to keep her away from it but it is in so much of the media… it’d be kind of hard to not know some of the basics. However, I think Titan’s character was the best. It was interesting to get his side of the story just because Poseidon usually is the main focus when it comes to the sea gods.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, Hanging in the Balance by Catherine Gagnon could have easily been a 5 star rating book from me but there were just too many decisions that was too hard to pass. I absolutely loved this story and the twist of Thetis. However, too many bad editing and writing decisions took away from that love. It was too hard to move past some of it. Serena was an interesting main character and it was enjoyable to see her transformation from a normal “human” into the goddess she was meant to be. But I absolutely loved Titan’s point of view through the story. It was refreshing to hear of another God besides the main ones. I would recommend this book if you do enjoy Greek retellings and secret identities with prophecies to be unfolded.

AUDIO REVIEW
NOTE: The narration does not affect my rating of the book
I loved this narration. If you like audio books and you are slightly interested in this one, I would absolutely recommend doing it on audio. Both narrators did an exquisite job bringing this story to life. It was so enjoyable and easy to follow as well!

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So enjoyable

This took me a little while to get into as I don’t know the mythology but once I was sucked in, that was that!
The ending is so exciting. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
Well narrated, with some excellent pronunciation, highly recommend

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