Warrior Rising

The title: Warrior Rising
The authors: P.C. Cast
Publication: Berkley, 2008
Got it from: DC, Aug 2009

P.C. Cast returns for another installment of the goddess summoning series. Like Goddess of Spring,* Cast is trying to reinvent the Greek myths. It's hard not to compare the two books, because both are cases of, "they're really not such bad fellows, just misunderstood." In Warrior Rising, the hero is Achilles. The goddesses Hera, Athena and Venus are getting tired after ten years of the Trojan war and feel that by distracting Achilles with a woman, the Trojans can win and the war will be over. Venus chooses a modern-day woman to do the job, but when she and her best friend are killed in a car accident, Venus places their souls into the bodies of a Trojan princess and her handmaiden. Kat (now Princess Polyxena) must help Achilles break the curse that has been inflicted on him since he was a teenager and stop the monster that literally lurks within him.

I confess to being no fan of Achilles. If I'm going to go for anyone in the Trojan War, it's Hector all the way for me. Achilles always seemed like a spoiled brat, but Cast does her best here to redeem him. A secondary love story between Kat's friend Jacky and Patroklas rounds the story out. This is a pretty frothy read and fun if you're familiar with the classics. Expect silliness and warm fuzzies by the end.

* Someday soon I am going to update the graphics on my blog. Some of my old pictures have disappeared.