Book Review: Winter of the Gods by Jordanna Max Brodsky
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Winter of the Gods by Jordanna Max Brodsky
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of Olympus Bound
Publisher: Orbit (February 16, 2017)
Length: 447 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
As The Immortals was one of my top reads from last year, I couldn’t wait to dive into its sequel, Winter of the Gods. And while I didn’t feel this sequel was as good as its predecessor, I wasn’t disappointed either—returning to Jordanna Max Brodsky’s extraordinary vision of New York City, where Greek gods walk the earth in human guises, was once again a pleasure to experience.
Our story opens several months after the end of the first book. With the weather getting colder and Christmas fast approaching, Selene DiSilva’s antipathy for the holiday spirit is enough to make Ebenezer Scrooge look like a paragon of cheer. On the bright side though, as Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt, defender of women and girls, Selene has also been keeping her spirits up with her vigilantism to bring justice to the abusers of those she has taken under her protection. And trust me, Selene DiSilva is not someone you’d want as an enemy.
However, Theo and Selene’s lives are soon turned upside down by a body found on top of the iconic Wall Street Charging Bull statue, surrounded by evidence pointing to a ritual performed by a sacrificial cult. The identity of the dead man comes as a shock as Selene realizes that she and the other gods are still in danger. Someone out there is hunting her and her brethren, and once again there’s a possibility that the culprit may be one of their own. Now she must reach out to the other immortals for help while Theo scours his knowledge of mythology and his field of classical studies to make sense of the mysterious clues left at the murder scene, all in the hopes they’ll catch the killer before it is too late.
There are many reasons why Winter of the Gods is a strong sequel. Those who enjoyed The Immortals will be pleased to find it continuing central themes from the first book, including the fresh perspective on popular Greek myths and the premise that the Old Gods live among us in secret. And like the first book, this sequel also reads like a mystery thriller, taking the reader on a Dan Brown-esque race around New York City to locate certain landmarks by solving problems and symbolic clues related to classical mythology. It’s a modern day murder mystery with a fantastical twist, and you’re definitely going to want to keep reading (or start this series) if you enjoy your urban fantasy spiced up with a touch of myth and magic.
However, there were a few disappointments as well. Selene DiSilva has always been a dangerous woman, but there’s no denying that the events from the first book have transformed her into an even more ornery and aggressive character. While I admired her as a powerful and strong-willed protagonist in The Immortals, in Winter of the Gods I confess I found her a lot harder to like, not to mention her behavior also cast an unhealthy shadow on her relationship with Theo. Selene is may be the protector of women and girls, but that doesn’t stop her from frequently extending that protection to all the needy and vulnerable of New York, which she sees as “her” city. Knowing this while reading about how she abuses Theo—emotionally and, at one point, physically—was a little hard to swallow. Let’s just say the following interactions between Theo and his friend Ruth gave me a real eye-opener on the nature of his relationship with Selene:
“Theo forgot how much he liked spending time with someone who always laughed at his jokes—someone whose emotions he could not only predict but, to some extent, influence. When Ruth was sad, he could cheer her up. When she was happy, he knew why.”
“Theo was a little taken aback by her alacrity. He was used to bargaining, cajoling, convincing. It felt odd to have someone so willing to help.”
Wait, so someone being pleasant towards him is actually something he finds surprising? What does that say about Selene? And Theo’s acquiescence and excuses for her, argh! The whole thing left me with a bad taste in my mouth which slightly affected my enjoyment of this novel, and it didn’t help that the romantic drama—like all the bickering and the jealousies—often caused pacing issues and distracted attention from the main mystery. When all is said and done, I was glad that the story ultimately had Theo and Selene looking more introspectively at their relationship to see if it was really the best for them or not (it’s an important conversation and kudos to the author for addressing the issues). For me though, all the chemistry had already been leeched out of their romance by then, and unfortunately I think that might have dampened the emotional impact of the ending.
Still, despite my complaints, they didn’t take too much away from my overall enjoyment of the novel. While a few minor flaws give Winter of the Gods less of an edge compared to the first book, I still highly recommend this sequel especially if you liked the ideas from The Immortals and wanted to see them expanded and explored. I can’t wait for the final book of this trilogy to see how the remaining conflicts and questions will resolve themselves.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The Immortals (Book 1)
The BiblioSanctum 
I did like book 1 more, but it was still a great one
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Agreed!
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I’ve heard such mixed things about this sequel but your review gives me hope that I might like it! I plan to read book one later this year. I do like the idea of the Dan Brown style plot as I seem to be one of the few who loved the DaVinci Code! My one concern is the romantic angst as I’m never a fan of it but if I like the first book, I’ll give it a try. Great review Mogsy!
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It is a major best seller. You most assuredly are NOT the only one who liked DaVinci Code. As a page turner there are few better. I have no problem mocking Brown’s writing style but I still tore through that book.
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“As a page turner there are few better” – agreed, so much this.
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It’s still good, I just had some mild issues with the characters in this one. And nah you are definitely not the only one who loved DaVinci Code! Was it a masterpiece of literature? Of course not, but it was fun and addictive as hell and I loved every moment of it. It seems a lot of people just love to trash it because they feel it’s in fashion to do so.
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Hmmm. This sounds like it’s a darker read in spots than The Immortals was – and there were times when The Immortals was pretty dark. I’ll definitely keep your cautions in mind when I finally get around to this book, and hopefully I’ll like it enough to finish the series next year.
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I would say it’s darker in some spots, yeah, especially where the characters’ heads are in this book. Definitely got some major alarm bells off of Selene and Theo’s relationship!
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Here’s another series I earmarked some time ago and never came around to reading! ((SIGH)) 🙂
It’s interesting what you wrote about the relationship between the goddess-in-incognito and her mortal partner: from what you say, especially about the abuse, it would seem that – protector of the weak or not – she still thinks of herself as a goddess, a being who is superior to mere mortals, and therefore entitled to have her way, no matter what.
And I can understand where your misgivings come from…
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It’s ironic, right? She protects the city’s women, many of them strangers, from abuse – yet she goes and shoves her boyfriend around (literally at one point) whenever she’s in the middle of a hissy fit. Selene’s definitely got the “I’m a goddess, I’m allowed to do whatever I want” attitude going 😀
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I definitely want to pick this up soon – it sounds a little like it had a few issues which I can’t help feeling is a bit disappointing but as you’ve still given it 4 stars I will definitely continue onwards
Lynn 😀
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Yeah, the characters were a little disappointing. I have a feeling the next book will improve on this aspect though, because of the way this one ended 🙂
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After some debate, I decided to pass on this one. I finished up The Immortals in February and like it, but I did think Selene took her strong woman thing to a level that actually was pretty scary.
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I can understand! I kinda agree with you there 🙂
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I am glad you liked this one! I was a little tough on it in my review but I agree with a lot of what you say, and I especially like the cult elements and the idea of the gods living among us. And the NYC setting is fabulous the way she draws it in.
I do agree that Selene was less likable in this one. And the jealousy elements between her, Theo and a certain other didn’t really work for me. Even though I didn’t like this one as much I am probably going to read the third, because I am curious to see where she goes next.
Nice review!
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Selene was downright frustrating. On some level I understood why she’s the way she is – especially after what happened in the first book – but it still made her really hard to like! The romantic drama didn’t work as well for me either, I just wanted them to get back to the mystery and crime solving!
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I had the same problem with Selene…but in book 1
Couldn’t even finish it. I was so disappointed because the worldbuilding premise is so great! In fact, I’m posting a dnf review of it tomorrow that you may want to skip LOL But I’m glad to hear that you still had a good time with this one!
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Haha, I read your review! No way I would skip a friend’s review just because they didn’t enjoy a book that I did 😀 And you brought up some excellent points!
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*Phew* Thank you, friend!!! Lol I’m always tempted to waffle around with critical or DNF reviews, but, well, we’re all here for discussion, right? The WordPress sff reviewing community is a really awesome bunch 🤓
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Hmmm…a contender for my TBR. I think I will wait for book three and opinions on the conclusion before I begin this series. Thanks for the review x
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Good idea! I have pretty high hopes for book three, crossing my fingers the series will end with a bang 🙂
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