Daughters of Olympus

A Novel

De: Hannah Lynn

Narrado por: Zura Johnson

A daughter pulled between two worlds and a mother willing to destroy both to protect her . . .

Demeter: a goddess of life, living half of one.

Demeter did not always live in fear. Once, she loved the world and the humans who inhabited it. After an act of devastating violence, though, she hides herself away among the grasses and wildflowers. Her only solace is her daughter . . .

Before she was Persephone, she was Core.

Core is as bright as summer and devoted to her mother, even during their millennia in exile from Olympus. But she craves freedom. Naïve and determined, she secretly builds a life of her own—and as she does so, she catches the eye of a powerful god . . .

The daughters of Olympus will have the last word . . .

Then Hades kidnaps Core and renames her as Queen of the Underworld. In the land without sun, she realizes she may have a chance to gain back what she thought she'd lost forever. But Demeter will destroy anything—even the humans she holds so dear—to bring her daughter back. A mother who has lost everything and a daughter with more to gain than she ever realized, they will irrevocably shape the world: all in the name of something as human as love.

©2024 Hannah Lynn (P)2024 Tantor

An amazing retelling of the myth

Loved this approach to the retelling of the myth of Demeter and Persephone, in my opinion I loved all the additions and tweaks made to the story, i think the authors choices made the story richer and it made the conclusion a very satisfying one. Loved it

Stunning performance

I have never listened to an audiobook narrated by Zura Johnson before and now I will look forward to hearing her again. I especially loved the voice she used for the characters of Demeter and Hades, but all were so well done. Terrific re-telling of a classic Greek myth. Going back to see some of Hannah Lynn’s earlier works.

Outstanding!!!!!!

I just finished this book and I am so sad. It has everything!!!! The narration is amazing. I usually believe it is better to actually read a book, but, with this book, listening was far superior. The story of Demeter and Persephone was so powerful and inspired. I couldn’t wait to listen to each chapter- stayed up way too late and then so depressed that I had to leave the world she had created. You feel like you are there at every moment. You care about the characters deeply. The portrayal of Hades is always varied and problematic. He obviously violates Persephone and as a feminist I am prone to be outraged by his behavior- but, I have to admit I fell in love with him in this story. Right or wrong that is the truth. I realize that it is an easier character experience to be immersed in. All I can say is both sides of this controversy are expressed. I adored every moment of this book. It is a must read.

Lovely finish, but dragged on

First of all this is fantastically acted. I really enjoyed the narrator. There is far too much of a focus on all of the rapes—it’s everyone’s first thought and Demeter specifically mentions it constantly. The reactions to events were at times drawn out in a way that I found boring, and especially Demeter’s day-long love affair with Iasion was so unbelievable it was sort of comical. All of the men in here tend to be a bit one-dimensional too. But the story is really lovely, and I really enjoyed Core/Persephone’s chapters most of all. It was a good retelling of Demeter’s story, and I enjoyed her and her daughter’s self-actualization journeys. I’d recommend this to someone who’s already making their way through Greek mythology retellings, but probably not to someone just getting into it

A great retelling of the story of Demeter and Persephone.

While I’m well versed in the story of Demeter, Persephone and Hades, it was interesting to listen to a different version of the story having Persephone taking a female lover, I knew Persephone had taken Adonis as a lover. Which was the reason of a quarrel between Persephone and Aphrodite. That story is not in this book… but then again chronologically would have happen later once Persephone was already an established Queen in the Underworld. This Persephone is a different version I would believe. Demeter story in other hand is very much what I’ve read many times. Perhaps because in the original mythology much of the story is essentially about her and goes in so many details on her journey to find her daughter again. That was also kept in this book. The narrator has such a pleasant voice that, I think I ll be certain to listen again this audiobook many times. I love Greek Mythology and I think most people that are familiar with it will appreciate it.

SPOILER:

Just keep in mind that this is still a classic story of Persephone and Hades and she is still violently abducted by him. Though there is no “sexual violence” in that part of the story . It’s called the Rape of Persephone because of in the origin of the word rape came from the Latin word raptus, seized or carried off. Probably why Raptors Birds or Birds of Prey came from. In other hand, there are two instances of rape in the story, both happened to Demeter. It’s quite sad, but I’m glad the author didn’t dwell in neither sequences events. But I guess it was important to the story as it was part of the original story of Demeter.