Neon Gods

I picked up this audiobook on a whim because my podcast feed was thoroughly wrung out, my Libby account was beckoning, and my schedule was littered with hours of soul-crushing lab work. I figured Neon Gods would be the right amount of fluff with the right amount of plot so I could still focus on my work. And you know what? It was. Neon Gods isn’t a literary masterpiece, but I think it’s a fun enough romp if you don’t go in with sky-high expectations.

Modern retellings of the myth of Hades and Persephone are all the rage right now so you can have some idea of what will happen. It’s honestly not that deep. The fun lies in how different authors choose to remix the myth, but in Neon Gods it’s just flat-out bizarre? There’s the city of Olympus, but also a California where one can escape to pursue a PhD (frankly, a mistake). The world-building is hilariously ham-fisted to the point where it’s a little charming. The Olympians are featured prominently and their “roles” are on the nose. There was a lack of creativity and nuance when it came to placing Olympus in our modern society that my suspension of belief was not suspended. Buttttttttt, that kind of in-your-face world building is perfect for when I’m focusing on calculating how many cells I need in a 6-well plate and battling a dying calculator.

Persephone is a fine character, bordering on infuriating. Hades is a I’m-so-broody-but-so-cool character, bordering on insufferable. Together, they are numptys that are basically a high school couple that never learned how to communicate. Persephone falls into the born sexy yesterday trope which gives Hades room to be the dark, morally grey male lead. Maybe I haven’t dabbled enough in the dark romances taking the publishing world by storm, but it feels like main characters are always a Mary Sue/Gary Stu that inherently contradicts their “tortured nature.” Despite the trope-y leads, I thought the relationship build-up was decently paced and somewhat compelling. Smut’s alright (No, I will not elaborate. Internet footprints are a thing.).

The ending was a bit rushed but hey the book seemed to know when I was ready for it to end. I have to give kudos to the climax (heh) though because it made me outright laugh. My two biggest criticisms: (1) The pomegranate was shoehorned in with a one line cameo–a pity really. (2) This audiobook is funnier than it should be because the narrators do funny voices of each other. Pretty fun introduction to audiobooks though.