Review: Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas

Blurb:

The overnight viral sensation everyone is talking about, Blood of Hercules, is a sarcastically funny, dark fantasy romance reimagining of Hercules from bestselling author Jasmine Mas—now available in paperback with full color character art, bonus content, and embossed lettering.

I’m just a girl. And it turns out, I’m Hercules.

I’m struggling to survive in a Titan infested world where Spartans, immortals from twelve royal families who have god-like powers and obscene wealth, rule over all. A shy-stammering foster child with nothing, I keep my head down, cover my scars, and focus on excelling in school. At least, I try to. Then it happens.

My blood test reveals I’m part of the powerful elite. I’m one of them. A Spartan.

Forced to attend the Spartan War Academy, I undergo the most harrowing test of all time to see if I have what it takes to be an immortal. There’s just a few problems. Achilles and Patro are my scary mentors. Kharon, the ferryman of death, and Augustus, the son of war, are my terrifying professors. Also, I’m pretty sure either someone’s stalking me everywhere I go, or my sanity’s slipping––I have a bad feeling both are true.

I’m surrounded by Villains and they’re smothering me with their hate, obsession, and dark possessiveness. Too bad for them, they have no clue just who they’re messing with.

A Dark Romantasy for readers who love:

• "Who did this to you?"

• Extreme Enemies to Lovers

• Strong Heroine

• Morally Gray Alpha Heroes

• Zodiac Academy, Quicksilver and When the Moon Hatched

Review:

A depraved fever dream of a read that snatches you up and hurls you down a dark twisting tunnel of power, madness, survival, and a fight for immortality. This is a darkly addictive, guilty pleasure of a read. It's deeply compelling, anxiety-inducing, and emotionally traumatizing. It's not for the faint of heart.

‘Fides est periculosa ludum—trust is a dangerous game.’

Since finishing this I can't stop thinking about it, desperately wishing for the sequel. I did not expect this book to sink its needle sharp teeth into me as thoroughly as it did. I need more. I've been listlessly scrolling through lists of books, trying to find something to fill the hungry void Blood of Hercules has left in its wake.

While I can honestly say it's one of the most frustrating books I've ever read, it was also one of the most bingeable books I’ve read so far this year. I couldn't hardly put the book down, reading an entire half of it in one sitting. The pages couldn’t turn fast enough! And when I wasn't reading it, I couldn't stop obsessively thinking about it, wondering if Alexis would be okay. The connection I made with our heroine surprised me with the depth of anxiety I felt for her and her messed up situation. She is deeply not okay. 

‘Some wounds are so visible that no one can ever see them.’

Let me explain what this book is before diving into the nitty gritty details. It's a Greek mythology retelling (duh, I hear you all saying. And yes, the title tells you that much, I know). But it is a retelling set in a dystopian version of our world with a large slice focused on dark romance. Dark romance like “here's some eyeballs gift wrapped for you” kind of twisted depravity.

In this version of Greek retelling, the gods are not gods but superhumans born from ancient Sparta. After a war occurred between the two sects of Spartans (Cthonics and Olympians) the earth was laid waste to by demonic creatures called the Titans. Those of humanity that survived the initial apocalypse now live in safe zones that are under a Spartan protectorate. Every child’s blood is tested, and any who end up having Spartan blood in them are whisked away to the Spartan War Academy, which is a brutal experience that must be endured to claim their birthright of immortality. Such are the circumstances of our heroine, Alexis Hert.

‘You’ve lived through hell already and kept your mind intact. You can do it again.’

There are dark romances, and then there are ones like this with a heavy emphasis on the dark aspect, leaning into all things monstrous, brutal, and malicious. Blood of Hercules incorporates many heavy topics/themes. I highly recommend checking out the full list of content warnings for this book. There are two main ones I will mention as they play a significant role in the shaping of our heroine. The first is child abuse. The very beginning of this book has you immediately thrown into the bleakness of Alexis’s childhood, the constant threat of bodily harm hanging over her head like a thunderbolt was intense to read. I was shocked by that opening initially, and honestly almost dnfed it because of this. Luckily, that part was only for the first few chapters (which are blessedly short). The second is suicide ideation, and this is heavily emphasized throughout the book. So if you're not in the proper headspace currently, I advise not trying this book. 

‘I tuned him out. I’d reached my daily limit of interacting with people.’

I normally hate bully romances, and not to say this one didn't have me incredibly frustrated for a good chunk of the time, it still had more pull to continue than any previous one of its kind. The sense I got from the men in this is that they were grossly uninformed of Alexis's past, and had they just known the circumstances that had led her to this point, they would have given her a lot less shit. They also gave off the “protect her at all costs” vibes unlike other books of this sort, like Zodiac Academy where the dudes are assholes just to be assholes. In saying that though, they still didn't treat Alexis gently by any means. And I was grinding my teeth so hard over some of the things they put her through without knowing the full story.

For as hellish and bleak as this is, there's a surprising amount of humor in it to lighten the tone a smidge. Just a smidge though. Most of this humor comes from the inner monologues of Alexis. Her humor is dry, morbid, and self-destructive, but the delivery is just so on point that I was quietly chuckling to myself or smirking like the Cheshire cat.

‘Mental note—physical exertion makes me homicidal. Avoid anything above a brisk walk.’

Honestly, literally everyone in this book is horrible and treats Alexis like utter garbage, showing her nothing but hatred, impatience and disgust. My poor girl is just trying to survive. There’s only three who are decent to her: her brother Charlie, Nyx, her talking snake companion, and Drex, one of her classmates. Also everyone has this weird obsession with yelling everything, like that ever helps a situation. All of this sounds terrible, and it is, but Alexis is such a tough heroine who’s been through so much in her short life that you just have to keep reading. You have to know that she somehow makes it through all the crap the world and Fates are throwing at her. The power of this story is Alexis. And despite all the wrongs done to her, no matter how broken and fractured she is, she is still kind. 

I can't tell you how shocked I am that this worked for me. This is not my normal reading preference, and yet I am in the throes of a severe book hangover from it. I'm just rambling like I am actually in shock, and maybe I am lol. The way things ended…has me grumbling and bemoaning how long I have to wait (October 23rd) to find out how things go down.

‘Power was a dangerous game—but we were dangerous men.’