Rating: 
Genre: Young Adult > Mythology
(Zoe and Zeus #1)
Zoe Calder has always been an outsider. Stashed away in boarding schools since her parents died, Zoe buries herself in the study of ancient worlds. Her greatest thrill is spending her summers with her archeologist aunt and uncle on digs around the world. And one day, while investigating a newly unearthed temple in Crete, Zoe discovers a luminous artifact that transports her to ancient Greece.
As Zoe quickly learns, the Olympian Gods are real, living people—humans with mysterious powers… Powers that Zoe quickly realizes she has come to possess, as well. However, when the people of ancient Greece mistake Zoe for an Olympian, the Gods must restore the balance of the ancient world… No matter what.
Zoe is forced to play a confusing and dangerous game as Hera rallies the gods against her—all except for Zeus, the beautiful, winged young god who risks everything to save her.
Out of time and out of her element, teenager Zoe Calder finds herself in ancient Greece, battling against the power of the Olympians and the vengeance of a scorned goddess—all for the strange and mysterious boy she has come to love.
*****
I saw The Dig from Backlit Fiction’s email newsletter. The mythology was different from what I usually read, plus the cover is gorgeous, so I decided to go for it. And I liked it. Nothing to rave about, but it’s something to pass the time. Hart’s writing needs polishing, because all I can hear in the storytelling is a lot of babbling and rambling. Zoe’s always talking about things that I think are better left unread by readers (obviously since they are not necessary).
Zoe is smart but a loner. She found herself transported back in time when she explored an unknown room in her uncle’s/aunt’s archeological dig in Greece. Apparently, gods & goddesses existed here (well, in the form of teenagers, but still powerful). There she met a nymph and eventually, a golden-haired boy. Zeus. Now tell me if you read any YA fiction with Zeus as the lead character. No? Me too. Zeus is pretty sweet here, which makes me a little skeptical. He is powerful, yes, but it is not enough to rein in the other Olympians. Hera is in her true character. I liked her more than Zoe.
Likes: Zoe’s goddess-like powers. The labyrinth. The mutiny against Zeus.
Dislikes: Which goddess Zoe takes up to? Demeter? Hart did not clear that up. The constant rambling thoughts of Zoe (I mean, you’re gonna die and yet you remember this one time at high school, blah blah blah? Come on!) clear was a downer.
The Dig is an okay read but I have read better mythology-based YA book.
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.: maria :.
“giving up is the ultimate tragedy.”
reading is the ultimate aphrodisiac. 