For several reasons, I was expecting this series to be lighter and more fun than it is turning out to be. Book three was a bit of a curveball in that respect, but the end of this book might just beat it out. Wow.

The time travel came completely out of nowhere, and while it wasn't my favorite move, I think it worked for the story. And it was fun to see how the wedding and the Apple of Discord played out. And I really liked that the main plot got moving a lot faster this time. All of the previous books took a while - like, at least half the book - to even get to the right place, but we really dove right in on this one. It was a nice change of pace!

I'm really starting to see character development now and I'm liking it. This is such a good book for Alcie - her development is no longer tied to her crush on Homer! Yay! But Iole gets her chance to shine too.

I really liked the opening, where she was dropping hints about her birthday, only to get a full on surprise party, and then be the only one capable of capturing the minor evil.

I can honestly say that I was not expecting one of the main characters to die. Like, I'm fully expecting that she'll be back alive in probably the next book (or for sure by the end of the series, because this REEKS of Hera interfering with Fate, hence the epilogue), but we really went there, huh. And Pandy's reaction! When Hermes returns the bracelet! Incredible. And then Zeus returns Dido?? Wow. The emotional whiplash of the ending is a lot to process, but it's so good.

Honestly, my biggest gripe about this book is that I have this series in paperback, and this is the only book that underwent a major color palette change from the original hardcover. I like the magenta on it's own, but the green was way more distinct when you look at these all together. Now I have a hard time telling it apart from the pink of book three.

[Notes on content: the torture is very very brief and not explicit, but it involves snakes. The warning for fire is because someone does get set on fire, but they're totally fine.]