Title: The Immortal Game
Author: Talia Rothschild and A.C. Harvey
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Mythology, Greek
Date Published: May 25th 2021
Goodreads Rating: 4.46
Synopsis:
An exiled goddess goes on a quest to clear her name and save Mount Olympus in Talia Rothschild & A. C. Harvey’s action-packed young adult debut, The Immortal Game!
Galene, daughter of Poseidon, desperately wants to earn her place among the gods. But when a violent attack leaves Mount Olympus in chaos and ruins, she is accused of the crime. Banished from Olympus, Galene sets out to prove her innocence and discovers a more deadly plot—one that threatens even the oldest of Immortals.
Fortunately, she has allies who willingly join her in exile:
A lifelong friend who commands the wind.
A defiant warrior with deadly skill.
A fire-wielder with a hero’s heart.
A mastermind who plays life like a game.
All-out war is knocking at the gates. Galene and her friends are the only ones who can tip the scales toward justice, but their choices could save Olympus from total annihilation, or be the doom of them all.
Hiya bessies!
How are you all?
Welcome to my stop of The Immortal Game tour!
Disclaimer: I’ve received a copy of the book from the host of this tour. All materials (pictures, banners, links, author’s bio, etc) used in this post are not mine unless stated. With that my review wasn’t influenced in any way.
Let’s get started!
This book is about a goddess who was exiled because she was accused of a crime she did not commit. To clear her name and prove her innocence, she and her friends set out on an adventure to find a very important orb. One that started a war that they must help win against an army of monsters and banished gods and goddesses.
First thoughts about this book, this book is Greek myth-inspired, specifically, I think it is inspired by Uncle Rick’s Percy Jackson books, so you bet I would jump aboard and read this one!
So let’s talk about the characters first…. We have four of them.
I like that one of this book’s main characters is the daughter of the god of the sea, Poseidon! I mean I have been a fan of Greek mythology since I started reading the PJO series and that I always wondered what the story would be like if Poseidon had a daughter.
Thank you, Talia and A.C. for creating this and giving me answers. Haha!
So our first main character is Galene, the daughter of Poseidon. Her powers were established from the beginning of the story. She is a powerful goddess but not quite the badass type. If you know what I mean.
She has the power to control the tides and to breathe underwater which is pretty neat for a daughter of the god of the sea.
I like her but she did not have the best personality in the book. That is my opinion. I like her because of how powerful she is but not because I got attached to her character.
Her character did not have the best development throughout the book. I mean, her best friend Iyana has better character development than her, to be honest.
This brings us to our next main character, Iyana the daughter of Zeus.
Oh, Iyana. She seems to be useless, fragile, and weak in the first parts of the book. Which I think was intentional because of how badass she became during the battles. And yes, Iyana is badass.
She is courageous and brave despite her seeing herself as otherwise. She grew up throughout the book and she was not the same Iyana. Which I like.
My favorite part about Iyana was when she fought the griffin. That’s just the extent of what I can tell because I don’t want to spoil you bessies. But that’s my fave part. If you reached that part, you’ll understand why.
The next main character, we have the God of Games, Kostas. He is the son of Hermes and Iris.
Truth be told I didn’t know where Kostas’ loyalty lies. I thought he was friends with Galene but he was the one who caught Galene and gave her to the Olympians to be punished.
One of his powers was knowing someone’s emotions, which is an advantage in games that’s why he became the god of games, but despite knowing Galene’s real emotions about the crime, he did not say anything.
He kept quiet. He did not even say anything to the Olympians about Galene’s emotions. Which made me have a bad first impression of him.
But the bad impression disappeared when he went with Galene on their adventure.
The next main character we have, and the last one, is Braxtus, son of Apollo.
I pictured Braxtus as someone with beefy arms and tall height. I don’t know why but I am thinking it has something to do with his name. It sounds so bulky. Haha!
So Braxtus have an unrequited love towards Iyana. But the way I see it at the beginning of the book, it wasn’t quite unrequited. However, I like how despite being so in love with Iyana, he still has respect for the relationship Iyana had with Demitri.
I wasn’t as attached to Braxtus as the other characters though so I can’t say a lot about him.
Alright! Let’s now talk about the story itself.
The story sounded very common to me. I mean, being accused of a crime and then going out on an adventure to prove your innocence, is there something new?
When they set out to find the orb that could help them clear Galene’s name I thought it would be like any other story where the main characters find the thing and then the villain will catch up and snatch the thing out of their hands.
Boy, was I wrong. Haha!
The plot twist blindsided me. I got distracted by the thought the enemy would catch up to them that I actually disregarded the possibility of betrayal. Which is a very good technique.
I liked the adventure and the war of the story. What I didn’t like though was how the war ended and won. Like bruh!
There was a 50-chapter buildup of the war and it was only won by a card game? What?
It was soooo…. I don’t know how to describe the feeling of it but it was close to unsatisfied. Just the part of the war, the ending, I like it very much.
Yes, I like the ending. They are all happy and they all get what they wanted. It’s just the winning part felt lacking.
The narration is in the third person and was alternating between Galene, Iyana, Braxtus, and Kostas.
I like how detailed the book was. From the emotions that they are feeling up to the battle that they were fighting. It was so detailed that my imagination was so vivid, I felt like I was watching a movie.
It was a good narration.
To wrap this up, it was a pretty good adventure book. It started as common but it packed badassery in the middle. The ending of the war felt short but the ending of the book was good.
I would recommend this book to you bessies if you are the type of reader who likes Greek mythology and adventure books.
Giveaway!!!
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Talia Rothschild, Italian American, is passionate about stories in many forms—music, dance, photography, film and, of course, great novels. She believes in thick hot chocolate and creamer in your tea. When she’s not happily writing, she’s mothering the sweetest baby girl and making memories with her husband. Her debut book The Immortal Game, coauthored with A. C. Harvey, hits the shelves May 2021.
Ashleigh Harvey is teaching high school physics and bringing her writing dreams to life. English-born and world-traveled, she loves filling her life with new adventures, such as visiting a new country or exploring the Wild West with her husband. She also finds escape in movies, music, literature, and yearly comic conventions. The Immortal Game is her debut novel, created alongside Talia Rothschild, her close friend.
Thank you for reading up to here bessies. That was quite a long review, I know. I still felt like I haven’t said everything I wanted to say about this book but it will do.
What about you bessies? Have you read this book? Do you like it? Which part is your favorite? Let’s talk in the comments!
The Booknerd Dragon 
Thanks for being on the tour! 🙂
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Thank you also for having me. It was a good book!
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