Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | YA Fic Ireland, J. 2014 | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
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Summary
Summary
A teen who is half-god, half-human must own her power whether she likes it or not in this snappy, snarky novel with a serving of smoldering romance.
Zephyr Mourning has never been very good at being a Harpy. She'd rather watch reality TV than learn forty-seven ways to kill a man, and she pretty much sucks at wielding magic. Zephyr was ready for a future pretending to be a normal human instead of a half-god assassin. But all that changed when her sister was murdered--and Zephyr used a forbidden dark power to save herself from the same fate.
On the run from a punishment worse than death, an unexpected reunion with a childhood friend upends Zephyr's world--and not only because her old friend has grown surprisingly, extremely hot. It seems that Zephyr might just be the Nyx, a dark goddess that is prophesied to shift the power balance: for hundreds of years the half-gods have lived in fear, and Zephyr is supposed to change that.
But how is she supposed to save everyone else when she can barely take care of herself?
Author Notes
Justina Ireland enjoys dark chocolate, dark humor, and is not too proud to admit that she's still afraid of the dark. She lives with her husband, kid, and dog in Pennsylvania. She is the author of Vengeance Bound and Promise of Shadows . Visit her at JustinaIreland.com.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-After murdering her sister's killer, Zephyr Mourning lands herself in Tartarus-a section of Hell-serving an eternal sentence. Feces rains from the sky and the Centaurs on guard have a tendency to kill unruly prisoners, but Zephyr has a few things going for her: she's a Harpy, which is a half-human, half-god warrior vEttir, and she only recently discovered she can unwittingly control and use dark magic. The teen used this forbidden power to avenge her sister Whisper's death, and it is this same ability which identified Zephyr as the much-revered and prophesied Nyx. Legend has it that the Nyx will protect and save all vEttir from the Aethereals-gods who subject the vEttir and other lesser mythical creatures to indiscriminate terror. With the help of her handsome childhood friend Tallon and his brother, Zephyr escapes Tartarus, along with fellow inmate Cass. This motley crew goes on a quest to discover if the reluctantly heroicized Zephyr really is the Nyx, and how she can stop the megalomaniac goddess Hera from wreaking havoc on the mortal and immortal realms. Though Ireland relies on preexisting knowledge of Greek mythology and doesn't spend enough time explaining complicated terminology, the fast pacing and dynamic plot will engage readers. An underdeveloped romance between Tallon and Zephyr is just enough to tantalize them. The snappy, hilarious dialogue between the protagonist and her friends balances the ominous apocalyptic story line, which will also attract fans of "The Hunger Games" (Scholastic), "Divergent" (HarperCollins), and underdog heroines.-Amy M. Laughlin, Darien Library, CT (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
As in Ireland's first novel, Vengeance Bound, her sophomore offering brings creatures from Greek mythology into the modern world. After failing her Harpy trials, Zephyr Mourning was looking forward to a low-key life in the Mortal Realm. Unfortunately, she accidentally killed a god, which landed her in Tartarus with an emotionless but oddly protective girl named Cass. The book moves along at a brisk clip once Zephyr's childhood friend Tallon frees her and Cass from Tartarus, sweeping Zephyr toward confrontations with both the goddess Hera and her own reluctant destiny. Ireland's foreshadowing is sometimes so heavy that the information feels stale by the time Zephyr realizes it, as when the truth of her parentage comes to light, but that's a minor quibble in an otherwise solid book. Zephyr's emotions, whether rage at a seer who holds back the whole truth or squirmy adolescent insecurity when she starts falling for Tallon, feel all the more real for her tendency to overreact, and the mythos Ireland creates strikes the right mix of familiarity and invention, and is well worth exploring. Ages 14-up. Agent: Elana Roth, Red Tree Literary. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Zephyr Mourning, a teenage Harpy (half-human, half-god warrior), is rescued from Tartarus (Pit of the Underworld) by a childhood friend, only to discover that she is the subject of a prophecy that could irrevocably change the relationship between the demi-gods and the Olympian Ftherals. Although some aspects of the storytelling are unnecessarily convoluted, fans of mythology will enjoy this epic love story. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A reluctant Harpy discovers her destiny in an elaborate Greek-mythologybased fantasy. As the book opens, readers learn that Zephyr's sister, Whisper, was killed for her forbidden romance with Hermes; Harpies are vttirpartly human, therefore lesserand are not permitted to intimately fraternize with full gods, called thereals. In retaliation, Zephyr killed Whisper's thereal executionera supposedly impossible actand has been sentenced to eternity in the worst part of the Underworld, Tartarus (where the weather is crappyliterally). Zephyr's forbidden, dark power enabled the kill and, she learns, marks her as the prophesied Nyx, a champion of "shadow vttir," who maintains balance and protects vttir from thereal tyranny. Knowing the thereals will surely kill her soon, Zephyr escapes Tartarus with the help of Cass, her enigmatic friend and protector (who everyone they meet says is a liar and betrayer), Tallon, an attractive childhood friend, and his brother, Blue. They form a ragtag team to keep her alive so she can thwart a terrible plot against the vttir. The romantic plot is the least successful element of this character-driven story. Far more compelling are Zephyr's struggles to accept herself as a hero, considering she's failed her Trials to become a Harpy warrior. The complicated worldbuilding piles on the jargon, but Zephyr's narration hooks readers with snappy, hilarious one-liners. A dark, slyly funny read. (Fantasy. 13 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.