Weapon of the Gods by Elizabeth Mueller
Weapon of the Gods by Elizabeth Mueller (German). I read it in English where it contained 256 pages. For girls 12 plus.
Alexandra Marks is special. She comes from a line as old as the demi-gods, a line in which every girl was given the very same name: Alexandra. Because the first in her family was the Weapon of the Gods, meaning she wielded some of the power of every Olympian. Thousands of years ago, the first Alexandra rejected her fate. As did every Alexandra thereafter. But this time, the gods are in real danger. And without their weapon, they will soon be destroyed. But being the weapon is not as easy as it seems...
Well. First of all, to the content mistakes in this book.
- The gifts of the gods: Why can Hera give authority and leadership as a gift? She's the goddess of marriage! As for Apollo... why didn't he give her visions? That would have actually been practical!
- The name Alexandra means Protector of Humanity. Why would Athena call someone who's supposed to protect the gods this way? Nomen est omen! That's bound to bring problems. And she's the goddess of wisdom...
- Jason doesn't make sense. Or better: He does. The love story not so much. Aphrodite gave Alexandra one true love per life. Okay, if Jason's now her true love, why didn't she realise that until she died? Then, she suddenly was quite sure she loved him. Why not before, when he told her he loved her? A whole year long? Or when they slept with each other (this scene doesn't make sense, by the way)? This blindness doesn't make sense.
- Gen's and Alexandra's first meeting: What did Gen claim to do there? Why did Alexandra plan something for her, a complete stranger?
- Phoebus is a male god, that's why the name ends with us! And he's the god of fear, panic, phobia etc., together with his brother Deimos.
- Why did no one realise something was wrong when Alexandra fought with a monster – while driving on a freeway? Seriously, the car couldn't have stayed on course all this time, not with all Alexandra and the monster did to each other!
Additionally, a few things could have been improved: The fighting scenes, especially the ones at the end, because they were just... well, too easy. Second, the choice should have been made harder. I mean, the only thing Alexandra seriously had to consider was immortality. And that wasn't even a real issue, because her family and her boyfriend would live quite long themselves.
Last but not least, I would have loved to learn more about the personalities of the gods, and of their problems. The structure of the Olympus disrupts without Alexandra. And on the back of the book stood that that means they had personality issues. Okay, fine, good idea! Where does that show up in the book? Seriously, it would have been a gorgeous idea. Why the hell didn't it turn up in the real story?
The rest of the characters are actually quite cool. I like Alexandra, even though it's a little irritating that all the important characters have the same name. Couldn't they have second names? Like Alexandra X and Alexandra Y? Or nicknames – Xandra, Alex, Octopus… That would have simplified everything.
I like Gen and Alexandra's boyfriend. They're cool.
And that's basically all I can say about this book.
In brief:
So, no star for the ideas, a star for characters, minus one for content. And no star for style either. Sorry.