Review- Dionysos: The New God (Olympians #12) by George O'Connor

Title: Dionysos: The New God

Series: Olympians #12

Previous books in this series: Zeus: King of the Gods (#1) | Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess (#2) | Hera: The Goddess and her Glory (#3) | Hades: Lord of the Dead (#4) | Poseidon: Earth Shaker (#5) | Aphrodite: Goddess of Love (#6) | Ares: Bringer of War (#7) | Apollo: The Brilliant One (#8) | Artemis: Wild Goddess of the Hunt (#9) | Hermes: Tales of the Trickster (#10) | Hephaistos: God of Fire (#11)

Author: George O'Connor

Genre: Middle Grade, graphic novel, fantasy, Greek mythology

Publication date: January 2022

Published by: First Second

Source: Purchased paperback

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Synopsis: In the final volume of the New York Times–bestselling Olympians graphic novel series, author/artist George O’Connor focuses on Dionysos, the god of wine and madness.

The Olympians saga draws to a close with the tale of Dionysos, the last Olympian, and maybe, just maybe, the first of a new type of God. His story is told by the first Olympian herself, Hestia, Goddess of the hearth and home. From her seat in the center of Mt. Olympus, Hestia relates the rise of Dionysos, from his birth to a mortal mother, to his discovery of wine, his battles with madness and his conquering of death itself, culminating, finally, in his ascent to Olympus and Godhood.

My rating: ★★★★☆

You thought Athena’s birth was weird? Wait till you read about Dionysos’s. Let’s just say that Athena wasn’t the only one to be birthed from a weird Zeus body part...

Lol. But his story was very interesting! We learn about his mother, Princess Semele, and how a jealous Hera tricked her, Dionysus growing up around nymphs and satyrs, and how he became the god of wine. He even got a little bit on the King Mida myth and how he got his golden touch because, yes, Dionysos is heavily involved in that one! And we follow up with Ariadne, who helped Theseus kill the Minotaur. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a happily ever after with the hero. Which is fine because honestly, he was kind of a jerk to her.

This volume also, surprisingly, went into the origin story of Hestia and just talked about her a bit. Hestia is one of the six children of Rhea and Kronos, but you’ll notice she’s not officially an Olympian. Well, in this volume we see why 👀

But I really liked this! I enjoyed the series overall! They were solid retellings and I loved that they were graphic novels! They were just fun!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊