Review- Hephaistos: God of Fire (Olympians #11) by George O'Connor

Title: Hephaistos: God of Fire

Series: Olympians #11

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)

Author: George O'Connor

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

Publication date: January 2019

Published by: First Second

Source: Purchased paperback

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Synopsis: Thrown from Mount Olympus as a newborn and caught by Thetis and Eurynome, who raised him on the island of Lemnos, Hephaistos had an aptitude for creating beautiful objects from a very young age. Despite his rejection from Olympus, he swallowed his anger and spent his days perfecting his craft. His exquisitely forged gifts and weapons earned him back his seat in the heavens, but he was not treated as an equal. His brothers and sisters looked down at him for his lame leg, and even his own wife, Aphrodite, was disloyal, Witness Hephaistos' wrath as he creates a plan that’ll win him the respect he deserves.

My rating: ★★★★☆

If you are familiar at all with Greek mythology then you know how sad Hephaistos’s life was, especially when he was born. Like most other myths, there are a couple of different versions of his birth. Sometimes he is the son of Hera alone, and sometimes his parents are Hera and Zeus. But it doesn’t matter the version, in every one he is thrown off Mount Olympus by Hera because he was deformed. It’s horrible! Such was the case in this retelling. Here, he is the son of Zeus and Hera, but Hera, of course, did what Hera does, and hurled the poor child off the mountain.

This volume goes into that, of course, but it also talks about him growing up, crafting beautiful things in a forge, and going back to Olympus where he was continued to be treated horribly. He honestly did not deserve this treatment. One thing, well, another thing that made me sad was how this graphic novel mentioned how the things he made were filled with the beauty he lacked and I just-

We also get quite a bit on some myths about Prometheus, which I wasn’t expecting but appreciated. But overall, I really enjoyed this! It just made me so sad how his life on Olympus, the first part of it at least, he was treated terribly. All he wanted was to be accepted 😭 And as always, I really enjoyed reading the author's notes at the end. In this volume, he talked about Prometheus Unbound which I actually knew nothing about, but it sounds SO intriguing! It’s so sad that the play has been lost over time. I know a little bit about how Prometheus stole the fire from Olympus, Zeus getting mad because he’s petty, and him punishing Prometheus for giving said fire to mortals, but I would’ve loved to know how it all ends.

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! 😊