by Amalie Howard
Hardcover, 384 pages
March 4th 2014
by Sky Pony Press
ARC from Netgalley
Goodreads | Amazon| B & N | TBD
In Serjana Caelum’s world, gods exist. So do goddesses. Sera knows this because she is one of them. A secret long concealed by her parents, Sera is Lakshmi reborn, the human avatar of an immortal Indian goddess rumored to control all the planes of existence. Marked by the sigils of both heaven and hell, Sera’s avatar is meant to bring balance to the mortal world, but all she creates is chaos. A chaos that Azrath, the Asura Lord of Death, hopes to use to unleash hell on earth.
Torn between reconciling her past and present, Sera must figure out how to stop Azrath before the Mortal Realm is destroyed. But trust doesn’t come easy in a world fissured by lies and betrayal. Her best friend Kyle is hiding his own dark secrets, and her mysterious new neighbor, Devendra, seems to know a lot more than he’s telling. Struggling between her opposing halves and her attraction to the boys tied to each of them, Sera must become the goddess she was meant to be, or risk failing, which means sacrificing the world she was born to protect.
I think after being disappointed by so many Asian inspired YA fantasy books, I have certain misgivings whenever a non Asian writer decided to tackle an Asian setting. Alpha Goddess reminds me so much of Colleen Houck's Tiger's Curse and City of Bones. I mean the plot of a girl finding out that she's some super special descendant is really out of City of Bones what with all the mysterious dreams, sketches of signs and symbols. And the love triangle is also there. Between Sera, Kyle and the new boy; Dev.
The thing is in Sera's world, heaven is known as Illysia and hell as Xibalba. The Trimurtas are the three Lords of Illysia and the Sanrak protects them. Sera's mother was a Sanrak sent to earth to defeat a terrible demon but instead fell in love with an Azura who is a demon. Since Sera has both heaven and hell blood in her, she can travel through all the realms of existence which makes her highly coveted by all. There's also a big twist in the end that makes Sera even more super special according to Hindu myths. She not only can travel through heaven, hell and beyond but she's also a reincarnate of this super strong Hindu deity.
And as much as I wanted to like and appreciate how the writer tried to incorporate all the Hindu and Buddha elements in this one, sometimes I felt just so overwhelmed by it. And the romance just didn't do it for me. I was hoping for a much stronger heroine (mentally and physically) but Sera's actions seemed to be driven so much by her feelings towards the two guys.
The thing is in Sera's world, heaven is known as Illysia and hell as Xibalba. The Trimurtas are the three Lords of Illysia and the Sanrak protects them. Sera's mother was a Sanrak sent to earth to defeat a terrible demon but instead fell in love with an Azura who is a demon. Since Sera has both heaven and hell blood in her, she can travel through all the realms of existence which makes her highly coveted by all. There's also a big twist in the end that makes Sera even more super special according to Hindu myths. She not only can travel through heaven, hell and beyond but she's also a reincarnate of this super strong Hindu deity.
And as much as I wanted to like and appreciate how the writer tried to incorporate all the Hindu and Buddha elements in this one, sometimes I felt just so overwhelmed by it. And the romance just didn't do it for me. I was hoping for a much stronger heroine (mentally and physically) but Sera's actions seemed to be driven so much by her feelings towards the two guys.
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