Her Fine Eyes

I love Julie Berry. She's quietly breaking boundaries in young-adult literature, and doing it with hard work and beautiful prose, and good on her for that.

This one is exceptionally researched, as always. The framing device--having the stories of these four human characters told through the eyes of the Greek gods who are watching and influencing their lives--is a brave one. However, it asks us to be invested in the gods' story, too (Hephaestus's jealousy over Aphrodite's affair with his brother, Ares, god of war), and...I wasn't, terribly...invested, I mean. I was amused, though, and that's probably enough.  

Another trouble I had with the novel was a slight lack of depth of all the characters. They all had definite personalities, and we know what we're meant to feel about them, but they remain a bit distant and perfect. Aubrey felt the most rich to me, despite having less page time than others. The gods were a bit inscrutable--which maybe gods should be.  

Just keep at it, Julie. You're doing wonderful things.