Syrena, the demigod daughter of Poseidon, is making a terrible choice. Five hundred years ago, the gods of Olympus struck down the world leaving humanity at their mercy of their tyranny. But their tyranny also came at the price of Syrena’s sister, Pearl, who was killed on a mission for Zeus. She cannot forgive the gods and the static world they have created. Her desire to change this drives her to enact the Dreaded Prophecy, that would bring down the gods. They would do anything to prevent this and Syrena’s actions will set her directly against them. Forced to leave behind her best friends Karter and Spencer, themselves demigods, she runs away with the only other demigod she can trust, Diana. But as they run for their lives, the encounter the goddess Hecate, who shows Syrena what will happen given the choices she can make. Return to Olympus and live out her days in quiet peacefulness, or die in the course of trying to enact the prophecy: the choice is hers.

This is a short novel based on the Greek Myths, keeping them as the capricious and cruel beings that they sometimes have been depicted as. As the prequel to the series, this sets up a lot of background and characters while giving a taste of the actions the characters will encounter. The writing also does an excellent job of characterising the protagonists, giving them reason behind their actions as well as the price they will have to pay for their rebellion. Painting the stakes like this and showing the alternative that they turn from enhances the story and certainly sets the scene for the main stories. The descriptions help to bring the world to life and show the close friendships that are to be broken even in the gilded world they reside in. I didn’t notice any issues with spelling or grammar and the book is well formatted and a pleasure to read.

Overall, this should please any fan of the YA Fantasy genre, especially if they have enjoyed stories like the Percy Jackson series.