Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe – Review

Pages: November 2, 2021

Publisher: Del Rey Books

Series: Lore Olympus Volumes #1

Genre: Fantasy, Graphic Novel

Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 5.0/5.0

Synopsis:
Experience the propulsive love story of two Greek gods—Hades and Persephone—brought to life with lavish artwork and an irresistible contemporary voice.

Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love—witness what the gods do after dark in this stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of mythology’s most well-known stories from creator Rachel Smythe. Featuring a brand-new, exclusive short story, Smythe’s original Eisner-nominated web-comic Lore Olympus brings the Greek Pantheon into the modern age with this sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.

This volume collects episodes 1-25 of the #1 WEBTOON comic, Lore Olympus.

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I heard soooo much hype about this and well, I just love Hades and Persephone retellings! This is easily binge-able – it’s only the first 25 episodes from the Webtoon – and I read it in a single evening. Fortunately for me, the Webtoon is still available and there are nearly 200 episodes up. We are not going to discuss the fact that I read over half of them buried in a pile of blankets and awkwardly attached to my phone charging cable because I didn’t want to stop reading. So, while this might technically be a review of the first volume of the comics published by Del Rey, it’s also a review of the entire Webtoon published up to this date.

This was really good, with tons of sweet moments and several that were quite serious/dark in nature. In the original Greek myths the gods are well known for their promiscuous and/or rape-y natures and this addresses those issues as well. I thought these scenes were handled quite tactfully without undermining the seriousness of the incident or brushing the feelings of the victims under the rug. Switching gears a bit, I also loved the portrayal of friendships between the various gods and goddesses. Persephone is a bright, cheerful goddess and though she’s new to Olympus, she’s already familiar with a few who visited her in the mortal realm while she lived with Demeter. It’s delightful to watch her interactions with Hermes and Eros who are both terribly sweet fellows, even though Eros is a TOTAL HIMBO. I love both of them!! 

And I haven’t even mentioned Hades yet! He’s with Minthe, the nymph when the graphic novel begins and she’s so horrible to him! He has a low sense of self-worth and sticks around in an abusive relationship for far too long. The more he realizes how happy he is capable of being, even when he’s merely friends with Persephone, the more he realizes Minthe is not the person for him. And Persephone, bless her, is such a kind, thoughtful goddess who genuinely would not interfere with someone else’s relationship even though she has a thing for Hades. 

Overall, I really couldn’t recommend this enough! It isn’t heavy on the romance which is very slow burn and doesn’t have really graphic scenes, so it would be totally safe to read in front of other people (lol!). I love the art style – there are some amazing moments that had me ROLLING just because of the characters’ little faces looking soooo ridiculous. The expressions are hilarious at times! It tactfully deals with just about every issue you could think of – infidelity, being raised by a helicopter mom, fear of disappointing others, dealing with past trauma, the consequences of becoming a public figure, etc…. I just loved the whole thing! It looks like the Webtoon will resume in May of this year, so it’s the perfect time to get caught up before new episodes/chapters start.