Book: Immortal Fury by Eliza Raine
Reviewed by Halliday in the Books
Immortal Fury is a reimagining of Greek mythology around the legend of Hercules. In the original stories, the goddess Hera caused Hercules to briefly lose his mind, and sent him into a fit of rage. During this spell, he killed his wife and his children. When he returned to sanity, he was horrified at his actions and sought to redeem himself. This was the motivation for undertaking his trials.
In this new version, Hercules is far less repentant. Luckily, he was also less efficient in his violence. His daughter Lyssa survived his attack and has been on the run ever since. That is, until now. The gods have summoned the heroes of the realm to compete for their chance at immortality. Hercules is one of the contenders. Lyssa cannot and will not let him win. Cruelty like his cannot be allowed to endure eternally. With her divine Rage power and her ragtag airship crew of smugglers, she will go to every length to stop him. Hercules must die.
This book kicks into action immediately and doesn’t slow down for a moment. Not only are our characters facing back-to-back deadly trials, but we’re seeing the narrative through more than a handful of POVs. Factor in the short chapter length, and it’s no surprise that the pages of this one fly by. It’s impressive how well Raine maintains this breakneck pace through so many perspectives without becoming confusing. She’s even able to assign individual subplots to each and juggle conflicting motivations.
As a mythology nerd, it’s easy to recognize Raine’s familiarity with the Greek myths even without knowing her credentials. The stories have certainly been altered from the versions found in history, but their spirit is left intact. The author has introduced a number of new twists that are very fun. I imagine the playwrights of old would approve. Between the chapters, Raine has interspersed paraphrased excerpts of some of these original tales. The way she built off of these was very enjoyable.
There are also several romances beginning to build in this first installment. Each one is thoroughly distinct, and some are healthier than others. This is definitely a slow burn, but the heat is beginning to build. Truthfully, everything felt as though it were still building at the end. None of the narrative arcs have concluded by the time the book runs out of pages. I’m usually more bothered by that than I was in this instance. The cliffhanger was well positioned and well executed. However, if you don’t enjoy them, it may be worth waiting for the next release in the series. Its date hasn’t been announced yet, but I’ll be keeping an eye out.