A Dark Fantasy Romance of Myth and Power

Blood of Hercules ♥ Jasmine Mas ♥ Villains of Lore #1

Published August 2024 ♥ Published by Harper Voyager

❥ Narrated by : Meg Sylvan, Teddy Hamilton, Aiden Snow & Tristan Morris

The Titans had arrived in the year 2050, and the world had crumbled.

❥ Trigger Warnings : childhood trauma and physical violence, swearing, morbid thoughts, sarcasm, extreme violence, arranged/ forced marriage, bullying, sexism, and betrayal.

❥ Slow Burn Romantasy

❥ Enemies to Lovers

❥ Greek Mythology

❥ Touch her & die

❥ Hidden Identity & Powers

Sometimes becoming a hero hurts… a lot. Beware.

Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas was all over #booktok and now here we are. Originally I was only semi interested in this series. I figured it would be one of those things I tossed onto the tbr but never really got to. That was until I realized the audio book was narrated by four people. Two of whom I’ve heard narrate before, and loved. And yes, I’m talking about Teddy Hamilton and Aiden Snow.

As always, jump down to my Final Thoughts to avoid any spoilers.

1. Kronos save us all. 
2. I’m liking the world building. 
3. Oh I’m also liking that this takes place in the future. 
4. Special Drink.
5. Ten years old?!
6. Oh hello Nyx. 
7. Yes, but why can you talk to snakes?
8. Father killed her. 
9. I like Alexis. 
10. Achilles with the Black Bolt vibes. 
11. And I think my boyfriend is tall. 
12. This is giving Hunger Game vibes.
13. Girl you got powers.
14. Finally Teddy! *Kharon 
15. I refuse to be neutered. 
16. I’m glad for Kharon’s perspective. 
17. Uhh because he’s gonna marry you. Duh!
18. Will someone plz explain to this girl she has powers and it’s her, not my boy Kharon killing people. 
19. The report on sirens!
20. A sip of water was a treat. 
21. This is a slow ass burn. 
22. Spit it out!
23. Speaking siren and snake. No wonder the animals hated her. 
24. Ok but there’s definitely something else to your powers. 
25. WTF is Fluffy Jr?
26. Oh, now we are going to ask some questions.
27. Girl, they are going to marry you.
28. Now we are getting somewhere sexy.
29. I take it back.
30. I fucking knew it.
31. I mean, idk how I feel about this change in parentage.
32. A bonus scene you say. *Audiobook. I follow along in KU when possible and it’s not in that version. 
33. Like father, like daughter. 

Blood of Hercules Review

Minor Spoilers.

Humanity turned on their gods.

The world Jasmine Mas has built for the Villains of Lore series is astounding. Blood of Hercules starts off with a bit of a history lesson on how an apocalyptic world controlled by the Gods of Greek Mythology came to be. Taking place in a dystopian future where Titans are running rampant, I loved the explanation of where the Gods and Goddesses have been throughout our history. It was delightful.

But the myths we told ourselves were wrong. The gods were not as we remembered them in stories and legends: their alliances, their bloodlines, their power. It was all false.

Two things can be true at the same time.

The first quarter of Blood of Hercules was uninteresting and dedicated solely to world building and character development. Although the history lesson itself was delightful, I felt as though it could have been presented in a quicker more precise manner. Did we really need to go back to when our main character, Alexis, was ten? I honestly almost DNF it because there was no way I was reading about a ten year old. Thankfully, we did jump ahead to when Alexis was a young adult fairly quickly.

Blood of Hercules is dual POV-there’s even four different narrators. While a bit of an exaggeration, I could count the number of chapters not from Alexis on one hand. Don’t get me wrong, the narration itself was well done and engaging. I do however have to wonder how many authors are using the strength of narrators names to help push their books to the top of the food chain. I for one decided to listen to Blood of Hercules because of the narrators, only to find out that there are just a handful of chapters throughout the entire book from them.

Her ignorance was perfect. We could exploit it. Ruthlessly.

Another issue I apparently have been having with characters and authors as of late is the silly ways they go about not explaining things. Alexis wasn’t the best narrator, her pov was narrow. I get it, when you are more concerned about where your next meal is going to come from or if your cardboard box of a house is still going to be standing at the end of the day, there’s no room for anything else. Who cares about the ways of the Spartans when Titans are trying to kill you. But just ask some fucking questions.

The real problem with her view point came when she entered The Academy and participated in The Crucible. All of the initiates are going through tests and trials. Including weeks on end of no sleep, no food and no water. All of which translated to a confused character who has no real idea what is happening. No explanations needed when your narrator is delirious. 

“I’m so proud right now… this is the best day of my life. I knew you had it in you, bestie. Pussy power, crush the patriarchy! Don’t stop now— murder them all. KILL EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM!”

All that being said, I loved the characters of Blood of Hercules. It’s just so frustrating when cards are held so close to the chest all in the name of a twist or surprise. If asking and answering one question gives away the entire ending of the book, is it a twist?

Augustus smirked up at us, eyes still bloodred. Kharon chuckled darkly. Two monsters sauntered toward me. I took a step back, bumping into the stone altar.

I don’t find anything overly dark about Blood of Hercules and it is an extremely slow burn. I am hopeful, now that the crux of that is over, that Bonds of Hercules will be more intense. We only really started to get to the sluttier, smuttier aspects of the story when it ended.

Slit pupils were stark against neon purple, and a slippery forked tongue dragged across my cheek.

Lucifer himself would have been less intimidating.

Fuck the federation and their political machinations. If they think forcing me to babysit their toddlers will make me more empathetic toward Olympians, they’re gonna be in for a rude awakening. I’ll kill them all.

Unlike useless Olympians, Chthonics were handcrafted by Kronos himself. We were born to kill, and we did it well. It was our pleasure to slaughter. To fight. The violence was divine.

A man was speaking, so I stopped listening.

If I stay in this library another second, I’m going to murder both those boys for touching her, then kidnap and handcuff her to my bed.

I rolled my eyes because I’d barely used my power; their brains weren’t even leaking out their ears.

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❥ Purchase : Amazon ♥ Chapters/Indigo ♥ Barnes&Noble ♥ IndieBound ♥ Kobo