Goddess

From the opening scene, Goddess grabbed my attention. Callista Hunter keeps the action, conflict and suspense going at a crackling pace. I did manage to set it down once, at an especially exciting cliff-hanger moment, then found myself staying up til the small hours to finish it because I couldn’t put it down. I also bought the audiobook version so I am now enjoying the book a second time.
I liked the heroine, Olivia. She and her coterie of friends are vividly drawn. In the audiobook version, the narrator Tami Leah Lacy provides voices for characters ranging from young girls to powerful generals. She also handles prayers written in Latin. Most importantly, her overall tone matches the humorous and youthful tone of the novel — although Goddess deals with some calamitous events and serious issues, Hunter’s book is never dark or depressing, and the idealism and optimism of the heroine carry her through the bad times.
I especially enjoyed Gaius, Olivia’s taciturn love interest. Gaius is a handsome and intelligent young soldier who falls for five-foot-tall girl Olivia who he initially thinks is a bit of a feather-head; until he comes to realize she is extraordinarily courageous and modest.
Hunter was especially skillful at revealing Olivia’s world without clunky exposition. It would be possible to enjoy this story even if you didn’t know anything about Roman mythology or the Roman empire because she unveils the details in the narrative. The setting, however, is only part of what makes the book so engaging — Hunter gives us an exciting plot which includes the always-entertaining theme: young people defying the rules and using magic behind the backs of their clueless elders. There is a venerable tradition in young people’s literature for this theme (before JK Rowling, there was Edith Nesbit) and with good reason — it’s a great theme. Speaking of magic, or to put it another way, whether there really are gods who have miraculous powers, the book serves up some real twists and turns — the heroine is at first horribly disillusioned when she discovers everything she believed in is a lie, and I was certain that one her friends was a fraud who was going to bring her further disillusionment — until the author turned the tables on me.
Some sequences and transitions were laid out at a walking pace, when a few sentences or a montage would have served; for example when Olivia is reporting information we already know, to her superior at the Temple of Vesta. However, as I was so interested in every detail of what the young people were thinking, or doing, the dialogue and detail did not slow down the story significantly.
Even though the story is technically a fantasy, it is filled with historical detail drawn from the Roman Empire and deals with issues which have relevance for the modern reader, including fanatics who commit acts of terrorism. Olivia and her friends are very vulnerable in a world where they can be made the scapegoats of ambitious politicians — exploited, used and destroyed.
Hunter skillfully balances these darker themes with humor and infuses the novel with the sweet-nature of the heroine, who gets her well-deserved happy ending. I would certainly read future novels from this author.