Book 15: Gods Behaving Badly

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

I didn't have very high expectations for this one. The cover is bright orange and has a Greek/Roman statue wearing speedos with smiley faces but the title caught my eye, and even though the description sounded like fluff, I couldn't resist after reading a few pages in the store. In the first few pages, Artemis stumbles upon a tree that used to be a woman until Apollo turned her into an eucalyptus - apparently this has become a habit for him.

In the novel, the ancient Greek gods are slowly losing their powers, and all live together in a house in London that is slowly falling apart. The descriptions of some of the gods living among mortals are entertaining, and of all of them, the most focus is on Artemis. Not ever really one of my favorites from mythology class (hunting and chastity?), she's actually entertaining in this novel.

After Aphrodite pulls a prank/exacts revenge on Apollo, two mortals get mixed up in their lives, and they have to reenact some of the old myths and go on an heroic quest to save the world.

I was actually pleasanty surprised. It's not great literature by any means, but its take on the ancients is funny, and the novel doesn't take itself too seriously.