Tag Archives: Celtic

YA – Rise of the Snake Goddess

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Elder Moke, Jenny. Rise of the Snake Goddess (Samantha Knox #2). Disney-Hyperion, 2022. 978-1-368-06727-0. 320 p. $17.99. Grades 7 & up.

Desperate to be a part of the prestigious archaeology program at the University of Chicago, Sam Knox embarks on an impulsive trip to the island of Crete. The clues she deciphers lead her to the legendary girdle of the Snake Goddess. Triumphant with her find, Sam plans to use this find as proof she deserves to be admitted to what has always been a “boys club.” However, before she can show her misogynist professor her find, the girdle is stolen and a series of catastrophic earthquakes suddenly begin to hit the island. Sam and friends Joana and Bennet Steeling must find the thief and return the girdle to its rightful place before the magic of the Snake Goddess is fully released upon the island and the world. As the chase brings them deeper into Cretian and Minoan mythology, deadly encounters with legendary creatures abound, including the infamous Minotaur.

THOUGHTS: This is a fantastic follow up to the first Samantha Knox title, Curse of the Specter Queen. Readers will enjoy the friendships, light romance, and adventures that mark popular YA fiction. A quickly-paced novel paying homage to Indiana Jones and The Mummy movie series, Snake Goddess takes readers through the legends of Knossos and Crete while infusing the story with a touch of magic. Knox herself is tempted by the magic of the Snake Goddess, but the story takes readers on an adventure through archaeological digs, swanky boat parties, and the legendary labyrinth.

Adventure          Natasha Lewis, Whitehall-Coplay SD
Historical Fiction
Fantasy

Deception’s Princess…a new Princesses of Myth novel

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deceptionsprincess

Friesner, Esther. Deceptions Princess (a Princesses of Myth novel). New York: Random House, 2014. 978-0-449-81863-3. 312p. $17.99. Gr. 7+.

Maeve, Princess of Connacht, is the youngest princess of the High King of Èriu.  She is also the most spirited princess.  From a young age when she took on the prized bull, Dubh, and lived to tell about it, her red-hair wasn’t her only fire.  As Maeve grows, she realizes that she is a warrior, but her father only sees her as the youngest and most prized of his daughters.  Maeve’s adventures defeating wolf-hounds, warding off suitors, and mending the weak force her to grow as an independent young woman, not a prize for her father to award to his favorite warrior or suitor with the most power.  This refusal to accept her place in her father’s palace and her friendship with Odran, the son of Master Ìobar, a highly respected druid, give Maeve the strength in her adventures and the courage to understand her true self.  “If I close my eyes and ears to slander, I’m giving others the power to say who I am.  No one gets to do that […] no one” (Friesner 269).

The newest addition to the Princesses of Myth collection continues to provide young adults with a strong, independent female protagonist based in history (or historical myth to be precise).  Following up her novels of heroines from Greece, Egypt, and Japan, Friesner’s move to Ireland and Maeve provides a more mature look into Irish myth and Iron Age Ireland.  Deception’s Princess reminds me a lot of Disney’s Brave with Maeve and Merida experiencing many of the same emotions as a daughter in a High King’s court and yearning to be independent and speak for themselves instead of always having to do as they are told.  Both characters experience adventure, loss, grief, and awareness of their situations, but the growth in Maeve becomes even more apparent because of her actual growth throughout the novel.  Maeve ages from a toddler into a young adult woman with her spirit and fire only growing as she matures.  Maeve is a flawed, spirited female protagonist who provides strength to those around her and the reader.

Mythology (Celtic)     Erin Parkinson, Lincoln JSHS, Ellwood City