Audiobook Review: Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas

Author: Jasmine Mas

Narrator: Meg Sylvan, Teddy Hamilton, Aiden Snow, & Tristan Morris
Title: Blood of Hercules

Series: Villains of Lore #1

Genre: Fantasy, Dark Romance, Mythology
Format: Audiobook
Published: August 1, 2024
Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 

Step into the Coliseum at the Spartan War Academy where monsters are made, immortality is won, and even a god can die…

Alexis Hert isn’t a hero, and she certainly isn’t a god. All she’s ever been is a survivor.

But the Fates disagree.

When a blood test leads to her admittance at the Spartan War Academy, she’ll have to do more than merely survive.

Alexis will have to claim her birthright: immortality.

But immortality is a privilege, one earned in the crucible of the academy, where the heroes are villains and classrooms battlegrounds. While gladiators Achilles and Patro, her demanding mentors, hone her into a warrior, Augustus and Kharon, her professors and the brooding heirs to the underworld, haunt her steps and her thoughts.

Because where there are gods, there are bound to be monsters, and there is more than one hunting Alexis…

Review:

This was picked for my book club. I feel like I have heard of this one. The cover and title seemed very familiar. 

Alexis is nothing but a poor girl in the human world. Her life is thrown off track when a blood test leads to her being forced into the Spartan War Academy. This will give her a chance to claim her birthright and join the rest of the gods as an immortal. But immortality is a privilege and has to be earned through the crucible of the academy. Not only will she have to face tough lessons, physical tests, mental tests, and demanding mentors....but monsters and professors are haunting her.

I'm struggling to put sentences together today...so we'll divide and conquer this review. 

The Good

- I liked Alexis a lot. She has a lot of issues, but she can still find some humor in situations. She had me chuckling a few times

- The world was cool. I wouldn't want to live in it, but the mix of mythology and futuristic/post-apocalyptic was refreshing. 

- I adored Hades and Persephone. I hope we see more of them in the next book  

- Loved the animals (no spoilers here) companions!!!!

- Def a dark "romance". Some aspects I liked...some I didn't. Reverse harem is fun! 

- The narrators were lovely. I do wish we had more time with our male cast. 

- That was a good ending. I do want to read more just to see what happens to our cast. 

The Bad and the Ugly

- Honestly, I think we could've done some time skipping. We were in the Crucible FOREVER. Sure, I get it was important to see how bad it was, but there could've been some slimming down a bit. Some spots didn't do anything for anyone. It didn't help the plot, and it didn't add to the badness of the place. 

- The dark romance element left me feeling...unsure. Some aspects I liked, some I didn't. I really hated the scene at the dance.

- Why is every guy in love with her? Yes, I like Alexis....but it gets so old that all the men want her. :S Boring. 

- Possible love...square? IDK. It's hard to explain without spoiling. Curious to see what happens next with this.

Conclusion

So I did enjoy this. It was really long and took a while to get through. There should've been some scenes cut a bit to help move the story along better. Also, there are a lot of trigger warnings in this one since it is a dark romantasy. Def keep that in mind before jumping in. 

Overall, I did like this. Some issues, but it was refreshing. I liked the world (don't sign me up to live in it), and the characters were nice. I do want to read book 2 because of how this ended. I need to know. 

I'll stamp this with 3 stars. 

Reading Challenges

- Audiobook #7

- Library Love #6

- Reading Romance Challenge #5 (2+ Narrators)