Pantheons
By: EJ Dabel
ISBN: 9780983613176
Published January 5, 2012 by Sea Lion Books
Available Format: ebook
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Goodreads' Synopsis: On the streets, they call fifteen year old orphan Isaiah Marshall the “Indestructible Diamond”. Isaiah is the leader of the “Redrovers”, a group of teenage misfits consisting of his friends Jeremy, Monty, and Pipsqueak, but when they trespass into “Kaliber Academy” to get even with the arrogant Jason Ollopa, they are in way over their heads.
Principal Webb enrolls them into the High School and Isaiah soon learns about the existence of the gods of the Ancient World. Because the gods have refused to fight the last War for fear of the Mysterious Dark, the Powers-that-Be have stripped them of their spiritual bodies and given them mortal, teenage forms.
Isaiah discovers he's not only a god, but that he's the child of the Greek goddess Metis, the son destined to overthrow his cruel and sadistic father Zeus, the Darkener of the Sky, and become the greatest god in all the Pantheons.
Isaiah is thrown into a world where the democratic Olympians, war-mongering Norse, Gothic Celts, firstborn Egyptians, the enlightened Hindu, the animal-like Aztecs, the martial artist Asians, the intelligent Babylonians, the great spirits of the Native American Indians, and the fierce Finnish will war against one another for the greatest of all prizes: the Dominion.
I truly loved the basis of this story—all the different gods from all the different pantheons forced to live in present times in the bodies of teenagers. Talk about some punishment! I'm a big fan of mythology, although I don't know nearly as much as I wish I did. I was able to recognize many of the characters in this novel, and I even learned a thing or two as well.
I appreciate how Isaiah was able to overcome his 'disability' and kind of begin to grow into his own toward the end of the story. I think there was a little conflict in that he was this tough kid living on the streets, thrown into this crazy new world, yet he has such a difficult time manning up to face the gods. Maybe that was just his true nature, however; many tough guys aren't really so tough deep down inside. And it is obvious that Isaiah has a tremendous amount of adversity to go through, before and during this story.
I did receive an advanced copy of this manuscript for review, so I am assuming that is why I picked up on so many errors—mechanical, grammatical and content-wise. Honestly, it was a bit distracting at times. It's always hard for me to take my editorial cap off anyway. But, I really tried to pull out the story for what it was rather than focusing on all the surface issues. At any rate, it did not fail to entertain me, and I certainly want to know how Isaiah fares as the story continues.
EJ is one of the nicest guys I have corresponded with, and he obviously has a truly creative mind. I am definitely a fan (of Sea Lion as well), and I can't wait to check out all his work in the future!
