Book Nerds Across America

Audrey was nice enough to send the BookNerds an ARC of The Dig. I (Flo) jumped right on it, since you all KNOW I love books based on Greek mythology. (I even sponsored Greek Week here on a blog. It's that deep.) 

In The Dig, a girl named Zoe is at her aunt and uncle's archaeological dig site in Greece when she gets transported back in time to ancient Greece. Once she is there, she discovers that she has certain power over the earth. She gets mistaken for a god (rough, right?! Happens to me all the time!) and has to head up to Olympus for answers -- and hopefully, a way home.

Unfortunately, when Zoe gets to Olympus, she finds that all the gods are not open, inviting and friendly. In fact, they are rather like a high school clique -- with all the gossip and melodrama included. This is a strength and weakness of the book for me. Audrey does a great job of portraying the environment up on Olympus like it's a high school. Too good. I don't want to relive that aspect of high school. I don't want to be reminded of the trauma of not being cool enough, feeling different and every little thing taking on way more meaning than it should. I left all that messiness back in high school because it's not fun. There are other fun aspects of high school -- dances, sports, crushes -- this is the stuff that I enjoy experiencing again through my high school narrators in YA. 

Also, Zoe has a voice similar to Pierce in Meg Cabot's Abandon -- I felt Pierce was too stream of consciousness in that she kept hinting at some big event but never telling us about it straight up. I similarly felt Zoe went off on too many tangents as she was connecting things in her head.

The coolest thing about this book is ZEUS. Yes, the Zeus. Leader of the gods. Lightning. That guy. In this book he is portrayed as a YA hottie and I love that. What a great way to put ancient Greek mythology and the modern YA reader on the same level. It's no secret that I -- and all the BookNerds -- love to swoon over crush-worthy YA boys. Audrey's Zeus easily makes the list: he's cute, attentive, and willing to help Zoe no matter what. I love the relationship between the Zoe and Zeus -- if I can't have him, then I guess I'm happy to see him with Zoe!

~Flo~