Curse of the Sphinx Review

Curse of the Sphinx Book Review

By: Rae

“The dead they escorted always cried… Clearly, there was something they felt a need to mourn.” Raye Wagner, Curse of the Sphinx

So there’s this curse… and the Sphinx wasn’t killed thousands of years ago… oh and Apollo is a jealous lunatic bent on revenge. In a nutshell, Curse of the Sphinx by Raye Wagner is the story of a teenage girl with a cursed – literally – life. Hope and her mom Leto move around a lot to avoid the mythological world. With the help of Aunt Priska, Hope and her mom are safe, until the fulfillment of a curse leaves Hope’s mom dead and causes Hope on the run for her life.

All Hope wants to be normal and have friends. But as a “monster” in both the human and mythical world, Hope must push everyone away to survive. She tried once to have a friend and that ended in a disaster of hurt feelings and wrecked dreams. The character of Hope is melodramatic, earnest, lonely, desperate, and a bunch of other adjectives. Essentially Hope is the ideal teenage character stuck in a world with two sides and she doesn’t fit in either. To be considered a monster is bad enough without adding in the curse and the need to hid or be killed.

At times Hope got on my nerves. She was so up and down when it came to how she handled everything. Only at the end did I see the “real” Hope – or so I thought – only to have the story end with Hope fleeing… again! The drama between Athan, Hermes son, demigod, and hot guy extraordinaire, was the classic relationship built on lies and insecurity. Both of them were in the wrong, multiple times throughout the story, and I am anxious to see how this doomed from the start relationship will play out because of the curse and all. The curse and the mythology were the most interesting parts of the novel. I wanted to know the dynamics of the world with mythology and the belief in mythical creatures being not only accepted but taught. Was mythology a joke or actually a belief? I couldn’t decide. The descriptions of the beasts, tales, and the opening prologue of the Underworld were awesome! I want more. Also the relationships, especially with the riddles and Mr. Stanley were great – need more of this with the other characters!

Overall the ending of the book, a cliff-hanger that I am constantly running into lately, left me wanting more. Shocking I know. I hope to be able to watch Athan and Hope grow up while working out the kinks of who they are as individuals. I want to see more mythology and understand the deal with Apollo. I want to know what happened to Priska after I thought she was dead only to have her return from the dead – no pun intended – and be so calm about the fact she was missing and caused Hope complete turmoil.

Basically, I want to know a lot of things. I will just have to wait for now.

Check out this novel if you like mythology, teen romance, teen angst, and a take on the trials of becoming an adult without the guidance of family.

Click here for more information about author Raye Wagner!

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