Radiant Darkness

RADIANT DARKNESS
by: Emily Whitman
270 pages
published in 2009

Synopsis:
All you scholars of ancient myths, listen up! They've been telling Persephone's story wrong for centuries. Her mother is a goddess, and she created a paradise for Persephone, but Persephone was trapped there, doomed to be her mother's child forever. The book begins with the words, "I hate eternity." But then HE comes, and tames her as carefully as he would his wild horses, and makes her the queen of the underworld. But her love for the world of the dead may cause the destruction of the world of the living.

Review:
Another book out of the pile my daughter forced me to read over Christmas vacation. I really ought to start listening to that girl. This is a beautiful book. Too often, I fall in love with the hero of the story, and am left wondering what he sees in the cardboard heroine. But I love Persephone. More often than not, she makes the same decisions I think I would make if my mother was immortal and wanted me to stay twelve years old for eternity. Or if I realized I fell in love with Hades, the god of the underworld. And I'm pretty cool. ;^)

I think this book is appropriate for most teenagers. There is some kissing, but although Persephone and Hades are married, references to anything beyond that are very, very veiled.