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Book Review: The Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas

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The following review is unsponsored. These are my feelings about the book and its contents, not the author themselves although background information about them may be included. This review may include profanity, spoilers, and a whole lot of chaos.


Rating system:
⭐️ = Did not finish/ hate it
⭐️ ⭐️ = I did not like it, would throw tomatoes
⭐️⭐️⭐️ = I like it, probably wouldn’t double back
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = I would recommend this
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = my soul has healed, I'm enlightened, 10s all across the board!

For updates on what I’m currently reading, follow my StoryGraph! Find other resources like 50 Black Authors to Diversify your Library or Schae's To Be Read List 2025 within the rest of my book blog.

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas

Kindle edition, 462 pages. | Kindle Unlimited ✅ | jasminemasbooks.com

tags: greek/roman mythology | dark fantasy | LGBTQ romance | polyamorous romance | slow burn

Initial Thoughts...

This was me, approaching the end of this book with the same tears I had in the beginning. If you got a chance to read my September Wrap-Up, I mentioned that I wanted to finish this book, however I literally stumbled upon it on accident waiting for my copy of I, Medusa by Ayana Gray to arrive. Little did I know that this was going to be the most dark, passionate, slow burn romantasy that I truly needed! 

Alexis Hert, you poor beautiful soul. From the beginning she experienced a very traumatizing life...almost a little too traumatizing. From abusive parents to having no friends AND stupid stutter, I thought there was no hope for her. She truly became such a loveable character and I couldn't help but root for her from start to finish. 

Nyx is MY GURL! She is absolutely hilarious and I couldn't get enough of her dark humor. When in doubt, kill ‘em. Just kill ‘em all for the fun of it - WHO CARES! Their friendship, no, sisterhood felt so authentic and real through every encounter. I never want to lose Nyx in this journey...PLEASE!

After about half way through the book I decided to actually take a look at the reviews and whew - there were a lot. I think this was popular on BookTok or something, because even on StoryGraph there were about 11k reviews on it! Normally that is a "turn off" for me - the hype isn't always what it should be for BookTok books, but they can spread like a wild fire if the right influencers are talking about it. I did, however, discover that some folks really hated everything about this book. Some common phrasing was "It reads like Wattpad or fanfiction"....things I've never read before, so do with that information what you must. 

If you're looking for fast paced smutty fantasy, this definitely ain't that. With "Villains of Lore" in the title, you can appropriately assume the villains are the main point. It's dark, it's passionate, it's violent...but it leaves room for the imagination. Who is the love interest? Is it him? Oh maybe them?! OR THEM!? Yeah, my Storygraph journal goes crazy with guesses the entire way through! 

Character Art by Stella Colorado

Alexis & Nyx


Augustus & Poco

Kharon (Karen)

Patro

Achilles

The following may contain SPOILERS!

QUOTES & REFLECTIONS

 
Twenty-six is far too young to be bound for all of immortality!

...And somehow humans find a way to wed even before THAT! Imagine surviving a murderous, treacherous, near death experience and then everyone is like "okay now get married....forever." PLEASE -


Protected by anonimity, advancing in the shadows, Spartans and creatures amassed unfathomable wealth and created superior technologies. But Sparta wasn't as peaceful as it seemed. There were two divisive factions of Spartans: Cthonic Houses and Olympian Houses.

This divide is present throughout the entire story. If you think you'll forget who is good and who is bad - you definitely won't. Sometimes I stay away from fantasy for the fear of not keeping up with the backstory or the lore behind all the drama, but some details feel like flligree and extraneous. 


We might not be related, but as Father John preached, "The blood of a covenant is thicker than the water of any womb."

RELIGIOUS PSYCHOSIS??????? This poor girl been through it all.


"You are strong." Nyx whispered. "You are brave." Scales slid across the side of my face like she was nuzzling me. "You can handle anything -- the universe is yours to command."

This was when I knew I loved Nyx. Amidst the chaos, she was a real ass bitch through and through. 


You're Olympian, and we're Cthonic. We don't give a single shit about you. Got it?

Nobody ever lightened up on my girl Alexis - she didn't even have to speak and she already had opps on her head! She don't know y'all, let alone herself most of the time ~


"I never said he didn't hate you." N yx tightened around my throat. "That's obvious. That man LOATHES you. But that doesn't mean he doesn't want to murder you -- in bed. If you know what I mean."

Nyx PLEASE go somewhere! My goodness, she became funnier and funnier. How unserious can an invisible snake really be?


It wasn't about women being as tough as men; it was about the fact that they shouldn't have to be. Spartan women were rare and needed to be protected at all costs. The future of our society depended on keeping them safe.

Now imagine if all men felt a need to protect women this passionately - we wouldn't be fighting for rights over our wombs every other year...


"My name is not Karen," he spat with vitriol, like I'd gravely insulted him. "It's pronounced Ch-ar-on." 

Okay....well now I'm confused too. How the fuck do I say THAT?! This messed me up for the remaining 200 pages to be honest...Don't ask how I've been saying "Chthonic" either...


Her enthusiasm for life was extremely unrelatable, and slightly off-putting, but also sweet. She inspired me to want to kill myself less. Maybe.

Ugh. I love dark humor. I can't say how many times I've thought this LMAO


"I knew you three would be electric, but that was...unexpected." Her voice was grave. "What a-- powerful union...There will be consequences for sure-- dark consequences." She shivered. "There always are." Numbness spread.

...And that's when I knew I needed to have the book two on standby. I felt the electricity too, FUCK!

 

What a wild and traumatic ride. I hate that the ending circles back to remind me that these dudes are VILLAINS! Like duh, of course they had a plan to be....well...evil and manipulative. That's what we learned about them from the beginning! Besides that realization, I'm fully invested in the series. I look forward to continuing this slow burn or even anticipating a little bit of a pick up in the second book, Bonds of Hercules and we will see if the hype continues for the third book Battle for Hercules releasing June of 2027. Should I just go ahead and pre-order? 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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