Once upon a time, I was scrolling through the internet. And found a book. That book was Neon Gods by Katee Robert. I absolutely love the Greek mythology retellings by Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint, so this sounded right up my ally. However, I haven’t forgotten the disappointment that was Alexandra Bracken’s Lore. I wanted to give Neon Gods a fair chance, even though I found out it is a “TikTok made me buy it” book. Let’s be honest, the quality of those are not always the best and I’m left disappointed more often than not. Was this book able to break this pattern for me?

Title: Neon Gods
Author: Katee Robert
Series: Dark Olympus #1
Publish date: June 1, 2021
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Genre: Fantasy, New Adult, Erotica

He was supposed to be a myth.
But from the moment I crossed the River Styx and fell under his dark spell… he was, quite simply, mine.
Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.
With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth… a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.
Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close…
A modern retelling of Hades and Persephone that’s as sinful as it is sweet.

This story is a Hades and Persiphone retelling, so obviously they are de main characters. Both have their own POV and it changes with nearly each chapter. However, both Hades and Persephone don’t develop that much within the book. They fell very flat for me. It seemed like they only thought of sex most of the time. I have to confess here that I didn’t know, let alone expect, this book to fall in the erotica genre. However, I didn’t like both Hades and Persephone. There were a few side characters present who are definitely more interesting, but couldn’t save the story.

Neon Gods is set in Olympus, which is set in the mortal world, in the USA. The city is devided in two parts: the upper and lower city. Hades rules the lower city and Zeus (and the other members of the 13 minus Hades) the upper city. That’s the only thing we get to see from these cities, because an in depth world building is not relevant for this story. Moreover, I didn’t like the atmosphere of this book really, it’s just Hades’ house and the parts that could be interesting involving Zeus, were rushed.

When looking into the writing, it was okay. I just had no expectations when listening to this audiobook as I already found out very early that I was not going to like this book. The plot was non-existent, it was just sex and a little bit of a storyline. Don’t get me wrong, I like some smut here and there, but in Neon Gods it was what the book was leaning on. Therefore, this story didn’t intrige me that much and it was not a pleasant reading experience.

Unfortunately, Neon Gods by Katee Robert was not the book for me. The only thing I liked whilst reading was the narrator for Hades, Persephone’s narraotr annoyed me a lot. The plot was non-existent, but the smut made up for that. However, it was way too much smut for my liking. Therefore, this wasn’t a pleasant reading experience and I highly doubt I will read the other books in the Dark Olympus series.