Young Adult Book Haven: Blog Tour: Eternal Night By: Carina Adly Mackenzie, Review and Interview Question

My Rating 4 out of 5 stars

Summary:

Six young gods are hiding in plain sight among mortals, living secretly in cities across the world. From lavish penthouse soirees to pulsing underground clubs, for them, the party literally never ends. Until now.

On a hot June morning, the body of a beautiful girl is found floating in the rooftop pool of the Jefferson Hotel, her white-ink tattoos revealing the story of a life much longer than seems possible. Only the immortals know the truth: Nadia was the goddess of hope. Now she’s gone, and the world as they know it is ending. The Hudson River has turned blood red. Storms rage overhead. Mania is rapidly spreading across the globe.

It is up to the remaining gods—Lola, Dean, Weston, Mark, Nike and Peitha—to put aside centuries of betrayal and heartbreak, and stop the mysterious source of darkness that is taking over… before the sun sets forever.

Carina Adly MacKenzie, writer for The CW's hit series "The Originals," has penned a steamy, romantic, and ultimately redemptive story of forgotten gods, the persistence of hope, and the power of love to save us.

My Thoughts:

Eternal Night was such an interesting and different read. The story follows so many characters that you feel like you gone through so much with them when in reality it has only been a few days. Each chapter swtiches to a different god and talks about how they were dealing with everything that they had to do in their lives and let me tell you that it was so much!

Lola, Dean, Weston, Mark, Nike and Peitha were Greek Gods but, because nobody believes in them anymore they are more like humans than ever, while they have lived for centuries among mortals, most of them have managed to stay close to each other. But, suddenly something mysterious begins to take over the world, can these former immortal gods come together to save the world before it's too late, or will they let themselves get in the way of that.

My favorite character out of all of them was Lola, for some reason I seemed to connect to her the most, she was the Goddess of Love but, now she believed in anything but that. She seemed more quiet and reserved then the rest and I just loved reading her chapters.

Overall, Eternal Night was so fast paced and I never got bored because we got to see situations from so many viewpoints each of the different characters had a distinct and interesting personality. If you enjoy Greek Mythology and fast paced books then this one is for you, I think that this is one book that everyone can find something to enjoy because their is so many different characters to connect with.

Interview Question

Are the characters based on anyone? Can you tell us a bit about the mythology behind ETERNAL NIGHT?

When the editors and I were working through the story we wanted to tell, we took existing mythological gods and stories, and then we twisted and manipulated them to make them fun and update them a little. Since these are the descendants of the gods of lore – not the gods themselves – I could give them their own individual characteristics and update them for the modern times. I was never really trying to glue myself to existing stories, because I liked the idea that there were a lot of stories that were never written down, a lot of adventures and gods we never heard about. I was inspired by mythology more than I was trying to replicate it.

I loved the idea that Lola, the descendent of Aphrodite, had outwardly given up on love but still worked as a jewelry designer, making beautiful things for people to exchange as symbols of romance. Dean is the descendant of Dionysus, the god of wine – but in the modern day, the “wine” has expanded to include a long list of other vices. Nike is named after her great (great, great, great, x100) grandmother, the Goddess of Victory, but she’s become so obsessed with living up to that title that she is desperately afraid to show any vulnerability – she is always chasing the thrill of the win, in all parts of her life. Mark is obviously a descendant of Mars, the god of war, but without his powers, his greatest battle is within himself. He’s isolated from his friends and the people who love him most, and it’s killing him. Weston is descended from Odin. Odin is a god of basically everything, but Wes has inherited his affinity for wisdom – and for rumor. Weston is all about sending messages and making connection, which in our modern world is tied up in social media and celebrity. Peitha is the most mysterious. She has powers of persuasion and seems to take after the goddess Peithos – hence the name she uses -- but she doesn’t actually know anything about her ancestry. And then there’s Chazz – which is a douchey nickname for Charon, who in Greek mythology is the one tasked with ferrying mortal souls into the underworld. For the purposes of our story, he’s also the one who handles transporting immortal souls to their not-so-peaceful resting place… and he’s a real dick about it.

Author Bio

Carina Adly MacKenzie grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, where she boldly defied the no-reading-at-the-dinner-table rule time and time again. After studying English at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Carina moved to Los Angeles to pursue a writing career. Carina was a television critic and entertainment reporter for Zap2it.com, the Los Angeles Times, and Teen Vogue, among other publications. Currently, she spends her days obsessing over vampire sibling rivalry as a writer for The CW's new drama, "The Originals." She loves coffee, Twitter, and her little dog Pacey. Eternal Night is her first novel.