REVIEW: The Gatekeeper's Daughter by Eva Pohler

Title: The Gatekeeper’s Daughter (Gatekeeper’s Saga #3)
Author: Eva Pohler
Publication Date: May 1st 2013
Publisher: Green Press
Format: Paperback
Pages: 235
Rating: 5/5
Blurb: In The Gatekeeper's Sons, Therese and Thanatos, the god of death, met and fell in love. In The Gatekeeper's Challenge, they did everything they could to be together, even break an oath on the River Styx. But the Olympians don't tolerate oath-breakers. 

In this third book in the saga, The Gatekeeper's Daughter, Therese may have finally succeeded in becoming a goddess, but if she wants to remain one, she'll not only have to discover her unique purpose, but also make some allies among the gods. Artemis sends her on a seemingly impossible quest across the world, while Than searches for a way to appease Ares. To make matters worse, her baby sister's life depends on the outcome of her quest.
Ely’s Review: Usually when it comes to sequels, I get a little hesitant about reading them because they are almost never as good as their original. I immensely enjoyed the first two books of the Gatekeeper’s Saga, and so I began to worry that maybe this book wouldn’t live up to those standards? However, this book was even better than the last two- though, it shouldn’t have really been surprising because Eva Pohler is just so ridiculously talented that it kills me. 

From the moment this book started, it drove me absolutely crazy (in a good way). I was so excited to be back in this world with Therese and Than, but mainly Hip (let’s be honest). I think the character’s that Eva has created are so wonderfully written and I particularly like the way she writes each of the gods and goddesses- they are all so different, but they all work so well together. Therese is legitimately one of my favourite young adult protagonists, perhaps even my favourite character ever. I think she is definitely a character that most readers will be able to connect to in some way or another, even if you aren’t off falling in love with the God of Death. Even the characters that aren’t Gods are just perfect- I felt so sorry for Jen throughout this book and I sincerely hope that things get better for her. One of the best things about this series is the pets- Eva never fails to mention them and give them an important role in Therese’s life. It is so very amazing to read this interaction between Therese and her pets, because I think it’s definitely something that most books miss out on. Just another way in which Eva’s books are so unique!

The plot of this book is as amazing as ever. It’s especially amazing how Eva always manages to slip things in from the previous books- I swear, she never leaves an important thing out of anything. The pacing of this particular was also really good- sometimes I feel like sequels often spend quite a bit of time recapping and whatnot, but this one gets right into the action. Another thing with the pacing is that it was very well done- it was pretty steady throughout the book, there weren’t those long parts where nothing really happens, instead it’s all interesting. Again, this is a pretty rare thing, but as usual Eva does it perfectly. Another thing is the world building- I can’t say I’ve read many books set in mythological settings but Eva does such an amazing job at creating these beautiful scenes and descriptions that are so easy to imagine and really do transport into this world.

I think I should probably stop going on about this book, before things start to get out of control and I begin to decode absolutely every word that Eva has written (I would so go there). But the most important things are that this book is just crazy and brilliant and every other good adjective in the entire world, Eva Pohler is once again the most lovely, talented, amazing author alive and that you should most definitely read this entire series so that you can experience it for yourself. I honestly don’t think I could ever accurately express my love for this series, so please just give it a go for yourself.

Chami's Review:

Eva Pohler, you have done it again. Okay, okay. I just finished The Gatekeepers Daughter and I absolutely loved it to death. Haha- See what I did there? Ain’t I punny?

Eva is crazy talented with her methods in story telling. You can’t deny she knows how to create a story and maintain it the whole way through.

One of the things I loved about the previous book was how Therese never forgot about what happened to her previously and this book doesn’t take away that magic.  Her character is just total and complete and she has to be one of my favorite heroines with no aspect of being annoying whatsoever.

One of my favorite things about this book is how Eva was able to handle topics people don’t usually bring up in young adult fantasy books. It creates a distinct credible link between the real world and Greek world, which is meandered between in the book itself. It takes candor for someone to discuss those topics and I generally appreciated the presence of them.

This was fast paced to the max. I had barely had any time to step away and breath. Every time a problem was solved another one would come up and everything would just be laced within each other and it was nuts and crazy and just WOW.

If you haven’t read this series you should seriously give them a chance. They are utterly fantastic and I just want to hug them to death.

SHATTER ME SERIES PLAYLIST

Since Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is my absolute favourite book, because of it's utter perfection, I've decided to compile a list of songs that I believe fit perfectly with the series. As Ely knows, I've had countless obsessive moments where I rave about Warner and all the other characters of this series, So without furthermore (No Spoilers), here I go:

7. Landscape - Florence and the Machine

This song screams Juliette at every aspect of the series. She's dangerous and chaotic, no matter how much she doesn't want to be. She's just like the weather. Can't hold her together.

6. Happening - Olivia Broadfield. Olivia will always be one of those indie artists that I absolutely adore to pieces. "Happening," to me, explains the best chapter of the series (Chapter 62 - Unravel Me) when Juliette said a couple of idiotic things about Warner, and she questions him.

5. I'm In Here - Sia. If we jump back to the first novel, "Shatter Me," this would be the background scene to the whole Asylum life. Every word in this song sounds like an aching call. Juliette's aching call.

4. Dream - Priscilla Ahn. If we could convert Juliette's white bird into a song, it would be this. This is utterly perfect. This is what she would want to have.

3.  Ashes and Wine - A Fine Frenzy. One line just really gets me in this song. "If that will make you hurt like me." You are probably thinking that it is the weirdest line to pick from that song, but it's not. In the end of Unravel Me (No Spoilers i promise!) something happens to one of our leads that results in another one of our leads acting out in desperation to save that someone. That someone looks up at the other lead and says a line that announces that if someone died, another person would die too.  Now I hope that didn't give too much away.

2. Echo - Jason Walker

 Warner. Warner. Warner.

1. LandFill - Daughter

This is the song of their people. This is how I think Juliette felt about Warner at the end of Shatter Me. I'm not saying anything else!

I hope everyone enjoyed this. I had fun making it.  If you have time please send it to Tahereh Mafi on twitter. I've been trying to get her attention but no luck!  Leave a comment down below if you have any other suggestions.