Bonds of Hercules by Jasmine Mas, the second book in the Villains of Lore series, is a story I’ve been anxiously awaiting all year. The first book, Blood of Hercules, was one of my favorite books of 2024, and I was so ready to devour the next piece of this Greek myth-inspired romantasy on release day.
*this review contains spoilers for Blood of Hercules*
Alexis Hert, also known as Hercules, Chthonic daughter of Hades and Persephone, has been through hell, betrayed, forced to marry two monsters, and she may have joined a cult. Her situation is less than ideal, to put it mildly.
Things only get more dire when she’s forced to enter the Spartan Gladiator Competition — a brutal thirteen-day humiliation ritual organized by the Olympians to showcase the Chthonic power of the Assembly of Death.
Caught between her vicious mentors and her dangerous, obsessed husbands, with the political tensions between the Olympians and Chthonics escalating, Alexis must fight for survival in a hostile and treacherous world.
The characters in this book are villainous, insane, and just a little whimsical. Augustus, one of Alexis’s husbands, has enormous power and a cold, callous attitude towards killing, but he also has an animal protector named Poco, who is an adorable little raccoon. It’s a great balance.
“Men should be seen—slaughtering and protecting—not heard. I’ve always said this.”
In Bonds of Hercules, the readers get rich inner thoughts from all five main characters that allow the reader to really get to know them deeply. We learn so much more about the potential love interests in this book as Alexis learns to trust these dangerous men.
This romantasy is set in a dystopian future world, with gruesome violence and vicious magic, and lots of action and danger. With all the intense drama, there is a dark, dry humor infused in both the dialogue and the parentheticals that show Alexis’ inner thoughts.
Nothing in life was more powerful than two women affirming each other’s horrible life choices.
Parts of Bonds of Hercules are chaotic and a little disjointed, almost reading like vignettes. It feels like the plot was missing pieces at times, and the plot doesn’t always flow. The reader is not actually lacking any information, but I found myself wanting a certain continuity. It all came together in the end, and there was a clear reason for this, but it was an odd choice.
While there are multiple love interests, and Alexis ends up with more than one of them in the end, this book is not overly spice-focused. It’s an epic fantasy with a sprinkling of spicy scenes. There’s a slow-burn romance with violent longing and fierce obsession, but the spice is not plentiful.
I loved Blood of Hercules; it was one of my favorite books of 2024, but Bond of Hercules didn’t quite live up to the magic of the first book. It got close, and it was still a great read, don’t get me wrong, but it felt rushed, and it didn’t leave me with the same sense of hungry awe.
Bonds of Hercules concludes Alexis’s story, but it leaves the door open for future books in this universe with some of these characters. The overarching story of this world is definitely not done, so there’s more to come for this gorgeous series.
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