Omega by Lizzy Ford
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
In a modern world ruled by territorial Greek gods, the human race has been oppressed, exploited and now, nearly destroyed by the constant infighting of gods.
However, a human girl with the power of a goddess is coming of age. Alessandra is the Oracle of Delphi – the last prophesized – and bears the mark of the double omega. Soon after she turns eighteen, Alessandra is told her destiny: to step between the warring gods and the human race and save her world from certain ruin.
For the gods, her appearance marks the beginning of the end – their end. They and the Triumvirate – leaders of the human elite – who serve them will stop at nothing to preserve their power.
Alessandra emerges from the forest where she spent her life hidden from gods and men and immediately plummets into a race against time, gods, and herself to discover who and what she is in a world where everyone she meets has a hidden agenda, and those pulling the strings remain in the shadows.
Before she can determine exactly what kind of savior her world needs, she must first master her power by completing three trials devised by the Triumvirate to enslave her.
One lone girl stands between warring gods and the people she’s destined to protect, but it’s the battle to understand who she is that she must win first.
[Full disclosure: I received a free paperback from the publisher at Book Expo America 2015 in exchange for an honest review.]
So I’m a little late reviewing this one but I guess it’s better late than never!
When I started Omega I didn’t quite know what to think about it. The info-dump in the beginning led to more questions than answers but not necessarily in a good way. Instead of my overriding feeling after the info-dump being excited curiosity it was more confusion than anything else. Why does Alessandra (called Lyssa) live in a school in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of gorgeous girls she calls nymphs? Why do the priests want to contain her within some weird sort of red rope? Why does her guardian Herakles seem to want to make her into a crazy survivor-type person? And, most interesting of all, why is she only allowed to date a boy that can beat her in a race and out-solve her when it comes to puzzles? These questions do eventually all get answered and not necessarily in a boring way but my overriding feeling coming out of this novel was a solid ‘meh’.
I tried to like Lyssa as a protagonist; I really did. Unfortunately, she just doesn’t seem all that relateable to me. She stays in extremely dangerous situations to merely satisfying her curiosity. Believe me when I say I can understand living with an insatiable curiosity but I just felt like her staying behind with Adonis when she knows he’s the ruthless head of the secret police with a secret agenda is just suicidal. Worst of all, when she is deemd the heir to the current Oracle she stays in her palace, even knowing the absolutely horrific fate of Oracles who pass the three tests. Yes, Lizzy Ford tried to justify this decision within the narrative but I still feel like it was unrealistic. If you’re a tough-as-nails survivor-type person, you’re probably not going to stick around when you learn that the politicians, priests and gods have quite literally a fate worse than death in store for you. Especially when in Adonis/Mismatch you have an easy way to escape. Like I said, I just can’t relate to that line of thinking and Lyssa isn’t characterized well enough to really feel like her choices are even justified within the plot.
What I found interesting was the portrayals of the Greek gods in Omega. I’m a huge Greek mythology fan so seeing them portrayed as ridiculously ruthless and self-interested was nice. It’s certainly how they come across in pretty much all of the myths I’ve read. My only quibble is that even though it appears Lizzy Ford knows her Greek literature and mythology, there was a quote from the movie Troy actually attributed to Homer. I’m not making this up. At the beginning of Chapter 23 the quote underneath says “…any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again“. I have read the entire Iliad front-to-back over ten times in two different translations and Achilles absolutely never says that. He especially doesn’t say that to Briseis because anyone who has actually read the Iliad would know that Briseis has no speaking role; she’s just a toy for Agamemnon and Achilles to fight over, a symbol of kingly status. So that was quite a jarring error that didn’t exactly help my overall enjoyment of the book.
The plot should have been interesting. It certainly had all of the elements that I like: an unique dystopia, Greek gods, political intrigue, lies, etc. However, I just couldn’t find it in me to care all that much about the book. It’s not a terrible book despite all of my criticism but it’s definitely not a great book. The series certainly has potential and I wouldn’t be averse to picking up the second book because the plot twist at the end was actually quite good. And as the book went on, it seemed like the characters got a little better and the writing was just a higher quality overall. Omega just wasn’t the book for me it seems. Apparently if I can’t relate to the main characters at all, my enjoyment of the book as a whole takes a nosedive.
I can’t honestly recommend Omega but I really wouldn’t discourage anyone else from giving it a try. Maybe you’ll like it more than I did. I personally find Diantha Jones’ Oracle of Delphi to be a much more interesting Oracle story than this one.
I give this book 2/5 stars.