Aphrodite: Goddess of Love

Olympians #6

by George O'Connor

Behold the wondrous beauty of Aphrodite, goddess of love and embodiment of the intangible Eros. A creature born of pure force and destined for power and fame, so lovely that the Earth and all its inhabitants bend to please her.

Pitted against Athena, warrior goddess, and Hera, goddess of the heavens, the lovely, cunning Aphrodite must find a way to outwit her opponents in a high-stakes beauty contest, the outcome of which will affect the destiny of mortals and gods alike. Will she do what she must to succeed? After all, all's fair in love, war, and vanity...

Genres: Graphic Novels, Mythology, Comics, Fantasy, Young Adult, Greek Mythology, Middle Grade

77 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2013

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base and there are multiple George O'Conner's that illustrate comics

George O'Connor is the author of several picture books, including the New York Times bestseller Kapow!, Kersplash, and Sally and the Some-thing. JOURNEY INTO MOHAWK COUNTRY was his first graphic novel, a long-held dream that weaves together his passion for history and ongoing research into Native American life. He's also the author/illustrator of a new picture book, If I Had a Raptor.
He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[First Second Books]

I'm not going to lie: when I first heard we were doing a book about Aphrodite, I was like, 'this book is going to be all filled with love and stuff, isn't it?'

Well.

Aphrodite being the goddess of love, there is some love in this book. But more than love, this book is really about power: about a goddess who's a woman figuring out her relationship to a pantheon of gods and what she can do with that situation if she uses love (for good or for ill). It's a really interesting discussion of familial and societal power dynamics -- and one that's applicable to us today, too.

Also! The Trojan War starts! So there's some of that, too.

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series. George is doing a fantastic rendering of these myths and there is usually at least a piece of the story I did not know or heard about. Comics are a great setting for these stories.

I feel the art is kinetic and jumps off the page. I love that each character is so carefully rendered in each one and has their on unique personality.

This book tells the tale of the golden apple which lead to the trojan war. It tells of Aphrodite's birth and beginning. And it also tells the tale of Galatea and her maker. I don't feel there was as much in here and they are so good, he can fill these books up. I really enjoy them.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book about Aphrodite, this turned out remarkably kid-friendly and yet didn't feel overly censored or changed. Although I definitely was amused at the tries to artfully get around exactly what Kronos cut off of Ouranos that created Aphrodite. "The seat of Eros' power". It's his dick. If you didn't know. This round, I enjoyed the inclusion of the Pygmalion myth because I've always particularly liked that myth. At Thetis' wedding, the whole part with Eris was just strangely adorable, with Eris kind of reminding me of Delirium from Neil Gaiman's Sandman. The goddesses were handled well in this book, considering bickering over the golden apple isn't one of their brightest moments. Also the fact that Hestia got included in this book made me happy, she always gets left out of everything.

[Neil Franz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good storytelling!

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: I received a free copy of this from the Goodreads FirstReads Giveaway.

O’Connor hits it out of the park again in his latest in his Olympians series.

Here, he examines the myth of Aphrodite – and it isn’t at all what you’d expect. This isn’t a story about love – it’s a story about power, and more than that, it’s about powerful beings making power plays.

Zeus-the-womanizer sizes up Aphrodite as she steps out of the ocean and is smart enough to realize her ability to make people fall in love is a heck of a lot stronger than his lightening bolts. His power play to adopt her and then marry her off reminds the audience that he is a politician as well as a warrior and womanizer.

Many of Aphrodite’s adventures that follow are as much about power and politics as they are about people falling in love.

It feels like a thoroughly modern take on the Greek gods, but in the author notes at the back O’Connor goes to great pains to underline the fact that all of his source material was the ancient texts. There was a part where the goddess Discord was acting like a brat, where I was sure he was going to admit he was inspired by a niece or nephew acting up at a family event – but instead he shows where that came straight from an ancient Greek text.

It is also remarkably G rated – there a few panels with strategically placed waves or clouds or hair, but nothing more overtly sexual than what you’d see in a cartoon character in the Sunday comics. Aphrodite may be the goddess of love, but she is also a woman of action. We see her doing things rather than passively waiting for things to happen to her.

All in all, an EXCELLENT retelling of the myth of Aphrodite.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Greek mythology but have to say that when knowing the next book was actually about the Goddess of "Love" I wasn't as excited as with the previous books in this series. However, O'Connor went in a great direction with his retelling of Aphrodite's story. He starts back at the beginning with Kaos and Gaea and re-tells the whole story of creation and the Olympians as was done in the first book "Zeus", though this time very quickly and from the point of view of Eros from which Athena is formed. After a few tales of Athena's interfering in occasions of love with her always present sidekick, Eros (better known by his Roman name, Cupid), O'Connor chooses to focus on the Judgement of Paris and the Golden Apple. This opens up a whole future of tensions and the set up for the epic War of Troy. O'Connor has added some modern sensibilities to his female characters and modern thoughts on the theme of love which some readers may appreciate, but this reader didn't bringing my rating down to a four. Otherwise, George's art is as divine as usual and I look forward to the next book but am at a loss to find it not advertised at the back of this one. Who will be featured next?

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

I have been a fan of mythology ever since I read the Iliad as a child. This graphic novel was kindly given to me for my classroom library by a friend. Aphrodite may not have been my first choice in the Greek Pantheon to read about, but it was really enjoyable. It gave a lot of great info, the art was solid and it tied together numerous story lines. I am definitely planning on reading the others in the series.

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was so good I cant wait to read the next one with my partner. I loved this graphic novel and I don't really like graphic novels so this was a very nice surprise plus the artwork was awesome and really helped tell the story.

[Ken Yuen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing. The origin of Aphrodite was pretty good, since I wasn't too familiar with it before. Always loved the statue maker's story. In his notes, O'Connor admits the golden apple story makes the goddesses look bad, but that's how it goes.

[Greyson | Use Your Words · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting but I have one thing that bothered me and is more a problem with the mythology itself and not this version of it but you can not tell me that when Aphrodite, the most beautiful woman to ever exist and all the goddesses just felt jealous??? You're telling me none of them were dumb-struck like all the gods were??? Not a single one??? I'm calling BS! This is sapphic erasure, fight me.
—
I read this book as part of my 2018 Library Love binge, where I read as many library books as possible to take advantage of my great local library network before I move interstate!
___
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[Tif · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interesting thing about this series is that even when it's not my favorite adaptation or interpretation of that particular myth, I'll read the author's note at the end of the book and gain a wholly new appreciation for the story and effort that went into researching the character. Such was the case with this volume- it wasn't my favorite in the series and I felt like it spent way too much time with other gods and myths than Aphrodite herself. If I recall correctly, I had a similar problem with the book on Athena. But the author's note has made me realize that I'd much rather be reading about his journey through his research and the care he took in choosing which versions and writings to adapt and how to present them.

[Ame · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how Aphrodite's arrival indicates a threat to Zeus's power. In fact, he acknowledges in this text that many women are more powerful than he is, especially Aphie. I also dig O'Connor's notes about the out-of-character and sexist tale of Paris's judgment regarding the golden apple. Like Hera and Athena would truly care about such things. George takes it a step further to illustrate that Aphrodite sees it more as a power struggle than anything else.

[Eddie Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aphrodite causes mayhem as she arrives on Olympus. O'Connor reframes the story as a power struggle between the Gods, with Aphrodite potentially posing a threat to Zeus which he acts to head off. It's quite a clever take.

The episode with the golden apple and Paris shooting the 'fairest of the them all' is explored in full detail, with some humour added in by Hermes. A fun read.

[Isabelle✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork is so dynamic and I love how the author portrays these myths. Even as I pause to take in every panel these are very quick reads too! And I always love the footnotes at the end..

[Meryem Matar]

The comic book Aphrodite, goddess of love was written by George O’Connor. The story opens with Gaea (the Earth) and Eros (love) living together and creating the world. It also introduces the olympian gods, along with Zeus, their king. One day, Eros gave the form of a body, and a beautiful maiden arose from the sea, named Aphrodite. She was headed to Cyprus, the nearest island she could find. The goddess of love met the three Charities, who were loyal to her. The Olympians caught sight of Aphrodite and were bewildered by her beauty. She slightly seduces Poseidon and Hera went mad, telling her that she is Zeus’ queen. Athena introduced herself to Aphrodite, and the gods tried to flirt with her. Finally, Zeus welcomed Aphrodite as his daughter, and married her to Hephaestus, a craftsman and the son of Zeus. Hephaestus treated Aphrodite as his bride and was kindhearted to her, providing her jewels and crafts. When Hephaestus was not with Aphrodite, she went into many adventures, and went jumping from man to man. Aphrodite, as the goddess of love, played different roles in the love life of mortals. For example, Pygmalion had built a statue to which he had fallen in love with, but she was not living. He prayed to Aphrodite to make the statue alive, and she listened to him. She was named Galatea, and they got married. Aphrodite had a son, whom the father was mysterious, and named him Eros. Eros had shot Zeus with the arrow of love and he met Thetis, but he didn’t know it was her. He seduced her for a moment but he suddenly remembered that any child of Thetis will be twice as great as their father. Therefore, Zeus married Thetis to a mortal named Peleus. During the wedding, Eris, the goddess of discord, was supposedly not invited. Shortly after, Zeus let her in, but only if she was in her best behavior, which she wasn’t. Suddenly, about to create a conflict, she threw a golden apple and said whoever gets it is the prettiest. Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera all reach to the apple, but each goddess claims she is the prettiest, and an argue debuted. Hera calls Zeus and tells him to decide but as the king of the gods, it doesn’t fit his position to decide who among the three goddesses is the prettiest. He then calls his son and messenger, Hermes, to get Paris, a mortal, to be the judge. During the competition, Hera offered Paris political power, Athena power in war, and Aphrodite the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite, but she suspiciously threw the apple away. Aphrodite offers Paris love for Helen, wife of king Menelaus of Sparta and most beautiful woman among the mortals, in order for him to fight for her.

Throughout the mythological story about the goddess of love, Aphrodite, the reader learns three important facts about the beautiful maiden. The first fact is the coming to existence of Aphrodite. Eros, the power of love, gave the form of a body, and a beautiful maiden arose from the sea, named Aphrodite. She was headed to Cyprus, the nearest island she could find. The second detail is the story of Pygmalion and his statue, Galatea, who later became a living human and Pygmalion’s bride. Pygmalion had built a statue to which he had fallen in love with, but she was not living. He prayed to Aphrodite to make the statue alive, and she listened to him. She was named Galatea, and they got married. In this myth, Aphrodite’s position was the divine goddess of love and helping the mortals finding love. The final detail the reader learned from this book is the golden apple competition, in which Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera participated. They told Zeus to be the judge, but he picked Paris to be that role. During the competition, Hera offered Paris political power, Athena power in war, and Aphrodite the most beautiful woman in the world. In conclusion, Paris chose Aphrodite.
This book is recommended to middle school, high school, college students, and adults. This story is placed in the section of Greek mythology, which is not for a specific job, but for everyone in order to learn what people thought back then, and then compare the similarities and differences between the Greek myths and their religions. The reader’s favorite part of the story was when Eros gave the form of a body, and a beautiful maiden arose from the sea, named Aphrodite. This gives further information about how the goddess of love was created and it was peaceful. The reader’s least favorite part was when Zeus welcomed Aphrodite as his daughter, and married her to Hephaestus, a craftsman and the son of Zeus. This was the least enjoyable for the audience because Aphrodite and Hephaestus were married without wanting each other, but by force. As opposed the this situation being completely unenjoyable, it also shows how noble Hephaestus can be to his wife and that they weren’t sad, after all.

[Pumkin pie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aphrodite is kinda stuck-up, if you ask me, but then again, I guess she has the right to be. Also, LOVE her new look!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free as a Goodreads First Read.

I've always believed that mythological figures like Aphrodite, Apollo, Jason, Zeus, Athena, Odysseus, & Hercules are the superheroes of Ancient times. They are not perfect creatures. They could be just as jealous, manipulative & vain as they were compassionate, generous, & loving. Perhaps this is why mythology translates so well to the graphic novel medium. It is an excellent way to introduce this type of lore to young readers. It makes the subject matter easy to approach & easily comparable to the modern pantheon of heroes that we currently have in comic books.

I find this book doesn't focus as much on Aphrodite as it does the dynamic of power. This book deals more with the main character figuring out where she fits in with her immortal family. It also examines the wielding of power & how Aphrodite uses it to prove herself worthy to walk among the pantheon. It's a good story, but I feel that we're missing certain aspects of the goddess. In some ways, it's a very sympathetic, white-washed picture of the character. Aphrodite could be a jealous & possessive goddess. Perhaps if the story of Cupid and Psyche were incorporated into the book it would have given the entire novel more balance.

All in all, this is an excellent read. Colors are used dynamically in each panel to make the story come alive & the art is consistent. At around 80 pages, this story is a touch short in length, but it's a good read.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

As he has done with all the other earlier titles in his Olympian series, George O'Connor tackles the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. Not only does he portray her beauty--she's stunning in every way--but also her imperfections and carelessness. By explaining her origins, he allows readers to make sense of the complicated relationships among the gods and goddesses. His notes explain how he decided to tackle the matter of three powerful women fighting for a golden apple. For him, the question was more one of power than beauty, and putting Paris in the unenviable position of choosing the woman most deserving of that apple sets readers up to find out more about the Trojan War and Helen, the woman upon whom Paris becomes obsessed. This is a marvelous, highly-accessible retelling of a classic myth. I was particularly impressed with how O'Connor manages to characterize the politically savvy Zeus and the other gods and goddesses in only a couple of panels.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

No matter what retelling of Aphrodite I come across, I still don't like her at all. She's such a little bitch. She has her moments of decency but for the most part, she's an egotistical maniac. I honestly think she's even worse then Zeus. I still liked the story and art and all that, but I couldn't help but wish that some other god/goddess had taken the spotlight for this volume of the series. Literally anyone else who have been more tolerable than Aphrodite.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this is not my favorite of the series, it is an interesting and viable addition to a fabulous series. I love the look of Aphrodite and the stories O'Connor picked are decent. I wish he'd included Eros and Psyche because it's my favorite, but there is only so much that one can add to a book. I will definitely buy this one.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley. Thanks!

[Nickcole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 5

As always I'm in love with this series. The stories are so fun to read about and I like that you get a little info about them in the end. The art again was incredible and Aphrodite story was a great read. I really liked his version on how she was born and what she did with her godly powers. I can't wait to get my hands on Apollo's book.

[Mary Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just in time for Valentines Day--the quintessential story of love and jealousy.

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed these books basically as a whole on the boxed set.

[jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now this is familiar stuff. I don’t even recall the number of times I’ve read, heard or seen the stories included in this volume. And there are some real gems here. The controversial birth and arrival of Aphrodite. Her wedding to Hephaistos. The springing of Eros really from nowhere, when was really there all along. The beauty pageant of the gods that Paris presides over, which in turn sets in motion events that will lead to the Trojan War. Yep, some really classical stuff here (if you’ll pardon the pun).

[Honor #literallyslayqueen ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨]

This is my favourite olympians book! Mother o mother I’m dieing. Eros what’s wrong? There was a little fuzzy thing in the bush! That was a bee 🐝 Eros
Let’s go to mount Olympus and find something for the hurt

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting about how she came to be.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful graphic novel with lots of information I hadn't known previously about our lovely Aphrodite

[Nil Deniz Tufekci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mitolojiyi seviyorum. Bu kitabı bir arkadaşım önermişti. Ben de okudum ve sevdim. Çizgi roman ve mitoloji seviyorsanız tavsiye ederim.

[Clara:) Dueck]

Super good. I introduced my little sister to these book and she loves them so much