Pegasus: Olympus at War

Pegasus #2

by Kate O'Hearn

originally published in Great Britain in 2011 as Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus. 389 pages fantasy and adventure

Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Middle Grade, Adventure, Magic, Fiction, Young Adult

389 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Kate O'Hearn was born in Toronto Canada, but raised in the heart of New York City and has lived in many places throughout her life. These days, she calls the south coast of England home. She has 3 brothers, no sisters and is passionate about animals and their causes and has many animal friends. (Pets)

Over the course of her life she has had several careers before finding her real love, writing children's books. Being the only girl in family of boys, she grew up a true tom-boy and always loved books with high adventure. But one of the problems she discovered was a lack of female leads in these adventure books.

When she started to write, Kate decided to address this imbalance and now writes high fantasy adventures with strong, compassionate and adventure loving girl heroes. There are plenty of boys in the story to keep it interesting and challenging, but she believes that a girl hero can be as brave, strong and adventurous as a boy.

She insists that adventures are for everyone!

So come and enjoy a few adventures with her...

Reviews

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars!
I have to say this one was a little bit better than the first one. I thought it was more interesting and more excitement to the story. It was also more detailed I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.

[Ashley Catelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been many years since I have read this, but I know I loved it when I was younger, so I hope it deserves the four stars I am giving it.

[Anna Sobczak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful! Just like the first,beautiful.

[Keidy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read the first book of this series called "Pegasus: The Flame of Olympus" and this first book showed a lot of promise. The lead heroine Emily was a can-do girl and nothing will stop her from protecting what she believed is right and her friends and family. I gave this first book a lot of slack especially with the lack of villain complexity (the villains were very black and white to a cartoony level) and lack of depth in the story and characters as not only is this a first book of a series but one targeted to grade school kids. I knew if I was a young girl in fifth grade I would have adored this kind of story and probably would have re-read it several times.

Sadly, the potential of "Pegasus: Olympus at War" never did measure up to what I was hoping for. I was very irritated by the back seat that Emily, who was the leading lady, was placed into time and again. While her male friends were doing all of the dangerous legwork, they constantly pushed down Emily to a damsel-in-distress position and that irritated me to no end. I'm a big fan of strong female characters, and kid or no, Emily's most recent character changes from book one to book two was a huge let down. In fact, until the very end of the book I was not inspired by her place in the story at all. I understand she had to go through some changes with her newest role but it was done in such an extremely passive way that Emily's character was totally killed for me.

One good thing about this second book though was that the villains were finally put in a more complex light. Not too cartoony nor black and white and regained much of that complexity that I was starving for in the first book. The supporting characters also had more complexity as they grew to more than what they were, particularly Joel who is the only human in their adventuring party.

However, the big negative was the development of Emily who should be more important since the story is about her and I honestly can't forgive her for being so passive throughout the majority of the story. I was honestly excited to read this second book after the first but now that I have read it, I can honestly say that I will not be reading the third upcoming book in this series. There are some "Independent Readers" books that are enjoyable to read for both kids and adults like the Harry Potter books or the Percy Jackson books. This book series is sadly not one of them.

[Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ομολογώ πως το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο ήταν μεγάλη έκπληξη. Αυτό οφείλεται κυρίως στο γεγονός πως δεν περίμενα τόσο δραματική εξέλιξη από το ένα μέρος του saga στο άλλο. Συνήθως, η δόμηση της πλοκής σε αυτού του είδους τις ιστορίες γίνεται με τρόπο πιο αργό και μεθοδευμένο. Ωστόσο, το αποτέλεσμα μόνο κακό δεν είναι, αλλά ούτε και βεβιασμένο. Αντίθετα, βοηθάει στο να μπορεί πολύ πιο εύκολα, να διαβάσει τη σειρά και κάποιος μεγαλύτερος σε ηλικία αναγνώστης, κάτι που δεν ίσχυε για το πρώτο βιβλίο καθότι εξαιρετικά παιδικό, ίσως και αφελές στα σημεία. Αλλά το μεγάλο προτέρημα, και σε αυτό νομίζω πως πρέπει να συμφωνεί και η πλειοψηφία του αναγνωστικού κοινού, είναι το ότι έχουμε πέραν από μια αξιοθαύμαστη ηρωίδα, αξιοθαύμαστους κακούς με ισχυρές προσωπικότητες, που απολαμβάνεις το πόσο σατανικοί είναι, τις πράξεις τους αλλά και τα κίνητρα που οδηγούν σε αυτές.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book of Pegasus, Olympus at war, is about a girl named Emily who is the Flame of Olympus. Ever since Pegasus first landed on Emily's apartment roof her world changed forever. The olympian gods are real. In Emily's and Pegasus’s first adventure the olympians where losing a war between the Nirads and were soon defeated. Emily, with the help of her new friends. Joel and Paelen, they defeated the Nirads and freed Olympus. Now everyone is at peace, but not Emily, she’s anxious to go back to earth to free her father from the CRU. Jupiter is afraid of losing Emily, the Flame of Olympus, he forbids Emily from going back to Earth. But Emily does know a winged friend who can help.

I found this book really interesting because it was a new way of combining ancient greek and modern time. It really caught my attention with all the action and excitement. I had to put the book down once or twice to calm myself. There were some parts I found a little slow, but not for long, this book kept me feeling excited throughout it. I feel like this book has more action to it then no action, I feel like this book was a little slow at the beginning, but as I read through it got more exciting. There weren't any parts I didn’t like but if there were I think they were necessary. I like the authors perspective of how she presented the world in this book and how magical it was. This book made me feel a lot of emotion, this book definitely got my attention when I first opened it.

I think the theme of the book is about how when Pegasus entered into Emily's life it changed forever. And how Emily had to learn how to control her emotions of fear and anger, especially for everyone she loved. Emily knew she had a big responsibility from being the Flame of olympus. Instead of keeping her powers a secret she told her friends, who helped her gain control over her powers.

[☀️Carden☀️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still find it hard to believe that I finished this book, but it’s not a surprise there.

I mean this book series is amazing. It’s very fast paced and the plot keeps you hooked. There’s nothing that makes you want to pause or stop, because the action is always just pushing the story along.

Also, I love Emily and Pegasus. Both of them are amazing, and she’s just a kind girl who wants to protect those she loves. She has a big heart, and she’s one of my favorite characters.

I find the mythological stuff weird- and this book series does a weird take on them. They are divine gods, but aliens also exist alongside with them, and…it’s not really true in the mythological sense, but it’s close enough. Most of this book is Emily trying to save herself from the gorgons and stuff.

[Kent Freeze · Rating 1 out of 5]

Second book in the series. I read it to my daughters, who continue to love it, but it is pretty terrible.

There are 4 more books in the series, but in a merciful turn of events the next book is not at my local library.

[Julianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book just as much as I enjoyed the first one. It had an amazing plot line and did a great job continuing with the world building and character development. I can’t wait to start the next one.

[Hazel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully sweet and easy book to read.

[divergent.shakespeare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Słabe 3⭐ strasznie nie podoba mi się, że bogowie olimpijscy są przedstawieni jako mili i łagodni - wyobrażam sobie ich jako egoistow o wybuchowych charakterach, surowych i konsekwentnych, budzących strach i respekt u ludzi. Książka strasznie daje mi klimat 2016 roku i wattpada (nie tylko przez okładkę), jednak zamysł na serię jest świetny, mega sie w nią wciągnęłam i na pewno sięgnę po dalsze części.
Mogę być też surowa w ocenie bo wychowałam się na książkach Riordana, które wielbię i ubóstwiam do dnia dzisiejszego, a seria daje podobny klimat.

[Riya B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Emily, I really do, but she can be stupid at times. Very stupid. I understand she loves her dad, but if my Mom were there I would find a plan that makes sure she makes it out alive, not do some impromptu run! I do understand she was desperate but still. Emily, hun, you gotta control yourself.

I do love the book, I just didn't find the spark that I feel when I'm reading a book that draws me closer to it. Not my favorite and it's not something that I would go all Gaga for.

[Benny Hardin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Nirads aren’t evil,the Gordon’s are! I found out who started the war,it was the Gordons,not the Nirads! Poor 1 armed Joel he lost his arm! Emily has cool powers that are life saving and very helpful for others. She even has a neat handkerchief that’s stores her one power!

[Lillian's Lovely Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend this series to anyone who liked the KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES books ! It's on a simpler level but still fun and enjoyable !

[Candria DSouza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-paced and Captivating

This book will make you feel compelled to read it cover-to-cover, telling a story about the Flame of Olympus and Pegasus, and it is the second book in the series. From the moment Pegasus fell on the roof of her apartment building, she was caught in a battle to help save Olympus and its Olympians. Living on Mount Olympus with the friends she made in the previous book and Pegasus, Emily misses her father who is captured and the prisoner of a government agency back on Earth. The agency, (the CRU), kept Emily, Pegasus, her father, Diana (an Olympian, daughter of Jupiter), and her other friends captive on Governors Island. My favorite part of the book is when Emily breaks out of the stone that the gorgons put around her and everybody else. All the other books in the series are about the Flame of Olympus and Pegasus. Pegasus and the Flame of Olympus feel a special connection between them and sometimes, the Flame can tell what Pegasus wants to tell her by looking into his eyes. The theme of this book could probably be peace. It is a mix of Roman mythology and modern day. The story is intended for 4th through 8th grades and the number of pages for each chapter varies. This story is character-driven. This book is similar to Rick Riordan’s series’ also because they both share Roman mythology. And on the cover of all the Pegasus books, there is a review from Rick Riordan, “A winning mix of modern adventure and classic fantasy.” And I agree with my favorite author on this. On a scale of one through five, I would rate it 4 stars.

Cross-posted from my blog: Swirlingtides.blogspot.com

[Wynee Igel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in reading about what happens. The author continues to add twists in the plot as well as the main character, Emily. The dilemma of wanting to do something, but not really knowing what to do as well as can't for the good of the group is something many kids can relate to. She's certainly imperfect and young readers can relate to.

[Kate Collier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Roman and Greek Mythology and this made my day when reading. It has such an amazing storyline and characters that I truly loved. I love this book and can always sit down with it and reread it.

[Kotlc/Games · Rating 5 out of 5]

soo good my fave out of all of them the end fight omg and I love everything just
such a good book. I LOVE THIS ONE SOOO MUCH AND SO GOOD JUST AMAZING

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I took this book out of the library I did not realise that it was the second part of a three-part series, and that one really needed to have read the first part in order to be able to follow of this one. Take this as a caution: this review is based on an incomplete knowledge of the story.

The story opens with Emily in Olympus, which is ruled by Jupiter, who won't allow her to go to New York to rescue her father from the CRU, "a secret government agency obsessed with capturing aliens" -- which sounds just like ICE, and probably is. She arranges with Pegasus, the winged horse, to fly her to New York to rescue her father. Pegasus is always referred to as "the stallion", lest anyone doubt his masculinity. In the end she is accompanied by three other friends, Joel, who appears to be a human from New York, Cupid, and Phaelen, who is not really described, but seems to be a bit like an octopus, able to squeeze into small spaces. and swans around with winged sandals, a gift of Mercury.

Emily is also the Flame of Olympus, which means she has a tendency to set herself and other things on fire. She also had a gammy leg, which is in a golden brace made by Vulcan. The injury was apparently caused by Nirads in New York, and the Nirads are apparently allergic to gold. The Nirads appear to be a threat to Olympus, and have sharp teeth and four arms.

I suppose a lot of this must have been explained in the first book of the series. The denizens of Olympus appear to be roughly based on the gods of Greek and Italian classical antiquity, with some, like Jupiter, Diana and Cupid having their Latin names, while others, like Apollo, have their Greek names. In the story, however, they appear to behave more like superheroes than deities.

In some ways the story is chillingly prophetic. It was first published in 2011, long before anyone imagined that Donald Trump would ever become president of the USA, with ICE as the fearsome government agency like the CRU in the book. But I could never really feel enough sympathy for the characters to really care what happened to them, partly because there always appeared to be some previously unmentioned superpower that could rescue them at the last minute before disaster, or even at the next minute, after the disaster had occurred.

[Andrew Brassington · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm just going to make it clear that this book is not aimed at me, a late-20s non-horse appreciator. I was given this book as a blind date with a book gift. And hoo boy, where do I even begin with a book like this? From the author's introductory note, begging us to stop the tourist horse mobility trade, to the constant thrum of PG-13 bestiality, Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus is a one-of-a-two-kind book (the second of a quadrilogy, holy shit) that entertained me for all of the wrong reasons.
My favourite quote sums it up: "She imagined she was a giant vacuum cleaner sucking up a pile of flour on the floor. Only this wasn't flour she was collecting, but the raging power of the sun." Jupiter wept.
This kind of over-explanation and lack of subtlety runs rampant across 350 pages crammed with an ensemble cast of a winged horse, homophobic Cupid, two men/boys that are just there, gorgons, a knock-off CIA, and a horsegirl void lead character named Emily. This book really does have it all. And maybe it shouldn't.

[EllaB Red · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites in the series

[Jaci · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of all time! I feel very nostalgic reading it I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes Roman Mythology

[Kauã Brasil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livro excelente

[Tiasia Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't think that I would come to love these books as much as Rick Riordan's books. Just pick up these books and readdddddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Serendipity Sterling · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS SERIES IS THE BEST SERIES IN THE WORLD!!! I LOVE IT!

[Joey O'Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in the early part of my school year in October. It's a really good book for kids who like to learn about the greek/roman myths. I liked this book a lot because of this reason. This is the second book of the series, but it follows really well with the first book. The author message throughout the book series I believe is to say that people can be evil to things they don't understand.

[Asavari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review for my 1 Year, 100 Books Challenge. For more info visit here

Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus by Kate O'Hearn is the sequel to Pegasus and the Flame and if you haven't read my review for that read it here at http://individualbutnothipster.blogspot.com/2012/01/1-year-100-books-challenge-pegasus-and.html because I don't want to repeat stuff.

The Characters:
Emily - Stayed pretty much the same as she was at the end of Pegasus and the Flame. She's got some new troubles now because of her new status. She didn't have as much action as I wanted her to have, since she kept on being left behind at the Red Apple with Pegs while the rest of the gang is going on missions. She's still a great heroine that is compassionate, caring, and likeable.

Joel - Joel has really grown since the start of the 1st book, he no longer has anger management issues, and is more caring, brave and observant. He is really quite an asset for the team now.

Cupid - Although I missed Diana, Cupid made quite a good addition to the team. I liked how he was a teenager rather than a little cherub (I did not pick up this book to read about babysitting adventures!). He was funny (in a laugh at him kind of way), I don't know about anyone else but I find it funny in TV shows and animes when there is this one really hot character who everyone else just swoons and acts all squee-ish and stupid around and this hot guy/girl can kind of manipulate them to get his way (Justin from Total Drama, Aido from Vampire Knight), well Cupid was one of those kind of characters. I liked how he could charm people into falling head-over-heels in love with him, and that made Agent T totally funny too. Cupid was quite a wimp at times though.

Paelen - He's still the same cool guy as he was at the end of the previous book, I like how he gets into fights with Cupid.

The Nirads - It's great that the Nirads got some more screen time in this book. I liked their depth and their backstory, Tange and Segan were totally sweet and awesome. I still can't
properly visualize any Nirads in colours other than grey, black, white, and pale green.

The Gorgons - I thought it was great that the Nirads had a reason to attack the Olympians rather than the emotionless killing machines that they seemed to be. The gorgons have an actual reason for wanting to destroy the Olympians. It was also good that people don't turn into stone when they look at them but the Gorgons can choose to turn them into stone when they want to.

Others - It's great that Diana makes a cameo appearance in this since she can't be part of the main cast. Jupiter and Neptune also behave like I would expect them to.

The Plot:
The plot of this story was a good continuation of the plot of Pegasus and the Flame. It flowed well, was coherent and was interesting. It was great to see more of Olympus in this book, especially now that it had been rebuilt and all. It was also interesting to see the world of the Nirads.

The Writing:
The writing stayed pretty much the same as it was in Pegasus and the Flame, so it wasn't much to comment on, but it was fine.

For more of my reviews visit my blog

[Krystyna Andersen]

Personal response

I think this book is an interesting modern take on Roman mythology. It keeps you invested in the characters and makes it worthwhile to follow their stories. I am extremely excited to see where it goes from here.

Plot

Emily is learning to control her powers. Her missing dad on her mind still. She almost kills someone because she cries. Emily gets a cool handkerchief that traps all her tears. She leaves Olympus against Jupiter’s instructions. She goes down to Earth and finds that CRU is still looking for her and Pegasus. She brought Paelen, Joel, Pegasus, and Cupid to Earth.
They need regular clothes, so they went to the Haunted Forest Halloween costume contest. Once they entered Emily had Paelen and Joel steal regular clothes from a employees only trailer. They manage to escape as CRU floods in hearing about a winged horse and a winded boy. They head to an abandoned inn. The man who owns the inn stumbles in on them. He gets knocked out and tied up because they thought he was dangerous. While they waited for him to wake up Paelen and Joel head to the CRU facility and they try to get Emily’s dad out. Joel gets captured by Nirads, who was being kept by the CRU, but her dad makes it out with Paelen.
The Red apple inn gets overrun by Nirads. Emily and Pegasus are captured and brought to Niriad homelands. The Nirads are slaves to Medusa’s two surviving sisters. They have the queen in a gold cage and are controlling them by turning their children to stone. The two sisters want Emily to kill Jupiter once he gets captured. They turn an Olympian, who had been working with them, to stone. Apollo and Diana tried to come and save them but get turned to stone. Emily touched his nose and it started to turn normal again. She had to stop otherwise the sisters would actually kill the Olympian.
Emily, Joel, and the Nirads start making a plan. Joel sneaks out on the other Olympian to tell Paelen of the plan. Paelen meets with Nirads to make a plan of attack. Paelen, Emily’s dad, and Cupid come to the Nirad homeland.
Jupiter comes to the castle that Emily and Joel are trapped in. Emily is put in front of a brushed and battered Jupiter and told to kill him. She refuses and Joel gets turned to stone. Jupiter saves the Nirad queen from being crushed by the imperial gold. Four Nirads go and pick up the top of the gold cage get turned to stone by the Gorgon sisters and Emily kills them.
Once the fighting is done she starts healing all the stone Nirads and when she gets to Joel his arm had been knocked off and when she healed him. He had no arm. She went on to heal everyone she could. The Nirads who had been turned to stone while holding up the gold cage. The gold was poisoning them and they would die if she brought them back. So she left them as stone.



Characterization

Cupid evolves from not caring about humans to at least caring a little bit. He seems like he would use his powers all the time. However, it is the exact opposite that he actually doesn’t like using them a lot. He only uses them if the situation is dire.

Emily has grown to be less afraid of her powers and learn to control them more. She learns that being afraid of her powers isn’t helping her. She learns what she is and isn't willing to do to save her friends.

Recommendation
I would recommend this book to people who liked the first one. If you enjoy a bit of action this is it. It is a quick read. I think it is for younger teen girls. If you liked Percy Jackson you would probably like this book.

[Tatiana Leon · Rating 5 out of 5]

**This might spoil what has happened in Pegasus #1 The Flame Of Olympus Be aware of this**
I have finally got the second book of the Pegasus series. I am so happy I have got it because it is a book worth buying.
Emily has been on Olympus with Joel and Paelen. Emily's father is in the CRU. The CRU is trying to get information on Emily from Emily's father by touring him for it. Like how they did to Joel, Paelen, Emily and even Diana ( Daughter of Jupiter and the Goddess of hunt and many other things). And Emily is planning to go on her own to find her Father even without Jupiter’s permission. But she is probably going to go with Paelen and Joel.
I’ll give you a brief summary of the first book of the Pegasus series. Emily was chosen to be the Flame of Olympus. But she didn’t know at first . Until when Pegasus (Pegs). Came crashing onto her roof and she learned about the gods. But this triggered the Nirads because they started tracking Emily and Pegs down. And the CRU also noticed something fishy was going on and since the realized that they started going after them or you might say investigating about this. Until the Nirads started coming they began to see the Nirads (are creatures that have four arms and were gray).And they didn't see that everyday. They captured Joel, Paelen, Pegs, Emily and even diana. After they escaped and the fight between the Nirads and the Olympians had calmed down Emily had accepted the fact that she was the Flame of Olympus and had to sacrifice herself for the Olympians (she did it voluntarily so she can save Pegs). But since Emily had sacrificed herself she was reborned from the Flames.
Okay, now you understand what happened in the past . And probably understand why they are torturing Emily's father . But that is not all that is happening in this book. Olympus is under attack again.
By the Nirads or is it even the Nirads.
Maybe or Maybe not.
To Find out read the book.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synopsis: "Reborn as the Flame, Emily has saved Olympus from destruction. The Olympic flame now burns strong, and peace has been restored. But not for long ...When the gruesome Nirads begin a new invasion, Emily and her friends become entangled in the conflict as old grudges are unearthed and new enemies are discovered. And all the while, Emily yearns for her father, still a prisoner of the sinister CRU, somewhere in New York. Join Emily astride the magnificent winged-stallion, Pegasus, as she embarks on a new flight of adventure through worlds both old and new."


My Review: I enjoyed this book, though it got a little slow at times. While it is clear that it is for a young adult audience, at times the content seemed really dark to me, a lot of violence, torture, imprisonment, black mail and manipulation. With that said it is obvious that there was a lot of adventure and action within the story. I must say I became a big fan of Tange and was rather astonished at the ending. I will definitely be reading the next books.