The High Court

Book Details:

Book Title: The High Court by Chris Ledbetter
Category: YA Fiction, 290 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Month 9 Books
Release date: October 16, 2018
Tour dates: April 1 to 30, 2019
Content Rating: PG (some profanity (damn, ass), no f-bombs, some kissing, no sex scenes, some violence, nothing gory or graphic)

Book Description:

High atop Mount Olympus, dawn breaks on a new academic term. Normalcy has returned to campus following a harrowing expedition into The Underworld to rescue kidnapped students by Zeus and his fellow Olympians. Now, as they prepare to testify in The High Court, Hyperion will be tried for the attack on Crete and death of Anytos. Kronos will stand trial for the murder of Mount Olympus Prep’s Headmaster Ouranos.

As the trials draw near, Mount Olympus Prep students and faculty are besieged repeatedly by a race of gargantuan stone and earth giants. Under heavy assault, the Olympians are forced to flee to the volcanic island of Limnos to regroup. Meanwhile, a toxic poison Zeus has carried with him since a prior fight with a dragoness, creeps toward his brain.

In a race against time and beasts, Zeus and his friends must find a way to survive not only the toxin ravaging Zeus’ body, but also the giants who grow stronger after every attack, and somehow make it to the The High Court alive.

Book Review:

This is the second book of the Sky Throne series, and I would say it is not a standalone book.  Had I not read the first book, I don’t know that I would have been able to follow the action or understood the backstory.  However, I definitely recommend reading the first book, so it should be no problem.

So, in this installment, we catch up with Zues and the gang at the start of a new school term, which adds to the young adult/high school feel of this book.  There are some new characters in this book, not the least of which is Aphrodite.  I will say, though, that this brings about one of my few pet peeves of these books.  I don’t get the nicknames.  After the first few pages, Aphrodite is referred to as Aphro, and it takes me away from the mythical godlike feeling of the story.  Maybe that’s on purpose, but I wanted to keep a little bit of that feeling with me.

I really enjoyed the creatures and fights in High Court, not to mention the poison.  The scene in which Zues begins to feel the effects of the toxin is so well written, that I was able to vividly imagine the entire scene.  As with the previous book, you have a group of heroes fighting who you are rooting for.  I love getting the behind the scenes look at Greek mythology all while reading a thoroughly entertaining and accessible tale of young love and leadership.  It’s strange that a book can make me relate to a greek god, but I remember being a teenager, and parts of this book really resinated with me.

This was a really great followup to a terrific first book of the series.  Keep them coming!

To read reviews, please visit Chris Ledbetter’s page of iRead Book Tours.

Chris Ledbetter is an award-winning author of short fiction and novels for young adults. “Jason’s Quest,” a short story retelling of the Jason and Medea Greek myth was published in the anthology, Greek Myths Revisited. His first full-length novel, Drawn earned him two awards, Library of Clean Reads Best YA 2015 and Evernight Publishing Readers’ Choice Award Best YA 2015, as well as a USA TODAY “Must Read” recommendation. His second novel, Inked, concludes that duology. The Sky Throne is his newest young adult series. It includes, thus far, The Sky Throne and The High Court.