Audiobook Review: Blood of Troy (Daughter of Sparta #2)

Author: Claire M. Andrews

Narrators: Brittany Pressley

Audiobook Length: 14 hours 13 minutes

The sequel to Daughter of Sparta thrusts warrior Daphne and her love interest, the Olympian god Apollo, into the middle of the Trojan War in an epic YA fantasy reimagining of Greek mythology.

A year after saving the powers of Olympus by defeating Nyx, the Goddess of Darkness, Daphne is haunted by still-looming threats, her complicated feelings for the god Apollo, and the promise she made to the Olympian gods that she would help them again when they called upon her. When their command finally comes, it is deceptively simple: secure herself a spot as one of Queen Helen’s guards.

A war is coming, and all of Sparta must be prepared.

In the midst of a treaty summit among the monarchs of Greece, Daphne and Helen uncover a plot of betrayal—and soon, a battle begins that leads to all-out war. As the kingdoms of Greece clash on the shores of Troy and the gods choose sides, Daphne must use her wits, her training, and her precarious relationship with Apollo to find a way to keep her queen safe, stop the war, and uncover the true reason the gods led her to Troy. But the gods are keeping more than one secret, and Daphne will be forced to decide how far she is willing to go to save those she loves—and whose side she’s on in a war that is prophesized to be the downfall of her people.

Find It On: Goodreads / Amazon

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When I first read Daughter of Sparta last year, I was unsure of how many novels would appear in the series. The first story ended with some wrap-up yet with enough open-endedness to lead to the sequel. I am thrilled that this seems to finally be announced as a trilogy with the final novel, Storm of Olympus, coming out in 2023. While I try to read series as objectively as possible no matter how many novels, I tend to read them slightly differently if I know exactly how they fit into the entire series. As Blood of Troy is the middle novel, it does have a different feel compared to it being a second out of four or even a concluding novel. This series continues to give a nice take on a retelling of Daphne and Apollo while also providing a new take on the Trojan War.

As the synopsis states, this story follows Daphne a year after her initial time serving Olympus with Nyx, the Goddess of Darkness. As this timeline falls during the Trojan War, all the familiar players are there. Andrews does take some liberties with the known tales to fit her narrative. The characters and events do make sense in the series bubble, but it may not work for all readers who would prefer it stick closer to the other tales. The mythological timeline and character roles are changed for some known figures and kept the same for others, which are all at the author’s discretion, so, again, this may not fit with every reader. For me, I am very familiar with the original and prefer a lot from it, but I read this story more as a separate entity. This may work for some readers, but I can see how it would not for others.

Throughout this installment, there is a sort of cat and mouse type dynamic between Daphne and Apollo. There is a lot of tension between them, but not a lot of follow-throughs due to circumstances in the story. Daphne is determined to be a great warrior and is entangled in the Trojan War. As for Apollo, he is haunted by his past mistakes and his potential future. Both are involved in the Trojan War in their own way, and I loved the focus on Daphne and her connection with Helen. Overall, this was an enjoyable addition to the series. There is some wrap-up with elements of the plot, but there is still a lot of unfinished business for the final novel to address.