Dark Restraint by Katee Robert
Dark Olympus #7
Retellings/Contemporary Fantasy
August 6, 2024- Sourcebooks
ARC

Review by Angela

This series is hit or miss for me. Some of the main characters and pairings I love and some not so much. I keep coming back over and over again because I’m enjoying the ongoing series plot arc and really need to find out what happens. I’m also determined to get to Hera and Zeus’s book.

This is Ariadne and the Minotaur’s story and it’s really a tale of obsession and dark love. Ariadne is a brilliant, bright woman stuck in a family of men who are fixated with growing their power and bringing down Olympus. In the last book she defected to the lower city and enlisted the help of Hades and Hera. In exchange for protection and their help with ending her pregnancy, she agrees to give up all of her father’s secret plans on bringing down the barrier around Olympus and the identity of his conspirators. She agrees to a marriage of convenience with Dionysus, but she knows Asterion, the Minotaur, will come for her sooner or later.

This book felt darker than the previous installments, which is saying something. Asterion is very much an anti-hero, and his only redemption is his love for Ariadne. Despite Ariadne leaving home, giving up her father’s secrets, and making a deal with the Olympians, Asterion only wants her and is willing to play the long game–making side deals with multiple people– in order to keep her safe. It takes her quite a while to realize that he’s not the puppet of her father that she thinks he is.

While the relationship between them was just okay for me, I am fascinated by the political and personal relationships between the entire cast of characters. I find myself on the edge of my seat when reading these books, trying to figure out how it will all end. In this installment the wall finally comes down and readers learn that Hera and Hermes seem to be playing a different game than everyone else. I’m not quite sure what is going on, and where the chips will fall when everything finally plays out. The next book is sure to be exciting as it will feature Poseidon and Icarus. I have no idea how they will fit in with all the political intrigue, but you can bet I am going to find out.

Grade- C+