The Eye of Zeus follows Phoebe Katz as she ventures to Olympus in order to save a long time friend and parental figure with her friends. It is a fast-paced, bold adventure, with mythology, monsters, and lots of fighting.

I really enjoyed this book, it follows a female main character battling monsters to save a friend, destroying almost everything else around her to to do so. She is strong, stubborn and brave, but mostly stubborn and resilient for being a foster kid of so long. The book is action packed and takes Greek mythology tales and turns them on their heads a bit.

This is the first book in a series and it starts so quickly, you meet Phoebe and then she starts getting attacked almost immediately. Luckily she has two friends to help her, Angie and Damian. Angie is always hungry and a great character for comic relief in the rough times, and Damian is a know it all, which actually comes in really handy in order to defeat monsters. There are even a few demigods that help as well.

So why only 4 stars and not 5, well.... this book it eerily similar to Percy Jackson, which is fine because I enjoyed that one a lot too. This book does change a few key things but there were a lot of very striking similarities throughout.

Overall, if you or your children enjoyed Percy Jackson, this would be a great read. I think it could resonate more with girls, as it is a girl main character and let's be realistic, as a female sometimes I wish there were more books with brave, battling female main characters like this one had. I appreciate it even though the tale is similar.

A thrilling read where Phoebe Katz, abandoned in New York as a child, discovers her destiny on Olympus as a daughter of Zeus. This book made me look up a number of the stories of Greek gods and mythology, and would be perfect for children 8+ who have been learning about this topic. The only reservation I have is that the language is very American, and I found the dialogue quite grating, so I probably wouldn't choose it to read aloud to a class in the UK. However, I'd definitely recommend it to fans of Percy Jackson etc.

Unfortunately I struggled to get invested in this and won't be finishing it. While it wasn't for me, there's definitely a lot of potential in the concept and the main character's strong voice and personality is something that I'm sure other readers will be drawn to and appreciate.

11 yo review= POSSIBLE SPOILERS - This book is about a young girl that has been in foster care all her life. Her name is Phoebe Katz and she seems to have paranormal abilities.
After a two-headed dog appears at her school and a statue of Atlas starts talking to her, she realises something is up. When her carer Carl is kidnapped, Phoebe has to destroy Olympus to save him.

I thought the idea was a little done, orphan girl with power but doesn't know it, but as the book progressed, the plot became more interesting, making the book more enjoyable. I loved the friendship between Macario and Phoebe (plus her loyal friends Damian and Angie) and how phoebe would do anything for Carl, the person who found her on the street. I loved the characters in the story and found myself really connecting with them. I also enjoyed the illustrations.

4.5/5 stars