Much as I adore the Persephone-Hades myth -- indeed, it's one of my favorite stories -- I did not enjoy this this book at all. Twice now I've sat down to read it, twice now I gave up in profound annoyance. Something about Gellis's writing style -- the thick, overly romanticized quality -- bothered me so much that it persistently distracted me from the story. I tried to like this, I really did. Until I accepted that I shouldn't have to try. ( )

Greek myth redone as a fantasy romance, with the Olympians really just very long-lived mages. Same set-up as Bull God, but that seems to have been marketed as fantasy and this as romance. I'd like to know what the mages really are: the reference to common people as 'natives' suggests they're aliens, and I think there was something in Bull God about their arrival... But the common people can have mage-gifts, too, and Ariadne was made long-lived. Maybe one of Gellis's other books explains it better.I really liked the touch of making Demeter a suffocatingly overprotective mother, calling her daughter Kore (girl) instead of naming her, refusing to allow her any independent life. That was implicit in the myth all along, and it's nicely developed here.

Dazzling Brightness is a retelling of the Hades-Persephone myth. We see the transformation of Kore, the sheltered daughter of the Corn Goddess, into the powerful goddess Persephone. We also see the interaction of Olympian rivalries most vividly in this book - Zeus versus Poseidon, Poseidon versus Hades, Demeter versus Zeus and Hades. For me, the love story in this book also worked most compellingly. I could believe in Persephone falling in love with Hades, as he taught her the full extent of her powers *and* allowed her to use them without asking anything in return. By the end, when Hades and Persephone come to terms with her mother Demeter, I could believe that this was a couple that was truly in love, and that they fully deserved each other.

Roberta Gellis is a gem of a writer. she carved out her own niche and I don't think anyone could come close to her level of expertise. ( )