It's from this discord, and Kiya’s new idea, that the future of humanity rises, as this first family, soon cast out of the clan, claims the name Titans. Kiya makes another declaration, this one more clearly rousing: “Let us raise ourselves to the pinnacle of success, a family overflowing with riches to share with all who ask.” Wammack’s brisk novel charts the Titans’ rise, from the founding of the city of Tartarus to the building of great legacies, the narrative always reflecting the foundational stories it draws from but also emphasizing the human, even when the names of the next generation of Titans will pique the interest of any student of ancient myth: Cronos, “born perfect in every respect,” and who will eventually “groan” as he “deliver[s] Zeus into Rhea.”

Wammack’s demystifying approach makes familiar generational shifts—from Titans to Olympians like Zeus, Hera, Hades, and Demeter—feel both inevitable and surprising, and his treatment of Oceanids and Gigantes, solstices and battles, and the Great Library of Olympus (home of “all knowledge known to humanity”) always center one powerful idea: at the heart of these stories are people, just like us.

Takeaway: Swift, deeply human imagining of the dawn of the Olympians.

Comparable Titles: Mary Lefkowitz’s Greek Gods, Human Lives, Steven Mithen’s After the Ice.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A