The Gatekeeper's Sons

Fifteen-year-old Therese watches her parents die. While in a coma, she meets the twin sons of Hades—Hypnos, the god of sleep, and Thanatos, the god of death. She thinks she's manipulating a dream, not kissing the god of death and totally rocking his world.
Than makes a deal with Hades and goes as a mortal to the Upperworld to try and win Therese's heart, but not all the gods are happy. Some give her gifts. Others try to kill her.
The deal requires Therese to avenge the death of her parents. With the help of Than’s fierce and exotic sisters, the Furies, she finds herself in an arena face to face with the murderer, and only one will survive.

Pic and description are from Goodreads.com

My Review

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

   I love nothing more than a great series that I can really sink my teeth in to and I think this series will end up being one of my favorites.   The Gatekeeper's Sons draws you in right from the start and has enough twists and turns to keep you enthralled all the way to the end.  Not to mention building a love story that is so powerful but at the same time remains innocent enough for a young adult book.

  The book starts out with the murder of Therese’s parents and Therese’s near death experience.  In this book the traditional Western view of heaven and hell have been replaced by the Greek myth of the afterlife.   In the Greek tradition souls of the deceased are escorted by Thanatos, or Death as he is sometimes called, to the underworld where they are transported for judgment and placement in to paradise or in to ‘hell’ where they are tormented forever.  When Therese’s parents are killed she is close enough to death herself that she is able to follow the souls of her parents to the underworld.  Therese believes she is dreaming the entire thing so when she meets Hip (Hypnos, god of dreams) and his brother Thanatos (Than for short) she has no problem being forward and she wraps Than in a huge hug and gives him a big kiss.  No big deal for the girl that is dreaming but to Than that kiss changes his world completely.  Than’s job as Death means that he rarely has any interaction with anyone other than dead souls and Charon, the man who ferries the souls down the river.  Suddenly Than feels drawn to Therese and know that he wants to always be near her.  He gets his father, Hades, to allow him to travel to the mortal world in order to win Therese’s love.

   I had so much fun reading about all of Than’s experiences of being mortal.  You can’t help but feel sorry for him because of his destiny.  What a horrible existence he must have had before Therese came in to his life.  Imagine an eternity of escorting the dead to the underworld and living there.  Than describes it almost like living in a cave, no suns, no stars, no wind, nothing that we humans take for granted.  You long for him to be with Therese so that he can finally have some joy in his life. 

  Therese is like the perfect girl that doesn’t know how great she is.  She is always more worried about others, loves animals and nature and is so giving and loving.  It is no wonder Than wants to be with her.  She is such a great person that she ends up garnering the favor of many on Mount Olympus and most of the gods and goddesses are rooting for her and Than to get together.  Between her the strange experiences Than brings in to her life and the drama of her parents murder her life becomes very interesting but Therese is able to see how strong she can be and continues to fight for her and Than to be together and for the safety of her family.

  There was only one thing that I did not completely love about the book and that is Than’s sisters, The Furies.  Anyone that knows anything about Greek mythology will know how scary The Furies are and this book does not disappoint when it comes to these characters.  The Furies are sent to earth to help find out who killed Therese’s parents.  They do not operate under any rules when hunting down criminals so their methods of gaining information can be a bit intense and disturbing.  They do get the job done quite easily with these methods so I do see why the author chose to write their encounters the way she does.  Just know that these scenes may be a little intense for younger teen readers.

   I have been given book two to read and review also so I am anxiously waiting to get in to the book.  It is killing me that I have other books lined up first but I am trying to be a good girl and read those first even though book two is calling to me.  Keep a watch out for that review as I am sure I will love book two just as much if not more.

Parent's Guide:  Very mild language during a few parts of the book.  Therese talks about being physically drawn to Than but nothing bad.  The Furies use some disturbing and scary tactics to elicit responses from the criminals they interrogate, which may be a bit much for sensitive or young readers.