The Shadow Thieves (The Cronus Chronicles) by Anne Ursu

What does it mean if the myths of ancient Greece are true? What if the Underworld is as they describe, with the kinds of gods and demi-gods and such like in charge?

The main characters journey to the Underworld to save their friends from death. They manage to not eat the food and come back unscathed. Their relationship (they are cousins) grows and they learn to grow up and take responsibility, tell the truth and trust each other. It's got a funky kind of touch and doesn't feel stodgy.

I like this book because it takes the Underworld seriously, and uses this motif to consider what it means to be dead and alive. It doesn't sugar coat the unattractiveness of the Greek Underworld, nor idealise its main characters. I thought Ursu painted well the meaningless of life in the Underworld, the static existence with no future, the sense of 'greyness', the arid, empty world of death. It's awful. It's faithful to the myths. The unspoken conclusion has to be that life is worth holding onto at all costs because there is just empty meaningless floating waiting, if the Greeks were right. And it is useful because it does demonstrate that what you believe happens after you die changes how you live.

If you are going to die and face an eternity of nothingness, meaningless floating about if you manage to get a coin and get over the Styx, then what you do in life is suck as much as you can get, because there is nothing much to look forward to. Specifically there's nothing relationally to look forward to. All you've got is a very individual existence with no connections. It's a bit sad.

But if you die and you have relationships, whether they are harrowing or pure delight, then life now is different. The value we place on people and our investment in them, if we are Christian is a glimpse of a life to come: where this world is the 'grey' existence (compared to the next) and where the joy we have from relationships will prosper in the hereafter when our (and their) selfishness is finally removed. That is the Christian hope: that our relationships with God and each other will reach their zenith and continue uninterrupted by any ill or evil forever. It's a hope that is worth living for, and looking forward to. Death isn't the end. The best we can hope for isn't just being turned into a cat so we can continue to somehow be part of our loved ones' lives. (Should have put a spoiler alert in there. Oops).

This is one of the more compelling, well rounded stories in the young teenager age bracket. It would suit 12-14 year old children, I think. 3/5 stars.