This sixth book completes the first half of the planned 12 titles in the Olympians series, and George O'Connor holds to the high bar he set from the start.
He begins with a bit of a reprise of the start of Zeus, explaining the birth of the Titans through to Kronos, father of Zeus. This essential background comes into play for Aphrodite, whose beginnings differ slightly from the other Olympians (she is from the "portion of Ouranos [the sky, mate to Gaea, the earth]... that had housed his own eros"). The central events here revolve around the stories of Pygmalion (in which Aphrodite grants life to a statue of a beautiful woman, made by a sculptor who falls in love with it) and the related tale of the Golden Apple, to be awarded to "the most beautiful one." Zeus wisely evades acting as judge, and the decision falls to poor Paris to select Hera, Athena or Aphrodite. Guess who he chooses? And Aphrodite in turn gives him "love in your heart" for Helen of Troy. And most readers will know where that leads. As Zeus puts it, "that is a tale for another day."
The king of the gods is at his sagest in this installment, marrying off the gorgeous Aphrodite to his kindhearted but coarse and unattractive son, Hephaistos, in order to keep the peace, and welcoming Aphrodite as his daughter, to keep Zeus's own desires at bay. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness