I wanted to like Recreated so much, but I just didn't. The story of Amon and Lily continues from Reawakened. This time Lily must go to the afterlife, specifically the Netherworld, to save Amon before the Devourer finds him and deals him his second death. Lily's connection to Amon through the heart Scarab he gave her at the end of Reawakened allows her to find him both in her dreams and in the Netherworld. Again she has the help of Amon's brothers, Asten and Ahmose, but her connection to the two of them has changed into something that makes Lily very uncomfortable. Perhaps it is her new status as Sphinx, which has given her not only strength and speed, but also the mind of a lioness named Tia who is now a part of Lily as well. Amon, Asten, Ahmose, Lily, and now Tia must face many challenges in the Netherworld in order for them to find Amon before it is too late. Lily must seek the help of the gods who now hint that she may be the key to a prophecy in which she might just have a greater destiny and purpose in the scheme of the universe.
Extremely well researched Egyptian mythology has been layered so heavily into the story that it weighs it down. The ever-growing number of characters and agendas makes the love story of Amon and Lily, which should be the anchor of the series, almost unimportant. The author did a wonderful job of painting a picture of the underworld and the developing the story lines, but the density of background, description, and mythology doesn't allow the heart of the story to shine through. I'm thoroughly disappointed. ( )

*This review may include spoilers for [b:Reawakened|17331819|Reawakened (Reawakened, #1)|Colleen Houck|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1420496033l/17331819._SY75_.jpg|24797641]*

I'm disappointed.

I like the first book. Really. Reawakened had its problems, but overall, it was a smooth and fun read.

I'd anticipated more Egyptian mythology from Recreated, yet all I got was a slightly different version of what we had in book 1, plus a new prophecy that made Lily officially “the chosen one.”

The whole book felt dragged. It was not until the last quarter of the book did it become interesting. From the synopsis, I knew Lily was supposed to go to the Netherworld to save Amon. I thought it was a good plotline and thus assumed this book will be about her fighting in the Netherworld. Well, that was not the case. It took 18 chapters (over half of the book) for Lily to enter Netherworld. Some of the places she passed on her way were really cool, but soon it became a repeated pattern: She got to a new place, met a new God (who most likely was smitten with her), got a gift for her journey to Hell, and she left.

The worse part was the romance… again.

The insta-love in book 1 is bad enough, I didn’t believe it could be worse.

Well, unfortunately, I was wrong.

I knew from book 1 that Lily had a weak spot for strong muscles. She was attracted by the appearance, not the personality. In this book, she still did that. She batted her eyes on EVERY glowing, strong, and handsome Gods, WHEN SHE ALREADY HAD A BOYFRIEND!!! How could she be in love with Amon “enough to sacrifice herself,” when all she did was fantasizing about kissing other striking immortal men on her oh-so-important journey to Netherworld? She wouldn’t have made it if she didn’t love Amon. Yet apparently she was not as devoted as she claimed.

Ironically, Lily got a chance to share her idea of “true love” in this book:

“True love takes time. It’s not instantaneous. You must get to know the other person. Come to admire them. Find out what they dream of, what they hope for, and see if those things are echoed in your own heart, Only then will love begin. And you’ll know it’s true when you are asked to give something up in order to protect the one you love.”

Well said, Lily. Really. I was touched by her words. If only she could apply her own words to herself.

Her behavior was more or less explained in the ending. Even though she had a good reason (and that reason was quite unique and brilliant) for being a disloyal girlfriend, I was left in the dark for so long that the whole reading experience was quite uncomfortable. And what was with the magic that caused every immortal man to found her irresistible? It was not fun and not romantic at all. It was creepy. Especially when Lily did seem to enjoy it.

Despite all this, Amon still loved her deeply. Poor Amon. I almost forgave him for what he did at the end of book 1. (What he did was explained in more detail at the beginning of this book. Somehow that made me hate him. It didn’t seem like the caring Amon to abandon his responsibility, only to be with his love. I believed the author was trying to show his love for Lily, but to me, she took away an important personality of Amon, the core of what he was. This Amon was not the dutiful, powerful yet empathetic Amon I came to like in Reawakened.)

There are still some good things about this book though! I like the new characters, Tia and Ashleigh. Their relationship with Lily was so unique and creative. I’ve read nothing like this before. I love how they embraced and loved Lily so quickly and so fully, willing to risk their lives to embark on this impossible journey with her, even though the man they were saving was not their lovers. There were also more backstories about the Sons of Egypt, giving more depth to their characters.

Three stars overall. It wasn’t a terrible read but not good either. I really, really hope book 3 will be better. ( )

This , like other trilogies, has the unforeseen advantage of the antagonist. I find that this story is an interesting way to teach Egyptian Mythology to a vast audience all the while hiding it under a romance story. I first thought that Lilly was a quick witted girl that was saucy when needing to be,but was generally a good girl. I am finding her to be like almost every other YA protagonist female. More worried about who she's attracted to and how they "heat" her up than the pending doom that faces her; whether it is Reapers, Ancient Gods or Villains or even man eating Demons and Jackals. I am tired of endless females caught up in their hormones more than their need to just live and defeat the enemy. I know, that if I was forced to go the Netherlands and face dead people, that enough would scar me for life rather than which dead 1000 year old hit Egyptian wants me. Where's the reality in any part of this fictional story. since the Red Queen and its atrocious ending , I feel that all the females are too concerned about a slight hand touch or a gentle kiss , rather run saving the world , the cosmos or even their pathetic hormonal selves. ( )

This review was first posted Realm of the Sapphired Dragon on 10th August 2016

received from Hachette via netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I read the first book in this series at the beginning of the year and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to this read. I started it with great excitement and whilst overall I did mostly enjoy, I am sad to say i didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed awakened.

Whilst Reawakened is a story about lily and Amon, this story is mostly about Lily and her journey to rescue Amon who has ended up in the netherworld as a result of the events at the end of reawakened. As the holder of Amon's heart scarab, Lily is still intricately linked to Amon and needs to use this link to rescue Amon from the netherworld otherwise Chaos could be allowed back in and potentially destroy Lily's world.

I think my biggest problem is that I had trouble connecting with Lily in this book and i felt the beginning of the book with the random visit to the nana in Iowa so she could leave to save Amon didn't make sense to me. I mean she is told that if all goes well, it will be as if she never left so why did she need to go to Iowa to be able to do this. The visit itself seemed quite out of character of either the Lily from the beginning of book 1 or even from the end.

That aside my connection with Lily was haphazard at best as Lily went through all the trials to get to and be ready to enter the netherworld, I found the pace a little frustrating and at times the story struggled to hold my attention. It sometimes seemed like the author was trying to weave some threads that would be needed later in the book, but at times they just seemed confusing and made the story that little bit harder to get through.

The second half of the book moved a lot better than the first half in my opinion. Some of the earlier threads started to come through and make more sense and the story itself seemed to flow that little bit better. I felt the addition of Asten and Ahmose to the story and finding out more about their roles in the afterlife when their bodies are sleeping added a lot to the story as a whole and helped to fill out the world building of the story in general.

I though the last 20% of the story got quite exciting and I devoured it pretty quickly and overall I was left with the feeling and the need to see what happens next in this series. So I will definitely be reading book 3.

Overall I did enjoy this book even if I did struggle for a while in the middle. I felt the world building and attention to detail in regards to the ancient egyptian mythology was stronger in this book and this really solidified the story for me. I look forward to seeing how this all plays out in book 3.

A mostly solid and enjoyable read and I gave this book 3 1/2 stars

Sapphired Dragon xx ( )

SO interesting to read Ms. Houck's personification of the Egyptian gods!!! Can't wait for the next installment- though I'll be honest, I'm not sure where this story is going. While I really dislike a love triangle- this one is much more of a tangle. ( )