Who Let the Gods Out? (Who Let the Gods Out? #1)

Author: Maz Evans

Genre: MG, Fantasy

Publisher: Chicken House

Publication Date: January 2017

Format: Paperback (368 pages)

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Synopsis:

Elliot’s mum is ill and his home is under threat, but a shooting star crashes to earth and changes his life forever. The star is Virgo – a young Zodiac goddess on a mission. But the pair accidentally release Thanatos, a wicked death daemon imprisoned beneath Stonehenge, and must then turn to the old Olympian gods for help. After centuries of cushy retirement on earth, are Zeus and his crew up to the task of saving the world – and solving Elliot’s problems too?

My Rating: ★★★★★

Hilarious – Heartfelt – Adventure

Those three words are printed on the back of this book as a way of hooking in an audience and they were the perfect three words to choose. I picked up a copy of Who Let the Gods Out? quite a while back now after hearing my lovely friend Steph @ A Little But A Lot absolutely raving about it. As part of my quest to read more Middle Grade, I decided it was finally time to read it for myself and I was blown away. This book is BRILLIANT.

Elliot lives on a farm with his mother. There is something wrong with his mum and Elliot is desperately trying keep it a secret from the people at school. His life takes an unexpected turn when he meets Virgo, a constellation from the Zodiac Council who, literally, crashes into his life. With that comes the beginning of an adventure Elliot never saw coming!

This book is absolutely hilarious. Reading it as an adult I just could not stop laughing at how crammed full of quips and wit this book is but there is also plenty in here that will have children of all ages giggling away. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud throughout this book and can only imagine that Maz Evans must have been cackling to herself whilst writing it.

I absolutely LOVED the way that Maz took each of the star signs and made them into fleshed out members of the Zodiac Council. There was such hilarious dialogue between them and there was something magical about them being brought to life. I know that if I was a child reading this it would give me a whole new outlook on the zodiac signs!

Greek mythology may become a new love of mine after reading this book. It was amazing to read a story that was heaped full of mythology but in an easily relatable way. I can think of some pupils in the lower end of secondary school really enjoying this but if I was a primary school teacher I would definitely be using this in the classroom for a unit of work.

As well as all of the fun and laughter, there was still a tinge of sadness there to be found. Josie, Elliot’s mum, clearly is unwell and there are moments throughout the book when you can see things are becoming too much for Elliot to cope with. It is thanks to his newfound friendship with Virgo and her mythological crowd that he manages to find his feet and work through the challenges he faces.

I basically just loved everything about this book and thought it was brilliant. Touching yet completely hilarious. But I cannot leave this review without stating that I think Maz Evans has created some of the BEST character names I have read in years: Patricia Porshley-Plum will tickle me for a long time.

Have you read Who Let the Gods Out? What did you think?

What are your favourite middle grade books?

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