Discord's Apple

Discord's Apple
by Carrie Vaughn

When Evie Walker goes home to spend time with her dying father, she discovers that his creaky old house in Hope’s Fort, Colorado, is not the only legacy she stands to inherit. Hidden behind the old basement door is a secret and magical storeroom, a place where wondrous treasures from myth and legend are kept safe until they are needed again. The magic of the storeroom prevents access to any who are not intended to use the items. But just because it has never been done does not mean it cannot be done.

And there are certainly those who will give anything to find a way in.

Evie must guard the storeroom against ancient and malicious forces, protecting the past and the future even as the present unravels around them. Old heroes and notorious villains alike will rise to fight on her side or to undermine her most desperate gambits. At stake is the fate of the world, and the prevention of nothing less than the apocalypse.
(description taken from Amazon.com)

Note: This is an adult title.

I love the storyline for this book. The idea of a magical, sometimes portable storeroom for the world's magic is fantastic. Containing all the items mentioned in the world's favorite tales... *Sigh* I would love to be keeper to such a place of wonder!

Evie, unaware that her father is keeper to the storeroom, comes home to take care of him during his terminal illness and becomes the keeper herself. Evie is a strong, complex character. I loved how Vaughn used her job, comic book writer, as vehicle to the freedom to move and take care of her Dad, to address the current political situations as war broke out around the world, and as a means for keeping in touch with the outer world. Very well done.

Sinon/Alex, her father, Hera, Robin, and the other side characters were also all well written. Sinon was exceptionally well fleshed out and managed to be both modern and yet true to his origins at the same time. His relationship with Apollo was very realistic.

This was one of the most realistic mythologically based books I've read in awhile. The threat of an impending Apocalypse felt imminent. Though it wasn't the happiest ending, Vaughn writes a pragmatic one...and I fully approve!

My only complaint about this book was at the beginning when the chapters are jumping from character to character, you cannot yet see the connections and it was a little disjointed. Once you delve deeper, though, you can see the pattern and it's very well done...