The Curse of the Sphinx, by Raye Wagner

The Curse of the Sphinx, by Raye Wagner

Hi all! 
I just finished The Curse of the Sphinx, by Raye Wagner. 
Thank you Raye for sending it to me, I highly appreciate it!!! 

Note: This book is not an ARC, but was sent to me by the author. This does not change my opinion of the book in any way, and the review is honest. 

Goodreads Blurb: 
"How long can a monster stay hidden in plain sight?

Seventeen year-old Hope Nicholas has spent her entire life on the run. But no one is chasing her. In fact, no one even knows she exists. With her mom, she’s traveled from town to town and school to school, barely staying long enough to meet anyone, let alone make friends. And she’ll have to keep it that way. It’s safer.

When her mother is brutally ripped away from her, Hope’s life shatters. Is this the fulfillment of Apollo’s curse, murder from the shadow monsters of the Underworld, or have the demigods finally found her? Orphaned and alone, Hope flees again, but this time there’s no one to teach her who to trust—or how to love.

Set in a universe where mythology is alive and well in the modern world, Curse of the Sphinx irresistibly blends action, suspense and romance.”


I had no expectations when I started this book - I knew that three of my favorite booktubers made videos about it, and thats it. So when I got sent an e-copy, I was so excited! 

First thing: I can’t wait to read the second installment! The ending leaves you at such a cliffhanger, you just wish the second book was already here! 

The pacing of this book was perfect - it was fast all while describing slower or more mundane events, like doing homework or going for a run. But it was never so fast that you couldn’t keep up with what was going on. It was written with simple words and in an easy way, so it was easy to fly through without missing out on any important details. I really appreciated this. The writing was actually... refreshing in this way. There was no extra fuzz - just the story, and the story was simple but interesting enough to make the book compelling and quick to read. 

The story itself was as simple as it was creative - a girl moves into a town and goes through highschool, she makes friends and enemies, and falls in love. At the same time, she’s a Sphinx, considered to be a monster. Both the Skia and demigods hunt her, and she had to hide. 

One thing I really appreciated was the world this was set in. It’s basically your average American town, with one exception. Instead of the western world generally believing in one God, the general beliefs go towards the Greek gods and that mythology. Religion classes are swapped with Mythology classes, for example. Many people don’t believe they actually exist, demigods are rare and kept secret, and monsters are even rarer. 

Another cool thing: At first, Hope seems to be a character who will just fall right into the typical YA tropes - but as soon as a trope-y situation comes to her, she basically reacts in the opposite way that you would expect her to! She’s suddenly faced with this situation where her overprotective mother disappears, and she has to deal with everything on her own, and she manages it well in the end! She’s a believable character. Her transformation scenes were really cool, and she’s level-headed. My only little thing I have against her is that she doesn’t see things that are presented right in front of her, such as who Athan really is... 

Athan for me seemed slightly shallow right from the start. Like he was popular and he knew it. I didn’t like him much until his revelation at the end, then my opinion about him changed. I’m sure his character will develop more in later books, and I can’t wait to see how it does! 

The side characters were also really well-placed, and I appreciated them a lot! 

I’m giving this a 4/5 feathers! 

Have you read The Curse of the Sphinx? What did you think? 

Also, more on this book to come in a future post ;)