Book Tour: The Gatekeeper's Daughter By Eva Pohler

Title: The Gatekeeper's Daoughter
Series: Gatekeepers Trilogy Book 3
Author: Eva Pohler
Genre: Ya Fantasy
Date Published:11/29/12

Buy Link: Authors Amazon Page

Book Description:

In The Gatekeeper's Sons, Therese and Thanatos, the god of Death, met and fell in love. In The Gatekeeper's Challenge, they did everything they could to be together, even break an oath on the River Styx. But the Olympians don't tolerate oath-breakers. In this final book in the trilogy, The Gatekeeper's Daughter, Therese may have finally succeeded in becoming a goddess, but if she wants to remain one, she'll not only have to discover her unique purpose, but also make some allies among the gods. Artemis sends her on a seemingly impossible quest across the world, while Than searches for a way to appease Ares. To make matters worse, her aunt's baby's life hangs in the balance.

How Greek Myths Inspire Us to Be Heroes:

I fell in love with Greek myths in the eighth grade, when I read Edith Hamilton's Mythology. Later, after studying Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, I better understood why most people are drawn to myths: They help us to project and symbolically play out our own fears and desires. Carl Jung wrote of universal archetypes-such as the Madonna, the soldier, and the rogue. Sigmund Freud wrote that art was the opportunity for adults to continue childhood play in a socially acceptable way. Joseph Campbell built upon the works of both Jung and Freud to describe The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which inspired George Lukas in the creation of Star Wars.

As a writer, I, like Lukas, wished to tap into that universal consciousness where fears and desires are shared. Myths make it possible to project universal fears, or what we often call our inner demons, into monsters that can be externally fought and defeated. The most universal fear is death. I created a trilogy for young adults in which death is not only faced and, in some ways, battled, but also embraced and transcended.

In the first book of this contemporary fantasy, The Gatekeeper's Sons, fifteen-year-old Therese Mills meets Thanatos, the god of death, while in a coma after witnessing her parents' murder. She feels like the least powerful person on the planet and is ready to give up on life, but the story forces her to fight. As she hunts with the fierce and beautiful Furies to track down her parents' murder and avenge their death, she falls in love with Thanatos and symbolically accepts her parents' and her own mortality.

In the second book, The Gatekeeper's Challenge, Therese has the opportunity to transcend death by accepting five seemingly impossible challenges issued by Hades. All five challenges represent the universal fears of rejection, culpability, disorientation, death, and loss in the forms of a box not allowed to be opened, an apple that shouldn't be eaten, a labyrinth meant to confuse, a Hydra that wants to destroy, and the allure of bringing back the dead. These same myths are recycled again and again through the centuries because they help us to recognize our inner demons and inspire us to defeat them.

My Review:

The following review is my opinion and not a paid review. I was given a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.

In The Gatekeeper's Son Than the God of Death meets Therese when she is in a coma after being in a car accident that killed her parents and they fall in love. In The Gatekeeper's Challenge Therese and Than are trying to find a way to make Therese a Goddess so they can be together. Therese has to go through Challenges to become a Goddess.

In The Gatekeeper's Daughter Therese and Than found a way to make her a Goddess but now they have to find a way for them to be together. One of the Gods does not want them to be together nor have children. Therese and Than have to try and outsmart the Gods and Goddess or they will not get to spend eternity together. The Gods and Goddess put Therese through challenge after challenge just when she thinks she has one completed another one pops up in her way.

I think Therese is learning a lot about herself and what it actually means to help someone with all of the challenges that she is faced with. When you help someone else you are always thinking you are doing a good deed and you are. But like Therese and me have found out there is a fine line between helping someone and being selfish. What I mean is, are you helping someone out of the goodness of your heart? Or, are you helping them for your own self?

I have truly enjoyed reading the Gatekeeper's Trilogy. I have loved reading both Therese and Than's story. I have rooted for them from book one and I hate to leave them now. I can't help but wonder what other challenges they will have to face in their life together. Will they have the family they want? Have they both become stronger for going through all the challenges? Is their love strong enough to go through more challenges? Yeah I think so. They are both very strong people and can overcome any obstacle for their love.

If you have not read The Gatekeeper's Daughter then I highly suggest you do but I do recommend that you The Gatekeeper's Son and then The Gatekeeper's Challenge first. That way you will understand more of what is going on and why they are having to face so many challenges.

About the Author:

Eva Pohler teaches writing at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she lives with her husband, three children, two dogs, two rats, and her very large collection of books.

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