Gloomy, eerie, and yet somehow enchanting, Edgar Allan Poe's poetry is not quite what I expected. Like any student of literature, I familiarised myself with Poe's short stories long ago, finding them interesting but often bland. His poetry, however, I'd barely read before I thrifted this lovely collection. Between the romance and devotion in his love poems, the mournful adoration in his elegies, and the atmospheric descriptions of his settings, I felt more at home than I would have thought, highlighting and bookmarking left and right. Favourites of mine include The City in the Sea, Annabel Lee, Fairy-Land, and Alone.

After my rather underwhelming experience with Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, the companion piece to Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, I was incredibly hesitant to pick up this volume at all. Alas, I have finally made myself tackle it, and I am happy to report that although it pales in comparison to Riordan's novels, it is much better than expected.

Most significantly, I feel that the style is not nearly as over the top and ridiculous as it is in Heroes. I like the humour in the main series, including all the borderline childish bits and pieces, not only because I understand that these books are middle grade/young adult but because I genuinely think Riordan is a great writer and Percy a delightful character. These two companion pieces, however, take it to an extreme I am not too fond of, though, as I said, this one is the more moderate of the two.

Additionally, I think that the stories chosen for Gods are slightly better curated and more memorable, perhaps because I am more familiar with the gods than the heroes or perhaps because they are narrated more clearly. Either way, I had an easier time following the strucure and consequently remaining motivated -- although it still took me longer than I appreciate to finish the book.

Altogether, I am happy enough I chose to read these two collections, and while I do not believe I am likely to reread either in its entirety, I can imagine going back to individual stories whenever I want to recall a specific piece of lore.