This book follows the events of the previous book in the series (Wither & Wound) yet focuses on a new set of heroes and a different setting. In the previous book, Edie Evans, the dragon shape shifter killed her father Zeus in a fatal duel. As a result Zeus’ powers left him and entered different individuals across the world. Minor deities then begun to create havoc on earth so Edie and her friends set out to locate the people with Zeus’ powers and try to save the world. Thisbook focuses on Brandee Jean Mason who is a beauty pageant regular. Brandee lives in Wisconsin which greatly suffered the outcome of the natural disasters which suddenly erupted and led to social deterioration  (as did the rest of the USA and the world). She was hit by lightning and received Zeus’ strength. Brnadee used to live with her mother to whom she was very close, yet her mother committed suicide after Brandee received her powers, unable to continue living in the decaying world. Brandee is a tough girl who constantly draws innovative ideas from her pageant experience to help her overcome obstacles in her life. Brandee is recruited by Edie and arrives at Amazon Academy (run by Athena) to attend the trials, in the end of which the new ruler of the gods would be crowned. She needs to use all of her experience and common sense in order not to fall behind in the trials. Meanwhile, she becomes good friends with Rada, the Amazon representative and Zahara the harpy Marquessa, the leading contestants. She even finds a romantic interest in Alaric, the son of an English duke, who competes with his malicious half-brother Trevor. 

During one of the trials, zombies attack and in another competition managed by Artemis, which is set in a corn maze and features a Minotaur, one of the contestants, the merman Sora is found dead. This throws the competition into confusion yet it continues.

During the last trial, in which the contestants must ride horses and steal each other’s flags, a herd of zombies attacks again. Brandee ignores the rules of the competition and acts to save her friends’ lives. She is then declared to be the winner by the consent of all the gods. Yet when she is about to receive all of Zeus’ powers from the other contestants, Zombies attack and Hades holds her. Then suddenly Sora appears. It turns out that he is in fact Zeus who came back due to the machinations of Hades and he has no intention of giving up his throne. He kills Rada, the Amazon fierce contender and threatens Brandee and the others. The ending remains unclear and will be continued in the next book.

This book is definitely more light-hearted than the previous ones in the series perhaps due to Brandee’s never-ending pageant stories. It resembles the fight-to-the death theme of the Hunger Games, yet everything seems light-hearted until Sora’s death and the realization that Trevor was conspiring with Hades in order to get advantages. 

At first Brandee appears like a pageant-contestant cliché, caring for her appearance, wearing high heels all the time, and never stopping from mentioning her bizarre beauty pageant eccentricities. However, she is revealed to be kind-hearted, caring and also deeply hurt by the loss of her mother and good friend. Being  the underdog she does not initially appear to be a role model for the queen of the gods. Taylor, Athena’s assistant even tells Brandee upon her arrival that she does not belong there. However, Brandee knows better, “beauty queens aren’t exactly made of fluff.” (p. 168).

Yet Brandee’s true strength lies not in her inherited powers, but in her warm personality; she can truly relate to others and sympathize with them, which makes her even better than the existing selfish gods and goddesses. As Lisa Maurice notes, “this is a common trope in modern works (books, films etc), whereby gods are regarded as inferior to humans.” Brandee can understand loss and fear and her vast pageant experience, although it may appear ridiculous at times, has taught her valuable lessons about judging character and how to overcome difficulties.

The message is clearly not to judge a book (or a beauty queen) by its cover and that humans possess special qualities which enable them to surpass others and overcome life’s challenges. Brandee quickly adapts to her new surroundings, or as she says, when she first encounters Edie, “But, if people accept that vampires are real, and I witnessed this girl – as a dragon – follow me home from the Piggly Wiggly, how much larger a leap is required to accept that the Greek gods are real?” (p.8). Edie is Brandee’s mentor yet she does not actively helps her win the different trails.

As in the previous books in the series, female power is accentuated. While one may regard beauty pageant as alien to these more feminist messages, Brandee shows how these competitions, as absurd as some of them may appear, taught her how to overcome various challenges. While the girls fall in love and Brandee bonds with Alaric, it is the friendship between the Brandee Rada and Zahara which is focused on and the eventual (almost) crowing of a girl as the main goddesses instead of Zeus. The girls show the real strength and character, while the male figures (mainly Trevor and Hades) are devious and malevolent. 

To conclude, this is a transformation story of a regular girl who found her inner strength, or as Brandee phrases it, “” I am a left-handed Amazon beauty queen from the Midwest who is not putting up with any more bullshit.” (p. 230). The authors present Brandee as a stereotypical Mid-West pageant contestant, who could be seem as a clichéd character of a dumb beauty. Yet Brandee is a strong character who is also fully aware of her own stereotypical characterization and use them to her advantage. She uses her looks wisely but mostly she uses her brain and by doing so she proves how wrong is judging someone based on stereotypes.