I’m here to spread the gospel of the State of Grace series by Colette Rhodes. It has Greek mythology. It has good versus evil. It has fated mates, epic battles, complex characters, a unique magic system, and so much more. Bonus? It’s a complete series; you can binge it to your heart’s content and not have to deal with pesky cliffhangers. And since – for whatever bananapants reason – isn’t all over the internet, Colette Rhodes, allow me to be your hype girl.

From the jump, I was drawn in by the fantastic realism of it all. This type of setting makes my imagination run wild, considering what would happen if some of these things existed in my day to day, how I would respond to them, and who I would end up becoming. The second draw is the unique magic system that’s a combination of Greek mythology plus the author’s creative liberty. Then there’s the promise of the premise: Grace is meant to find her four fated mates over the course of these books and the anticipation of that is absolutely thrilling.

Ok let’s get into it. We have Agathos, Daimons, and humans. Agathos are mortals, who are designed to bring humans to the light side and Daimons influence humans to the dark side. Agathos’ special abilities are revealed sort of Divergent style; they have an awakening of sorts around their 18th birthday, when that ability is revealed via a special ceremony. The catch is that there’s a sacrifice whenever that ability is used. For example, Grace’s ability is Eutychia, or luck, so if she bestows her powers on a human, she will eventually succumb to bad luck at some point.

On the flip side, Daimons’ abilities are passed down through the family line. Their parents are a Daimon and a human pairing, the Daimon, obviously, passing down the special ability. Riot, one of Grace’s soul bonds, is from the Moros line. Moros Daimons drive humans to their undoing by giving them the thing that will destroy them the quickest. Take an addict, for example. A Moros Daimon would know the specific drug that would be the most effective at destroying that human’s life or killing them. Crazy, right? What’s more is that Daimons don’t experience the sacrifice that Agathos do. They can use their abilities as much as they want and don’t need to worry about a backlash.

Something you have to keep in mind is that this is a “trust the process” kind of story. With the exception of the last book, the pacing is mostly slow. Usually this is a turn off for me. If there isn’t enough balance in a book, I tend to get bored. However, Colette sculpts the content of these slow moments in such a way that you hang on to every word. She injects potent emotions, character backstory, and contextual history into these moments to help enrich the plot and help you care about the overall story. It’s magical, actually.

There is quite a bit of Greek mythology that serves as the basis of the story. The author does mention that she takes some creative liberties, so if that bothers you, just know that up front. Colette uses the mythology to drive home this idea of good versus evil and challenges us as the reader to consider what exactly that means for humanity and society. The “light” side might not always be pushing “good ideals” in a truly moral way, just as the “dark” side shouldn’t always be categorized as being a detriment. In the end, the interpretation is left up to you to decide, which I love that she does because the story lingers in the brain, which I think is the mark of a good book.

I gave every book in this series 5/5 stars. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Hopefully you like it just as much as I did. Let me know if you’ve read this series and your thoughts! If you’d like to check out Colette Rhodes, you can do so on her website. Enjoy!