RATING: 3.5



It kind of took me a long time to finish this but I was having another reading slump so that’s fair.



I’ve been wanting to read books with Philippine mythology mixed with it. I grew up reading the Percy Jackson series and wished that we have a similar version of it, especially that most Filipinos have no knowledge of our very own mythologies. Fortunately, upon searching books, I found Naermyth. It literally took me seconds to decide whether I was going to buy or not.



The story revolved a

RATING: 3.5



It kind of took me a long time to finish this but I was having another reading slump so that’s fair.



I’ve been wanting to read books with Philippine mythology mixed with it. I grew up reading the Percy Jackson series and wished that we have a similar version of it, especially that most Filipinos have no knowledge of our very own mythologies. Fortunately, upon searching books, I found Naermyth. It literally took me seconds to decide whether I was going to buy or not.



The story revolved around dystopian future Philippines. The country—and the rest of the world—were overthrown by their respective mythical creatures (or as they were called in the book, Naermyth, “never were they myth”). I’m amazed at the research that Karen Francisco did. I’m glad that the Philippine creatures in the book like dwende, kapre, aswang, and tikbalang weren’t the generalized versions of them. There were also some that I have never heard of like the pasatsat and the bakunawa. To say the least, this was very informative even if it was only minimal.



To survive, humankind formed a group that are tasked to ensure their survival and kill Naermyth. One of these Shepherds is the main protagonist of the story, Athena Dizon, or mostly known as her code name, Aegis. (I’m just going to call her Athena since that’s what she’s called most of the time on the latter part of the book).



Athena was ruthless to Naermyth, she was quiet and cold. But during a mission, she coincidentally an unconscious Dorian and decided to save him. Only a few chapters later, the two already developed some sort of bond between them that rendered them protective of each other. Then they discovered that Dorian is not purely human. He’s a Naermyth and has a mystery wrapped around him as he is called the Ibig of Bathala. He could also go out of control sometimes, thus making him a threat to others. Still, he has a good heart that only wanted to protect Athena, and Athena felt the same.



I really thought Dorian would be my favorite character in this one. He’s sweet and soft at first but his overprotective nature annoyed the hell out of me. He’s either whining, moaning or growling like man, being a overprotective little shit isn’t a personality trait. To be honest, his overprotectiveness is somewhat unhealthy that it seems like he doesn’t care about Athena’s thoughts and decisions. I truly don’t care about him anymore.



Then they eventually learned that Dorian is the son of Athena’s late mentor (and pseudo-father), Benevidez. They also get attacked by lackeys of their new Shepherd leader, Mamon, who wanted to get rid of older Shepherds for her own gain. But Dorian and Athena survived, thanks to Dorian’s regenerating ability, and they ran away and seeked answers for Dorian’s nature and the Ibig of Bathala. The two found their answers in Baguio where they met Tito Bing, an old friend of Benevidez. Here, they learned that Dorian was more like a three-generations-down angel (Wing Wight) and that he has a sibling. Since female Wing Wights are considered to be extinct because of their destructive nature, they concluded that Dorian has a brother—and it will be most likely River, Athena’s blacksmith/playboy friend who always flirted with her.



Since the start, I’ve always doted on Athena and River being the main couple. As always, Dorian is annoying and “protective” of Athena. He even got so mad when he found Athena and River alone in bed. Anyway, the angst with Athena and River’s relationship was good. I was going to be disappointed if Athena’s feelings were really just the result of River’s “powers.”



Then Athena and her friends got the help of diwata from Maria Makiling (I like the nickname Macky). And there we learned that Dorian’s supposed to be sibling is Athena. Athena turned out to be a Naermyth experiment of his father using Benevidez’s blood. Although she was branded as dangerous for everyone, being a female Wing Wight and all, she was tasked by Maria Makiling to kill Valarao (the leader of the Naermyth). Athena forms a deal that no harm must come to River (since they wanted to get rid of him for having romantic feelings for Athena and Athena must never reproduce) and she accepts the task.



I was so excited for Valarao. He’s that powerful beautiful leader of these horrible creatures but he turned out to be a disappointment. The non-violent nature of Valarao was unexpected but I guess I could go down with that since it’s breaking the norms of mythical creatures being ruthless and brutal. I’ve never considered that after thousands of years had passed, they could be more of a human-like in manners. Still, I expected more from the leader of the Naermyth and didn’t think he’s going to die easily. Anyway, there’s still a sequel and that’s way longer than this one so let’s see how the story will go down.



The letter on the epilogue made me yearn for more Athena and River interactions. I wonder how their relationship will develop on the sequel. And despite being a little shit (also a soft boy), River became my favorite character in this book.



Overall, the story is nice enough. The writing could be better but it was very effective in letting Athena’s emotions be felt. Also, it’s an easy read—most likely to catch more attention of the readers, especially the young ones. Of course, there were disappointing parts in the story but there were a lot that I enjoyed. I just hope more people would read this and get to enjoy and learn at the same time about our very own mythical creature.