Top Rated God and Goddess Books
Do you love God and Goddess Books and Greek Mythology stories? Or maybe you’re new to the idea but just watched Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and want more? Here’s the book list for you PLUS a Quiz that will tell you which Mythological Goddess you are!
Top Rated God and Goddess Books
Table of Contents
- Top Rated God and Goddess Books
- Quick Picks by Vibe
- 2000s YA God and Goddess Books
- 2020s YA God and Goddess Books
- Top Rated Greek Mythology Fiction for Adults
- Quiz: Which Greek Mythology Heroine Are You?
Christopher Nolan’s movie The Odyssey just hit theaters, which means we are all thinking about gods, goddesses, and the mortals unlucky (or lucky?) enough to get tangled up with them.
If you left the theater wanting more, here’s your reading list: every god-and-goddess book we’ve loved, from the Y2K era that started the obsession to the newest adult retellings hitting shelves right now.
Quick Picks by Vibe
| If you want… | Start with… |
|---|---|
| A tragic, doomed romance ruled by fate | Dreamless by Josephine Angelini |
| A dangerous bargain with the god of the Underworld | The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter |
| The original “hell hath no fury,” told by the witch herself | Circe by Madeline Miller |
| A secret godly bloodline and a magic academy | Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep |
| The women of the Trojan War finally telling it their way | A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes |
| The wife who held the kingdom together while everyone forgot her name | The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood |
2000s YA God and Goddess Books
Was the Y2K God and Goddess trend started by Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson 2005-2009 series? Maybe, because there were a whole bunch of teen paranormal books featuring gods and goddesses! Let’s run them down!
The Starcrossed series by Josephine Angelini (2011–2013)
Helen Hamilton has spent her life trying to hide how different she is. She has nightmares of a desperate desert journey, and hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood.
When Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they’re destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.
My reviews of:
Dreamless by Josephine Angelini
Goddess by Josephine Angelini
The Mythos Academy series by Jennifer Estep (2011–2014)
Gwen Frost discovers a secret academy for the descendants of Greek gods and heroes, and a destiny she never asked for.
My reviews of:
Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep
Crimson Frost by Jennifer Estep
Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep
The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter (2011–2013)
Kate’s going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear that her mother won’t live past the fall.
Then she meets Henry: dark, tortured, and mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld — and if she accepts his bargain, he’ll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.
Kate is sure he’s crazy — until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she’ll become Henry’s future bride and a goddess.
Antigoddess by Kendare Blake (2013)
Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra, an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.
Cassandra doesn’t even know the gods exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.
My review of Antigoddess by Kendare Blake
2020s YA God and Goddess Books
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross (2023)
- Winner: Goodreads Favorite YA Fantasy 2023
- Free on Kindle Unlimited!
Two rival journalists exchange messages across a magical typewriter while a war between gods rages on. Enemies-to-lovers with genuinely gorgeous prose.
Lore by Alexandra Bracken (2021)
- Nominee for Goodreads Favorite YA Fantasy 2021
- Free on Kindle Unlimited
Every seven years, the Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the last descendants of ancient bloodlines. Lore wants nothing to do with the Agon — until it comes for her anyway. Fast, brutal, and modern.
Free on Kindle Unlimited as of July 2026!
Top Rated Greek Mythology Fiction for Adults
The Odyssey movie has adult readers rediscovering Greek mythology too. If the movie sent you looking for something to read with the same vibe and you’re not up to tackling Homer, here’s where to start. These books ahve more complicated politics, more grief, and (in a few cases) more spice than the YA shelf.
Circe by Madeline Miller (2018)
- 4.2 on Goodreads
- Goodreads Readers’ Favorite Fantasy of 2018
- By the author of The Song of Achilles
The witch who turned Odysseus’s men into pigs, told from her own point of view. Circe is banished to a lonely island, discovering her power, and eventually crossing paths with the Odyssey itself. If you only read one adult mythology book because of the movie, make it this one.
The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen (2025)
- Goodreads 4.13 stars
- Nominee Goodreads Favorite Romantasy 2025
Living as a cursed office clerk for the Order of Thieves is not an easy feat, given San Francisco is Zeus’ patron city, but I make do. I survive. Until the night I tangle with a different god.
The worst god. Hades.
The ruthless King of the Underworld has entered the Crucible: the deadly contest the gods hold to determine a new ruler to sit on the throne of Olympus. But instead of fighting their own battles, the gods name mortals to compete in their stead.
So why in the Underworld did Hades choose me ?
I, Medusa by Ayanna Gray (2025)
- Goodreads 4.0 stars
- Diverse take on Greek Mythology
Meddy feels out of place next to her beautiful, immortal sisters and her parents. So when she catches the eye of the goddess Athena, who invites her to train as an esteemed priestess in her temple, Meddy leaps at the chance.
When her locs are transformed into snakes as punishment for a crime she did not commit, Medusa must embrace a new identity — not as a victim, but as a vigilante — and with it, the chance to write her own story as mortal, martyr, and myth.
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint (2021)
- Goodreads 3.78 stars
- Goodreads Nominee for Favorite Fantasy 2021
- Also high-rated: This Immortal Heart
- Free on Kindle Unlimted as of July 2026
Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice.
When Theseus, the Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. But will Ariadne’s decision ensure her happy ending?
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (2019)
- Goodreads Rating 4.04
- NPR Best Book of the Year
- Free on Kindle Unlimited as of July 2026
In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.
From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all — this is the other half of the story the Odyssey never tells.
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (2005)
- Goodreads 3.71 Rating
- Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Adult Literature (2006),
For Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, running a kingdom while her husband is away fighting the Trojan War (and then, somehow, taking ten more years to get home) is no simple matter. Already distressed that he had been lured away because of the shocking behavior of her beautiful cousin Helen, Penelope must also raise her wayward son, face scandalous rumors, and keep more than one hundred lustful, greedy, and bloodthirsty suitors at bay. The perfect companion read if The Odyssey left you wondering what Penelope was actually doing all those years.
Tell me about your favorite god and goddess books in the comments!! And if you’ve seen The Odyssey, I want to know: are you Team Circe, Team Penelope, or ready to fight the whole pantheon?
If you are into Poseidon and mermaids, I have a whole other post about Mermaid books!
Also: take the quiz below to find out which Greek myth heroine you actually are, then find out which God and Goddess book to read next!
Quiz: Which Greek Mythology Heroine Are You?
