In Ancient Greece, the invocation “May the Gods watch over you” was more than a spoken blessing. It was an entreaty for divine benevolence.

When Damon sees a beautiful woman alone, far from civilization, he can’t help but be drawn to her. But his life–as it should have been– is altered and twisted by the immortal touch of deity.

Damon’s daughter, Phoibe, is raised to be wary and distrustful of the gods.

And so she must choose–

If Phoibe marries a mortal, she risks eternal solitude for a moment of love.

If she follows her heart, she risks spurning a god.

The gods are powerful, and their knowledge is vast.

But the gods…

The gods are far from perfect.

Origin of the Sphinx is a novella detailing the story leading up to the creation of the mythological creature, the Sphinx. It is the beginning of the Sphinx series.

My Review:

As the framing of the novel made clear, The Origin of the Sphinx is a prequel to Raye Wagner’s upcoming novel Curse of the Sphinx. If you’ve got a free hour or three, I’d recommend devoting it to reading this novella to get a better look at this little known myth. A lot of people don’t know that the Sphinx wasn’t just an Egyptian thing. They were Greek monsters as well.

The difference between the Egyptian and Greek Sphinx was gender. The Greek Sphinx was female. The origin of the Sphinx varied widely depending on the myth. In most tales the are yet more children of Echidna and Typhus, but their parentage varies with the myth, which is why I really love the direction Wagner took this story because Apollo’s temples were often decorated with Sphinx statues, so there’s room for a connection there and her’s captures the spirit of the Greek gods perfectly.

The Greek gods were petty, and jealous, and a lot like Tinkerbelle. Whatever emotion they were experiencing in any given myth took them over completely. But they were also complex, and wise, and charismatic. Wagner manages to capture that essence along with the mixed feelings of respect, awe, and fear the mortals living among them would have likely experienced.

In terms of tone, this story reminded me of Rita Webb’s Daughter of the Goddess. Reading it is like being told a fairytale. I’m really looking forward to where this series is going to go.