magbigler's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Death
Minor: Child abuse
heathengray's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
If Pullman's His Dark Materials and Moorcock's Elric Saga had a baby, you might get something like Godkiller.
I didn't realise Godkiller was "Young Adult", which apparently just means the characters are quite edgy, swear, and occasionally have just-shy-of-graphic sex. I must say I really rather enjoyed it.
It begins with our main character Kissen being sacrificed, and follows her, years later, taking on the role of protector of another wayward girl (and her attached Pullman's dæmon, which can change shape and size and act autonomously, and obviously just has its serial number shaved off). The cold, dark world of Godkiller is split between theists and royalists - the king a few years ago decreeing that all gods must die, starting and end an war to enforce his will. This creates an interesting environment to find kind and cruel characters on both sides of the secular divide. The gods manifesting themselves reminds me more for their overt self-insertion in Micheal Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné stories, rather than the more comic Terry Pratchett's Discworld, especially as they can be overcome through training, will, pacts, and luck. There is a very interesting biology to the gods here, their growth and life cycle can result in the razing of continents, or the collecting of odd trinkets as tribute for their shrines. I hope this is explored further with another book.
The cast of characters is varied, different races coming from across this fantasy Pangea, with gay and lesbians represented sparingly, though I wish they in particular had more backstory, as a person's orientation ends up just lamp-shaded, rather than fitting into the fabric of their character and world. Kissen (who prefers women, but mainly because she doesn't prefer getting pregnant), has the most backstory but is such an edgy (also literally, she has edges sown into her clothes) Mary Sue, she comes across as a medieval Batman. Nothing gets in her way. And in a refreshing way for a female character, this is never even questioned by the foes she comes across - a person holding a sword is never to be toyed with. There are times I wish her dialog was a bit more terse, however, as she will often say something really cool, then ruin it up with some redundant exposition. The descriptions of her rituals at camp, including tending to her disability, and the the god-killing tools available to her are fascinating, if detailed, glimpses we usually don't see in fantasy beyond "They camped for the evening". The descriptions of foods and their preparations alone seem almost written for the Hobbit demographic.
If you're looking for a tragic fantasy tale that's lighter on plot, but heavier in how people prepare their travel dumplings and snacks, then please give this a read. Like Kissen, Godkiller punches above her weight.
I personally hope I've joined this series as it's about to take off.
I didn't realise Godkiller was "Young Adult", which apparently just means the characters are quite edgy, swear, and occasionally have just-shy-of-graphic sex. I must say I really rather enjoyed it.
It begins with our main character Kissen being sacrificed, and follows her, years later, taking on the role of protector of another wayward girl (and her attached Pullman's dæmon, which can change shape and size and act autonomously, and obviously just has its serial number shaved off). The cold, dark world of Godkiller is split between theists and royalists - the king a few years ago decreeing that all gods must die, starting and end an war to enforce his will. This creates an interesting environment to find kind and cruel characters on both sides of the secular divide. The gods manifesting themselves reminds me more for their overt self-insertion in Micheal Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné stories, rather than the more comic Terry Pratchett's Discworld, especially as they can be overcome through training, will, pacts, and luck. There is a very interesting biology to the gods here, their growth and life cycle can result in the razing of continents, or the collecting of odd trinkets as tribute for their shrines. I hope this is explored further with another book.
The cast of characters is varied, different races coming from across this fantasy Pangea, with gay and lesbians represented sparingly, though I wish they in particular had more backstory, as a person's orientation ends up just lamp-shaded, rather than fitting into the fabric of their character and world. Kissen (who prefers women, but mainly because she doesn't prefer getting pregnant), has the most backstory but is such an edgy (also literally, she has edges sown into her clothes) Mary Sue, she comes across as a medieval Batman. Nothing gets in her way. And in a refreshing way for a female character, this is never even questioned by the foes she comes across - a person holding a sword is never to be toyed with. There are times I wish her dialog was a bit more terse, however, as she will often say something really cool, then ruin it up with some redundant exposition. The descriptions of her rituals at camp, including tending to her disability, and the the god-killing tools available to her are fascinating, if detailed, glimpses we usually don't see in fantasy beyond "They camped for the evening". The descriptions of foods and their preparations alone seem almost written for the Hobbit demographic.
If you're looking for a tragic fantasy tale that's lighter on plot, but heavier in how people prepare their travel dumplings and snacks, then please give this a read. Like Kissen, Godkiller punches above her weight.
I personally hope I've joined this series as it's about to take off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Death of parent
The worst aspects ars towards the startSpoiler
mainly with Kissen and her family being offered as sacrificeshobbithopeful's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Easily taking a spot in one of my top 5 favorite books of all time, Godkiller was an emotional adventure and I loved every second of it. Was I emotionally eviscerated? Yes, but the found family trope interspersed the pages and made it easier to stomach and less heart-breaking. Kissen is such a badass heroine, I can count on my hands the number of fantasy novels with disability rep in them, and it was so cool to see it written well. When I tell you this book is queer, this book is QUEER capital q-u-e-e-r! (And queer without the trauma that usually comes with queer rep!) Truly this book shines when it comes to the characters and their relationships with each other. Whether it be witty banter, flirtations, or just fuzzy family vibes, the dialogue was just so good!
You get multiple povs in this book, and I loved seeing how different characters viewed each other, and what they were thinking. Skedi ended up being one of my favorite characters, he grew on me like a cute and fuzzy moss. I was so wary about his relationship with Inara, but it very well written. (Don't we all just love complex characters!) Elogast was another character I really loved, I think I'm just a sucker for seemingly gruff knights that are secretly softies. My heart broke for him so many times, just let my man bake his bread in peace!
The world-building and lore reminded me of when I read Lord of the Rings for the first time. (No, really!) The downside to reading such a great quest story is that I LITERALLY could not read any other books for a few days after. I just kept thinking about Godkiller and how it ended! Often times in fantasy books I feel like I'm reading exposition dumps, or I get lost with all the names and lore that gets tossed around. Godkiller marvelously fed me bread crumb by bread crumb, releasing the information at an easily consumable pace that kept me hungry for more.
I have so many theories and thoughts, I am going to be counting the days until the sequel comes out! (Seriously, I'm dying here!)
A MUST READ!
Thank you so much to Harper Collins for this ARC!
You get multiple povs in this book, and I loved seeing how different characters viewed each other, and what they were thinking. Skedi ended up being one of my favorite characters, he grew on me like a cute and fuzzy moss. I was so wary about his relationship with Inara, but it very well written. (Don't we all just love complex characters!) Elogast was another character I really loved, I think I'm just a sucker for seemingly gruff knights that are secretly softies. My heart broke for him so many times, just let my man bake his bread in peace!
The world-building and lore reminded me of when I read Lord of the Rings for the first time. (No, really!) The downside to reading such a great quest story is that I LITERALLY could not read any other books for a few days after. I just kept thinking about Godkiller and how it ended! Often times in fantasy books I feel like I'm reading exposition dumps, or I get lost with all the names and lore that gets tossed around. Godkiller marvelously fed me bread crumb by bread crumb, releasing the information at an easily consumable pace that kept me hungry for more.
I have so many theories and thoughts, I am going to be counting the days until the sequel comes out! (Seriously, I'm dying here!)
A MUST READ!
Thank you so much to Harper Collins for this ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
ramalam98's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A surprise 5 stars for me!! I was worried I wouldn't like this, but it has some specific tropes in fantasy books that I really like: found family, D&D style quest/travel, and gods as tangible characters with power tied to worship.
I loved the characters, and loved the diverse representation in terms of disability, queerness and skin colour. I found Inara slightly too 'wise for her age' especially as she's had a very sheltered upbringing but I still loved her as a character. Skedi was great despite his flaws. Kissen my beloved! And Elo... I would love to work in his bakery and be his friend.
The plot was great, possibly a bit too complex at times with many names to keep track of and I'm not entirely sure where Inara's mother fit into all this. But I loved the overall arching plots, and for once really enjoyed the romance!
Overall, while this isn't a perfect book, I absolutely loved it and can't justify lowering the rating. Absolutely recommend and I can't wait for the sequel!
I loved the characters, and loved the diverse representation in terms of disability, queerness and skin colour. I found Inara slightly too 'wise for her age' especially as she's had a very sheltered upbringing but I still loved her as a character. Skedi was great despite his flaws. Kissen my beloved! And Elo... I would love to work in his bakery and be his friend.
The plot was great, possibly a bit too complex at times with many names to keep track of and I'm not entirely sure where Inara's mother fit into all this. But I loved the overall arching plots, and for once really enjoyed the romance!
Overall, while this isn't a perfect book, I absolutely loved it and can't justify lowering the rating. Absolutely recommend and I can't wait for the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: War, Abandonment, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Grief, Child abuse, and Death
dani_reis's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Sexual content
darkefyres's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Trafficking, Body horror, and Animal death
Minor: Toxic friendship
bibliomania_express's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Police brutality
Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, War, and Blood
miraclesnow's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow wow wow wow.
This was a surprising book. I wasn’t sure how much I would connect to the characters, which was obviously the only draw as most of this book is just getting to know them and understanding their place in this world. Each character is very flawed, and this first book was obviously them getting over their growing pains being around other people. Each one has been alone in their own way. It wasn’t too slow as they always were actively chasing their goals and doing something, but you have to be ok with the journey and not the destination.
And boy was the destination something. Backstabs, betrayals, another b word I can’t mention because that would be a spoiler!
I think with what we’ve been given so far, and with some more pages (Cmon Hannah, the next book is gonna have to be chonkier) I think we’re seeing the start of a very interesting new fantasy series.
I hope with all my heart it grows to be bigger and more powerful than Skedi is. This review will be my offering for that wish to come to fruition.
And I gotta love me a badass bi queen.
(I put in child abuse & emotional abuse as a catch all for. It was deeply disturbing to me and the only moment I feel that was truly deserving of the adult categorization.)
This was a surprising book. I wasn’t sure how much I would connect to the characters, which was obviously the only draw as most of this book is just getting to know them and understanding their place in this world. Each character is very flawed, and this first book was obviously them getting over their growing pains being around other people. Each one has been alone in their own way. It wasn’t too slow as they always were actively chasing their goals and doing something, but you have to be ok with the journey and not the destination.
And boy was the destination something. Backstabs, betrayals, another b word I can’t mention because that would be a spoiler!
I think with what we’ve been given so far, and with some more pages (Cmon Hannah, the next book is gonna have to be chonkier) I think we’re seeing the start of a very interesting new fantasy series.
I hope with all my heart it grows to be bigger and more powerful than Skedi is. This review will be my offering for that wish to come to fruition.
And I gotta love me a badass
Spoiler
para-abled(I put in child abuse & emotional abuse as a catch all for
Spoiler
manipulation of a minor via magic
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, and Death
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, War, and Sexual content
mal_eficent's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I'm a little bit apathetic about this book but I'm pretty sure it's a me problem.
The characters are great, with nuance and complexity; the writing style is really enjoyable; the mythology and world are well explored and built within the text; the pacing was well done, with 'downtime' moving the story forward just as much as the action; and even the audiobook narrator adds a lot to the story. It's an objectively good book – it's just not a stand out for me. The ending almost saved it, but I probably won't continue with the series.
Part of that might be because I often found myself more interested in the setting, side characters, or the backstories of each character. I wasn't as drawn in to the main 'adventure' as I wanted to be, especially with the number of perspectives. It wasn't entirely a single perspective per chapter, but moving between four people wasn't as enjoyable for me as it would have been with just one or two. If this had been the story of the war before, or more of a meander through life in this world as a god killer I'd have been more interested.
This is a great debut, and if you like fantasy worlds that feel a bit 'gritty'/worn (not grimdark, just not full high fantasy) then you should give this a try! I've seen nothing but great things about the disability rep from those within that community as well.
The characters are great, with nuance and complexity; the writing style is really enjoyable; the mythology and world are well explored and built within the text; the pacing was well done, with 'downtime' moving the story forward just as much as the action; and even the audiobook narrator adds a lot to the story. It's an objectively good book – it's just not a stand out for me. The ending almost saved it, but I probably won't continue with the series.
Part of that might be because I often found myself more interested in the setting, side characters, or the backstories of each character. I wasn't as drawn in to the main 'adventure' as I wanted to be, especially with the number of perspectives. It wasn't entirely a single perspective per chapter, but moving between four people wasn't as enjoyable for me as it would have been with just one or two. If this had been the story of the war before, or more of a meander through life in this world as a god killer I'd have been more interested.
This is a great debut, and if you like fantasy worlds that feel a bit 'gritty'/worn (not grimdark, just not full high fantasy) then you should give this a try! I've seen nothing but great things about the disability rep from those within that community as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent
Moderate: War and Child abuse
Minor: Trafficking, Ableism, and Panic attacks/disorders
soozasaurus_rex's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Violence, and War